Digital communications is today's leading marketing force, owing to the fact that consumers have candid conversations about brands online. Yet, it is more challenging to derive insights in a category where there are excessive brands, or where the category overpowers the brands, making it virtually 'brandless'. Illustrated by a butter/margarine case study and stepping back to cover some fundamentals of social media research, Sourabh will reveal how to revitalize your digital communications with greater effectiveness in such a scenario.
1. Using social media in a “brandless” category
Improving digital communications through effective and actionable social media research
Sourabh Sharma
Communication &
Social Media Research Expert
Abigail Joffre
Today’s Webinar Host
#SKIMwebinar
Share your thoughts online:
2. SKIM Webinar “Using social media in a “brandless” category”
Blog
• sssourabh.com
• Facebook Page
Professional
• LinkedIn
• Carbonmade Portfolio
Social
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google+
• Lookbook
Photo / Video
• Tumblr
• Flickr
• Instagr.am
• Vine
• Pinterest
• Gentlemint
• Dudepins
Ideas
• Formspring
• Stumbleupon
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of people trust online peer recommendations
90%
trust advertisements
14%
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social media users believe twitter influences purchases
2 of 3
of people follow brands on social media
50%
of social media users post brand related content
46%
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what if I am
brandless
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SKIM conducted “fieldwork” (web scraping) across the social media universe on
the spreads category, focusing on butter and margarine for a period of 1 year
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Discover what you can learn about the overall
category
Understand how to impact digital communications
Develop actionable recommendations for
margarine producers
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Classic
Research
Social
Media
Monitoring
Social
Media
Research
10
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sssourabh
sssourabh
tried to make my favorite
American cheesecake in
New York a bit more
healthy by using
margarine in the frosting.
#bitter #cake
25 minutes ago
Getting ready for our
#webinar!
1 hour ago
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Publicly available
demographic data
IP tracking
geographic data
Allusion to demographics
in verbatims
“Using real butter
to make my 25th
birthday cake for
my party in
Miami!”
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1. Design Study
2. Fieldwork
Internet Scraping and Coding
3. Customized analysis and
output
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• Author
• Date
• Location
• Hashtags
• Context
• Emotions
• Personality
15
1. Design Study
sssourabh
sssourabh
tried to make my favorite
American cheesecake in
New York a bit more
healthy by using
margarine in the frosting.
#bitter #cake
25 minutes ago
Getting ready for our
#webinar!
1 hour ago
15. SKIM Webinar “Using social media in a “brandless” category”16
2. Fieldwork
Internet Scraping and
Coding
• Very Positive
• Positive
• Neutral
• Negative
• Very Negative
Sentiment
• Location
• Demographics
• Psycographics
• Usage context
• Decision making
Consumer • Words
• Emoticons
• Associations
Emotions
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Social Media
Research
Campaign
effectiveness
Competitive
comparisons
Netnography
and
psychographics
Supplement
traditional
research
Find product
flaws quickly
Innovation and
ideation
3. Customized analysis and
output
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of butter conversations mention brands
2%
of margarine conversations mention brands
9%
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Butter Margarine
General Cooking
Baking
Frying
Grilling
Roasting
Recipes
“I use it for everything except baking. Butter is
the only thing that will do when baking.”
Community Post, July 2012
“I really think butter vs. margarine in baking is
more texture than taste. Butter seems to give a
better chew to cookies than margarine does.”
Forum Comment, July 2012
usage
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Butter Margarine
Kitchen
Personal Use
Fastfood Restaurants
Discount Stores
Hotels
Casual Dining“Ruth Chris Steakhouse has the best
steaks - maybe because they are
sizzling in butter”
Blog, June 2012
“Fresh butter on fresh bread in my
kitchen – the best way to eat it.”
Blog, March 2012
location context
23. I love my butter, but not my margarine
Fact or fiction?
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LoveHate
Dislike Like
IncreasingPassion
Increasing Positivity of Sentiment
Sentiment:
Continuum of negative to positive
perceptions/sentiment
Passion:
Conversations that are extreme
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Margarine
Butter
Sentiment:
Continuum of negative to positive
perceptions/sentiment
Passion:
Conversations that are extreme
Size of Bubble:
Volume of conversations
IncreasingPassion
Increasing Positivity of Sentiment
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Taste
Health
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Best for me!
Healthy and Tasty
Yummy!
Tasty, not Healthy
Why bother?
Neither Healthy nor Tasty
Good for me!
Healthy, not Tasty
Taste:
Continuum of negative to positive
perceptions of taste
Health:
Continuum of negative to positive
perceptions of health
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Margarine
Butter
Taste:
Continuum of negative to positive
perceptions of taste
Health:
Continuum of negative to positive
perceptions of health
Size of Bubble:
Volume of conversations
Taste
Health
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Butter Margarine
Tasty
Salty
Fresh taste
Sweet
Spicy
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Moderate Strength
Moderate Weakness
Neutral
Weakness
Strength
Increasingorderof
importancebybuzz
Increasing Volume of Buzz
“Ohh the disappointment when
you realize the butter you
bought isn't salted. :'(
#RuinedCrumpets.”
Twitter User, May 2012
“You could use margarine if
you like, but personally I think
butter is the best option (in
terms of taste) ”
Youtube Recipe, June 2012
taste
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Butter Margarine
Small sized
Color
Use at hot temperatures
Texture
Ease of use
Large sized
Greasiness
Use at cold temperatures
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Increasingorderof
importancebybuzz
Increasing Volume of Buzz
Moderate Strength
Moderate Weakness
Neutral
Weakness
Strength
“I love that my margarine
stays soft in the fridge!”
Blog, December 2011
“My butter was rancid after
just a couple of days and
this wasn't even the
summer time when the
ambient temperature
would turn it into goo!”
Community, March 2012
functional
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45%
43%
55%
57%
Margarin
e
Butter
Male Female
Gender Age
4%
52%
50%
41%
39%
5%
7%
Margarin
e
Butter
< 18 18-34 35-65 >65
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0%
20%
40%
Butter
Margarine
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They talk mostly on
forums and blogs
They talk about taste
elements
It is consumed in the
household by
men, alongside the
entire family
It is used in cooking
and frying (especially
to fry snacks)
Young and middle
aged consumers talk
about butter
It is used during breakfast
or as toppings at other
mealtimes (e.g. on
meats, burgers)
It evokes emotions of
happiness
butter
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They talk mostly
on forums, blogs
and online
communities
They often talk
about it as a
substitute to
butter, and
compare to other
oils too
It is consumed by
individuals, or by
members of a
household
They focus
on areas of
both taste
and health
Young and middle
aged consumers
talk about
margarine Health issues
include healthy
meals, menu
offerings, and
weight loss
Concerns include
the debate of
natural ingredients
It is used in
cooking, especially
baking
It is used most
often for
breakfast, mainly
on toast
margarine
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Develop perceptions
of
saltiness, tastiness
and freshness, with
a creamy texture.
Target by usage
types.
A healthy option with
low fat and low
calories, which is
non-greasy and easy
to use. Substitute to
butter/oils depending
on messaging
medium.
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Extreme preference
behavior
Comparative behavior
Product overpowers
brand
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A creamy texture for
cookies that taste
perfect - every time you
bake!
A healthy way to start the day
for you and your family
The best thing to put on toast for a healthy breakfast.
Keep your cake tasty
without the calories
Join our online
community for
tasty recipes
and healthy
tips!
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Branded or brandless
You can learn from your
consumers.
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Big brand or small brand,
social media will tell you a story.
Listen.
46
Concept and
claims
generation
Netnography
Campaign /
launch
effectiveness
Stand alone
social media
research study
Quantitative study
validation /
complementary
study
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47
Sourabh Sharma
Communication &
Social Media Research Expert
s.sharma@skimgroup.com
@sssourabh
Abigail Joffre
Today’s Webinar Host
a.joffre@skimgroup.com
@InAbbyLand
Sign up for more of our spring webinars! http://www.skimgroup.com/webinars
Share your thoughts online:
#SKIMwebinar
Notes de l'éditeur
We have the big fish big pond scenario. And the little fishes out there too.What should you do if your brand is small or if you are in a category that is brandless
What do we mean by brandless?It is perhaps more intuitive to do social media studies with brands: Coke to Toyota, these are very clearly soft drinks and cars. We define brandless as being in a category where the product is more prevalent to its brands.
What c
E.g. sourabh tweets about a baking experience, without mentioning a brand name. A simple twitter search of margarine shows that it is indeed ‘brandless’ – one does not know which brands are being used. As such, what are margarine manufacturers to do?
Online privacyBetrayal of age via conversationsLocation statistics
1. Specification of products, brands, key words and themes2. Internet scanning, variable and key word coding, and sentiment calibration on a 5 point Likert scale3. Choices entail brand maps, quantified associations, trigger identification, personas, etc.
What do we mean by brandless?It is perhaps more intuitive to do social media studies with brands: Coke to Toyota, these are very clearly soft drinks and cars. We define brandless as being in a category where the product is more prevalent to its brands.
Local brands in Brazil are more passionately spoken ofAcross countries, Hershey’s and Twix are polarized in perceptions, while KitKat is neutralAcross countries, social media data in the US is more negative, while in Brazil it is more positive for this categoryThe less Positive / Less Passionate quadrant is not ideal. Snickers is advised to drive up the positive conversations before incentivizing more passionate mentions.
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.
Continue to emphasize key health benefits (low fat, low calories), but strengthen taste perceptionsFocus on bringing in salty, tasty and fresh attributes to product and messagingPosition margarine to align with consumers’ usage and perceptionsMake breakfasts and/or baking central to consumer targeted messagingEmphasize personal and individual use, seconded by whole family consumptionEmphasize ease of use due to lack of greasiness and supreme texture compared to other spreads
This study enlightens on consumer behavior in the category - Butter is generally talked about with positivity and passion, owing to its taste benefits, usage and association with happiness. Margarine is disliked due to poor taste and a debate over natural ingredients and true health benefitsConsumers often compare the different products in the category; primarily butter to margarine, but also other oils and spreadsConsumers focus on product attributes, primarily taste and health They are thus relatively less brand loyal than other product categories, and identify no clear category leader
The key elements from the brand identity that your brand owns are your “triggers”– in the sense that it has more mentions than expected and also that it does not share this elements as strengths with other brands.You can use these to create claims for your study like we have here (in blue)You can use it to add validation stamps (non greasy) or ads to your online platforms (communities)Position margarine to align with consumers’ usage and perceptionsMake breakfasts and/or baking central to consumer targeted messagingEmphasize personal and individual use, seconded by whole family consumptionEmphasize ease of use due to lack of greasiness and supreme texture compared to other spreads