Stats: Tuesday is Social Network Ad Day, But Probably Not for Women
Mediapost: "According to new data from social media services provider ViTrue, (Tuesday) is the day of the week when click-through rates are highest on content posted on the walls of brand pages on Facebook, at 9.89%."
However...
MarketingCharts: "'The Digital Disconnect’ Emerges'" study found that even though 52% percent of the 1,000 women surveyed have befriended or become a fan of at least one brand on a social network, 83% nonetheless feel 'neutral' or 'negative' when they see a brand on a social networking site. Only 17% said they feel positive."
In short, a faceless presence on a social network doesn't really work that well. People are there for people, not brands. Companies need to put their own employees out there authentically if they hope to break through in the Age of Streams.
Comments 5 Comments
If I'm speaking to Dell, I might want to speak to a technician. If I'm speaking to a hotel chain, it might be the member of staff who knows about nearby walks. BT staff are encouraged to blog about their jobs helping us understand what they do (taking customer confidentiality into account). I believe AT&T pay their staff a bonus if they help someone out on a social network - they don't have to be "customer service" staff.
Surely it's all about ethos. Zappos is successful because it is a customer service company, not a shoe company. Every member of staff is a customer service evangalist, not a brand evangalist.
And yes, David, Zappos is the other huge success story on f2f marketing, customer support/relations.
A big clue is in the name FACEbook. Why is the social network so popular? It is because we humans have a biological propensity to look at faces. The internal wiring in our brains gives us chemical rewards for looking at faces.
See e.g., Adolphs R. Perception and emotion: How we recognize facial expressions. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2006;15(5):222–226.