Identifying Key Social Media Strategies for FMCG Brands to Influence Consumers through Social Media- Dissertation Thesis by Prachi Salvi

IDENTIFYING KEY STRATEGIES FOR FMCG
BRANDS TO INFLUENCE CONSUMERS THROUGH
SOCIAL MEDIA
Dissertation submitted for the degree of
MSc International Marketing
Newcastle University Business School.
By
Prachi Rajiv Salvi
Supervisor: Dr. Joanna Berry
September, 2011

2
Dissertation submission - September 2011
Student Name: Prachi Rajiv Salvi
Student Number: 109142432
Word Count: 11503
Dissertation Title
IDENTIFYING KEY STRATEGIES FOR FMCG BRANDS TO
INFLUENCE CONSUMERS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA
Declaration: No portion of the work referred to in this dissertation has been
submitted in support of an application for any other degree or qualification form
this or any other university or institute of learning.

3
IDENTIFYING KEY STRATEGIES FOR
FMCG BRANDS TO INFLUENCE
CONSUMERS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

4
ABSTRACT
Social media has revolutionized the way people seek information, share their
experiences and communicate with each other, in the recent times. It has made a
massive impact on the lives of people by keeping them enthralled, engrossed and
engaged. For marketers, however it has opened an exceptionally diverse and a
uniquely new channel to promote their brands. Social media, not only presents new
prospects for the marketers to engage and influence the consumers but it also
possesses new challenges to effectively utilize this medium.
The objective of this research study was to specifically look at how FMCG (Fast
Moving Consumer Goods) brand marketers, can make use of social media to
influence consumers. A qualitative research methodology was adopted which
consisted of six semi-structured interviews with social media professionals.
The topics covered in the interview ranged from knowing how different the social
media channel is from other marketing mediums, understanding the utilization of
different tools within social media, challenges faced by FMCG brands in particular,
how best to utilize the medium for influencing consumers. The theoretical
framework for the research study included review of literature on consumer
behaviour and word of mouth.Drawing upon the findings from the interviews, this
research study presents ten key strategies that can help FMCG brand marketers to
effectively use social media platform, to influence consumers:
1. Humanize your brand
2. Message is the key
3. Listen and monitor
4. Know the social media tools
5. Interact and engage
6. Connect to consumer emotionally
7. Identify and utilize influencers
8. Build consumer response platform
9. Plan for long term
10. Adapt and Experiment

5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to take this opportunity to thank several people whose contribution has
been invaluable towards this dissertation.
First and foremost, I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor Dr. Joanna Berry,
for her insights and guidance throughout this project. It has been an exciting and
inspiring experience, working on this dissertation under her supervision.
I would like to thank all the interviewees, for providing their valuable time and
insight that made this dissertation fruitful.
I would also like to thank my ‘social peers’ my friends, who have been sounding-
board for my ideas and been a great support.
Last but not the least; I am truly grateful to my parents and my sister who have
supported me, in everything that I do.
A warm thank you to all.
Prachi Rajiv Salvi
Newcastle upon Tyne, September 2011

6
List of Figures
Figure 1: Consumer Decision Process model............................................................19
Figure 2: Continuum of consumer buying decisions.................................................23
Figure 3:The Consumer Decision Journey................................................................25
Figure 4: The Traditional funnel .............................................................................27
Figure 5: Factors influencing the Consumer Decision-Making Process...................31
List of Tables
Table 1: Methods for contacting potential candidates...............................................38
Table 2: Details of final interviewees........................................................................39

7
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract..................................................................................................................................3
Acknowledgements..............................................................................................................5
List of Figures ..............................................................................................................6
List of Tables................................................................................................................6
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................9
1.1 Social Media......................................................................................................9
1.2 What does social media mean to the marketers? ........................................10
1.3 Fast Moving Consumer Goods......................................................................11
1.4 Social media marketing for FMCG brands..................................................12
1.5 Research aim and objective ...........................................................................14
CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ..............................................................16
2.1 Introduction......................................................................................................16
2.2 Consumer Behaviour......................................................................................17
2.3 Consumer Decision Process ..........................................................................18
2.4 The new Consumer Decision Journey..........................................................24
2.5 Word of Mouth Communication...................................................................28
2.6 Word of Mouse................................................................................................29
2.7 Social media : It’s significance in influencing consumers ........................30
CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ..................................................33
3.1 Choice of Approach: Qualitative over Quantitative...................................33
3.2 Primary Research method..............................................................................34
3.3 Secondary Research........................................................................................35
3.4 The Interviewees.............................................................................................36
3.5 Access to Interviewees...................................................................................37
3.6 Type of Interview............................................................................................39
3.7 Interview Questions........................................................................................40
3.8 Method of Analysing the Interviews............................................................41

8
CHAPTER 4. ANALYSIS OF INTERVIEWS......................................................42
4.1 Introduction......................................................................................................42
4.2 Do FMCG brand marketers face any specific challenges to use social
media? ......................................................................................................................42
4.3 How different is social media compared to other marketing channels?..44
4.4 How important it is to understand different tools within social media?..46
4.5 Can social media serve other purpose besides marketing in case of
FMCG brands?........................................................................................................47
4.6 Which aspect of social media should be utilized by FMCG brands? ......48
4.7 What impact can social media have in influencing consumers in their
decision making journey?......................................................................................49
4.8 Role of ‘Influencers’ on social media in impacting consumers................50
CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION ................................................................................51
5.1 Findings and Discussion ................................................................................51
5.2 The Key Strategies..........................................................................................52
5.3 Limitations.......................................................................................................54
5.4 Implications for future research ....................................................................54
REFERENCES .........................................................................................................55
APPENDIX A ...........................................................................................................61
APPENDIX B............................................................................................................68
APPENDIX C ...........................................................................................................74

9
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
Social media has created a buzz for every marketer today, who wishes to reach its
consumer through this new channel. Due to its growing popularity and its sheer
outreach, social media pose an opportunity and also a challenge for marketer, to
effectively utilize this channel. Although this is the situation for marketers across all
sectors, this research looks specifically at FMCG sector. This chapter will provide an
insight into what is social media all about and why is it important for FMCG
marketers to understand this channel.
1.1 Social media
Social media has been defined in several different ways by academics as well as
practitioners in this field, so as of yet there is no single, generally accepted,
definition. Social Media has been defined as “a group of Internet-based applications
that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and that
allow the creation of exchange of User Generated Content”. (Kaplan and Haenlein,
2010). Blackshaw and Nazzaro (2004) describes social media as “a variety of new
sources of online information that are created, initiated, circulated and used by
consumers intent on educating each other about products, brands, services,
personalities, and issues’’. Social Media can be described as an online platform for
people to discover, read, share information and content, which helps in transforming
a monologue to dialogue. In the words of Solis (2010) it is the “shift from a
broadcast mechanism, one-to-many, to a many-to-many model, rooted in
conversations between authors, people, and peers”. Social media is thus a tag that is

10
attached to all the online resources that people use for communication, networking,
broadcasting, interacting, and sharing of information.
Social media consists of various online resources. Constantinides and Fountain
(2008) classified it into five categories based on its application type; 1) Blogs are
online journals for posting ideas and/or opinions, 2) Social networks allow sharing of
personal content and information sites for e.g. Facebook, Orkut, MySpace, 3)
Content communities act as information sharing portals, video and photo sharing
websites e.g. You tube, Flickr, 4) Forum/Bulletin boards are the websites that allow
exchange of ideas with people with common interests, basically they allow online
word-of-mouth communication for e.g. Quora. 5) Content Aggregators are the
websites which allow users to access the information they seek, in a customised way
e.g. Google, Yahoo.
1.2 What does social media mean to the marketers?
There are more than 750 million users on social networking site’ Facebook’, and
there are over 900 million objects (pages, groups, events) that people interact with on
it (Facebook, 2011), 2/3 of the global internet population visits social networks
(Neilson, 2009). Over 15.5 million blogs are tracked by Technorati, a specialist blog
search engine. There are 100 million videos a day being watched on video sharing
website, YouTube (Futurebuzz, 2009), there are more than 1 billion tweets per month
(Pingdom,2010).These statistical figures show how massively impacting this
medium has been for people, the consumers and hence of importance to the
marketers.
Social media has amplified the power of consumer-to-consumer conversations in the
marketplace by enabling one person to communicate with literally hundreds or

11
thousands of other consumers quickly with relatively little effort (Mangold and
Faulds, 2009). Consumers now turn more frequently to various social media portals
to conduct their information searches and to make purchasing decisions. (Vollmer
and Precourt, 2008).Today consumers are willing to spend more time with a brand
online than they are offline (Druery,2008).Consumers have more trust on social
media as a source of information regarding products and services than the corporate
means of marketing communications, which is conveyed through traditional
media.(Foux,2006). The marketers therefore cannot overlook this phenomenon of
social media because “it has rapidly become the de facto modus operandi for
consumers who are disseminating information on products and services”. (Mangold
and Faulds, 2009).
Social Media thus provides a new channel for marketers, allowing them to interact
with their target audience to learn about and from them for minimal cost, and in less
time (Constantinides and Fountain, 2008). It provides the marketers an opportunity to
influence consumers while they make their purchase decisions.
1.3 Fast Moving Consumer Goods
The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) are the everyday products that consumer
purchases on daily basis. These products are can be categorized into several different
types e.g. food, beverages, household items, cosmetics & toiletries etc. These are
primarily low cost and low involvement (little effort to choose items) but they have
greater amount of purchase intentions by consumers.
The reason to choose FMCG sector for the research study is the fact that it is an
interesting, challenging and rapidly growing sector for marketer. As there is high level
of competition involved amongst the FMCG companies, not just to compete with
competitor’s products but also to compete internally. A mere glance at a shelf of

12
supermarket store tells us that, today’s consumers have greater choices to make even
for a basic product such as toothpaste. It presents a challenge for a marketer to make
their brand stand out not just on that shelf, but also in the minds of consumers while
they make their decision of choosing a product.
Also, the purchase decisions made for FMCG (low involvement) products are not
considered extremely important by consumers, as they have perceived lower risks.
Hence the information search about such products is likely to be minimal. As a result,
decisions to purchase products such as bread or cereals are made either impulsively or
on the basis of the brand familiarity, or as a result of comparisons of the brands on the
shelf in the store. Since these decisions are regularly taken and relatively inexpensive,
they exert a much smaller influence on the mind of a consumer. (Glowa, 2001). Thus
for a brand marketer it’s a challenge to market FMCG products, essentially because
consumers spend little time in making a choice between these products.
Another reason to look specifically at this sector is the fact that there is relatively less
academic literature or research done for marketing FMCG products through social
media and the information available about social media marketing by the practitioners
is more generalized and not specific to FMCG industry. So by identifying the paucity
of information available for FMCG sector, it seemed to be an interesting sector to
investigate.
1.4 Social media marketing for FMCG brands
What binds social media and FMCG brands together is the fact that audience for both
is universal. Social media is a platform meant for everyone to use it freely and FMCG
products are used and consumed by everyone daily. Current debates and discussions
suggests that FMCG companies haven’t yet significantly utilized this medium for

13
reaching their consumers and it’s challenging for marketers/brand managers of FMCG
companies especially to create and maintain relationships with their loyal customer
base. (Gordon, Morgan, 2010). Social media is said to have dramatic influences at
every stage of the consumer decision-making process including information
acquisition, brand awareness, purchase behaviour, and post-purchase communication
and evaluation, as well as in influencing general opinions and attitude of consumer
(Mangold and Faulds, 2009).
In spite of this, there has been no such empirical research specifically carried out for
FMCG brands that explores the relationship between social media marketing and its
impact on the influencing the decision making process of consumer. There has been
no perfect formula or a right strategy that has been identified or that can be
implemented by the FMCG marketers to use social media to influence consumers.
Social media can be said to be a new and evolving field. Also as the FMCG sector
has to constantly churn out new products to satisfy the consumer needs and wants, so
it also keeps evolving. But as Druery (2008) mentions that as the marketing channels
are also increasingly evolving, social media has the ability to provide brands with
‘one of the most personal, trusted and direct points of access to these consumers’. As
Ahonen and Moore (2005) puts it “marketing is no longer about changing people’s
mind, people do not like to be told what to do, what to think, what to buy, marketing
needs to ‘influence’ people at attitudinal level”. Social media can offer FMCG brand
marketers this direct point of contact with its consumers to influence them. Social
media has the ability to magnify the impact of consumer-to-consumer conversations,
in the marketplace, but the strategies for influencing those conversations are yet to be
articulated. (Mangold and Faulds, 2009).

14
1.5 Research aim and objective
This research study was thus driven with the proposition to identify key strategies
which can help answer the research question of how FMCG brands (marketers) can
make use of social media for influencing consumers. For the purpose of this research
study primary data was collected, by interviewing industry experts and the answers
to the following questions were captured to help answer the central research
question.
• Are there any specific challenges for FMCG brands in creating social space
compared to other product brands?
• How different is social media as a ‘marketing channel’, compared to other
traditional marketing communications mediums?
• How important it is for the marketers to understand the use of different tools
within social media (e.g. facebook, twitter, blogs etc.), while building social
media plan for a FMCG brand?
• Can social media serve some other purpose, besides just being used as marketing
tool, especially in context of FMCG brands?
• Are there any guidelines/ rules or key elements that one follows or takes into
consideration for developing social media strategy for brand?
• What aspect of the social media do you think FMCG brands should take into
account while setting a platform?
• How can social media be helpful in influencing consumers in their decision
making journey?
• Do ‘influencers’ play major role in successful social media strategy?

15
The theoretical framework for this research study rests on the literature review of
consumer behaviour and word of mouth which is discussed in the next chapter. The
research process and methodology used, to conduct primary research is discussed in
chapter three. This is followed by the synthesis of the interviews and its findings,
which is provided in chapter four and the concluding part provides the key strategies
drawn from the analysis of these interviews.

16
CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
Social media being new marketing communication channel, the academic peer-
reviewed literature available in this field is very less. Despite the phenomenal use of
this media by consumers today, academic research is limited on the use of social
media for commercial and marketing purposes. Mostly, the academic research
struggles to keep pace with it, due to rapid evolution in the field. The available
academic literature found , mainly focussed on using different aspects of social
media such as social interaction via social media (Fischer and Reuber 2010),
promotional use of social media (Mangold and Faulds 2009),marketing in virtual
communities (Valck,Bruggen,Wierenga,2009),word of mouth marketing in online
communities (Kozinets et al. 2010). Hence there was also a need to look at research
done by practitioners in this field. In the recent times there has been significant
amount of research done by the practitioners and also by well-known market
research companies such as Forrester’s report (Haven,2007), Mckinsey& Co
(Edelman,2010) and Neilson (2009) etc, in the area of social media marketing.
However, even after considering both the academic and practioners literature, there
was none found, that specifically looked at understanding how FMCG brand
marketers can make use of social media to influence consumers.
Hence for the purpose of this research study, there were two key literature streams
that were identified and reviewed. These lay a theoretical foundation for this
research. The two literature streams are:
Consumer behaviour – This part of literature review will highlight consumer
decision making process. It will analyse two different models of consumer’s decision

17
making journey. It will also identify the various touch points in these models, for its
marketing implications.
Word of mouth - This part of literature review will closely look at the scope and
significance of Word of mouth (WoM) and Electronic word of mouth
(E-WoM) in influencing consumers in their decision making process. It will also
look at how it has been instrumental in influencing the consumers at the various
touch points of their decision making journey.
By drawing upon these theories, the literature then explores the role and significance
of social media in influencing the consumers.
2.2 Consumer behaviour
Wilkie (1994, pg14) defines consumer behaviour as “the mental, emotional and
physical activities that people engage in when selecting, purchasing, using and
disposing of products and services so as to satisfy needs and desires”, Engel et all
(2006,pg 4) defines it as “activities people undertake when obtaining, consuming
and disposing of products and services”. The framework for understanding this
behaviour by consumers as sequence of activities, stages is known as the decision
making process (Wilkie,1994). The consumer decision process can be explained as
“roadmap of consumers’ minds that marketers and managers can use to help guide
product mix, communications and sales strategies” (Engel et all ,2006).So in the
context of marketing, understanding consumer behaviour and the impact, marketing
activities have to influence this behaviour can be learnt by knowing how a consumer
forms decisions. (Evans, Jamal, Foxall, 2009).

18
There have been several consumer decision making models proposed by academics
in the early 1960s and 1970s, such as Howard who developed the first decision
making model in 1963. (Howard,1969), then Nicosia model (1966) another by
Mowen and Minor (2006).These traditional old models reflect consumer decision
making process as just a flow of activities. Hence the review of these models was
found to be beyond the scope of this literature. A more specific and simplified
approach is taken to evaluate the work in the area of consumer decision process, by
blending the review of the work done by academics and practitioners, as it found to
be most relevant to this research.
The recent work by Engel, Miniard, Blackwell (2006) presents a different model of
consumer decision making journey. It is called as ‘Consumer Decision Process’
(CPD) model. Also, a more current work in this field by Edelman (2010) presents a
new model called as Consumer Decision Journey (CDJ) which is based on market
research report by Mckinsey&Co. Both these models provide marketers an in-depth
insight or rather a roadmap of consumers’ mind, which can help them formulate
marketing strategies to influence the consumer. Hence, the review of these models is
considered for the purpose of this literature review.
2.3 Consumer Decision Process
The consumer decision process (CDP) model by Engel, Miniard, Blackwell (2006) is
reviewed for the purpose of this research, which provides an insight into how
individuals sort the influences and facts to make everyday purchase decisions. The
CDP model consists of seven stages that typically a consumer goes through while
making decisions. They are 1) Need recognition, (2) Search for information, (3) Pre-
Purchase evaluation of alternatives, (4) Purchase, (5) Consumption, 6) Post-purchase

19
evaluation,7) Divestment. These decisions are further influenced by two other factors
namely environmental influences and individual differences. The diagrammatic
representation of this approach is presented below in figure 1.
Figure 1: Consumer Decision Process model [Source: Engel, Miniard, Blackwell,
2006, pg. no 82]
It is essential to understand Engel et all’s proposed stages of the consumer decision
making journey in order to identify important touch points, which has implications
for the marketers to influence the consumer.
Need recognition: It represents the beginning of a decision process, it is also called
as “problem recognition”, it is when the consumer senses the need and becomes
motivated to solve the problem that has been recognized. The need recognition
occurs when the consumer perceives a gap or difference between his/her current state

20
and desired state. These needs and buying habits keeps on changing, as consumers
move through different stages in life.
Considering this stage, a marketer can’t really create a need but probably present a
product that can meet unperceived needs that are not considered by consumers.
Search for information: After the consumer recognizes need or identifies a problem
he/she is motivated to search for information or solution to satisfy this need. The
search for information can be internal that is by retrieving information from their
memory, this can be based on situations or experiences faced by consumer
previously or absorbed through advertisement or marketing channel. (Hawkins et all,
2001 pg. 26). If they are unable to seek the necessary information then they resort to
external search.
The external search is done by gathering information through friends, peers, word of
mouth suggestions; searching information on internet etc.The depth of information
search depends on the nature of problem, while complex problems may require
extensive search and simple problems may rely on an internal search of previous
behaviour. (Wilkie, 1994)
However this stage in the consumer decision making process can be of importance to
marketers, because as shown in figure 1, the Information is said to pass through five
stages of processing before consumer use it as valid and retains it in his/her memory,
which are: exposure, attention, comprehension, acceptance and retention. The source
for the exposure to this information can be marketer dominated such as websites,
advertisements, point of sales material etc or it can non-marketer dominated which
includes peers, word of mouth, community forum on internet. (Engel et all, 2006, pg.
77)

21
Hence this stage can be an important touch point where marketers can potentially
influence consumer in choosing their brand/product over other competitor’s. A
marketer can utilize the marketer-dominated area by seeking the attention of the
consumer, then providing consumer with the right information while they search for
it and thus satisfying the unmet need of consumer and creating a long term ‘fan’ of
the brand/product. (Engel et all, 2006, pg. 81)
Pre-Purchase evaluation of alternatives: In this stage consumers evaluate and
compare different products/brands which suit best in fulfilling their needs. They
narrow down alternatives that can satisfy them, before resolving to choose one of
them. The evaluation of alternatives however can also be influenced by external
factors as well. For a brand/ product to be made distinct in this consideration set, so it
is filtered down and purchased by a consumer is a challenge for marketers. The
possibility to overcome this challenge through marketing activities is discussed in the
latter part of this research study.
Purchase: After narrowing down the product, the next stage is of purchasing the
product. Ideally, the product that reaches this stage is considered most satisfactory by
the consumer (Ennew, 1993).
Consumption: After the purchase of the product, at this stage the consumers use the
product.
Post-consumption evaluation: The process doesn’t end at consuming the product; it
is followed by a post consumption evaluation stage, which acts as feedback. If the
product manages to completely satisfy the needs, then the consumer may intend to
re-purchase the product, but if dissatisfied then consumer would remove the product
out of his/her consideration set in future. The outcome at the post consumption
evaluation stage is of significance for marketers for monitoring usage of the

22
product/brand. It can help in identifying if product needs modification or complete
change. (Glowa, 2001)
Divestment: This is the final stage of consumer decision making process, where after
having consumed the product, it is now disposed or divested. This stage is important
for marketers to understand whether the divestment has left consumer satisfied or
unsatisfied.
At every stage of this process there are two main influencing factors mentioned in
CDP model, they are an individual difference which consists of individual’s
personality trait, motivation, perception, and learning. The other factor is
environmental influence, which is an important factor to look at for this research
study. This consists of various external sources that act as influencers such as culture,
social class, family, peers. All these groups have the potential to act as facilitator for
a consumer to make purchase decision. However, which group can have most
influencing power, is for an individual to decide. In this aspect, the literature review
later discusses the influencing power of social media in consumer decision making
journey. (pg.31)
The CDP model has its strengths and limitations, firstly it provides a clear depiction
of consumer decision making process and includes seven stages which have been
evolved from old five stage model .It is one of the easy to understand and simplified
models. (Evans, Jamal, Foxall 2009) But, according to Erasmus, (2001) it is still
difficult to determine whether the model can provide an accurate representation of
behaviour, and if it can have predictive value. Also one of the obvious criticisms for
CDP model would be that, consumers would not necessarily go through such a long
process for making purchase decisions for every single product. The extent to which
these stages would be considered varies from consumer to consumer and also from

23
the products or service that he/she intends to purchase. Some decisions are simple,
some can be complex.
Consumer decisions can therefore be classified into broadly three categories; routine
response behaviour, limited decision-making and extensive decision-making.
(Howard and Sheth, 1977).Lamb et all (2006) suggests that these three categories can
be described on the basis of five factors: level of consumer involvement, length of
time taken to make decision, cost of good or service, the degree of the information
search and the number of alternatives considered. The illustrated table in figure 2
below provides a better perspective.
Figure 2: Continuum of consumer buying decisions [Source: Lamb et all, 2006, pg.
147]
The routine response behaviour by consumers occurs during the purchase of low-
cost, frequently purchased goods which take relatively less time in making buying
decisions. Since this research revolves around FMCG brands which are low
involvement goods, a consumer’s purchase decision based on this behaviour, is only
taken into consideration.
Consumers engaged in routine response behaviour spend less time in searching the
information about the product and evaluating alternatives before purchasing. In this
case the information search is internal based on previous knowledge of the brand or

24
product and has very little scope for external influences. Consumers also do not
experience ardent ‘need recognition’ until they are allured by either advertisement or
recommendation by friend. In routine response behaviour consumers buy the product
first and then evaluate. (Lamb et all, 2006). For instance a person, who has
previously consumed orange juice of Tropicana brand and was satisfied with its taste,
would repurchase the product say apple juice of same the brand, rather than spending
time evaluating other alternatives. Considering this behaviour from a marketer’s
perspective, this means that it would take more efforts and longer time investment in
advertising or presenting a product or a brand in case of low involvement goods
where consumers engage in routine response behaviour.
However with the advent of internet and development of new marketing
communication channels, there is a change in this consumer decision making
process. Consumers these days use different interactive tools to derive information or
content from digital channels and they manage to filter the hype created by
advertisers while making purchase decisions (Ahonen and Moore, 2005). Consumers
are turning to the internet for knowing product reviews and information while
making their buying decisions (Kozinets, 2002). These factors are considered in the
new consumer decision journey proposed by Edelman (2010) and thus it is important
to look at the new altered consumer decision making process.
2.4 The new Consumer Decision Journey
In contrast to the traditional consumer decision making process, Edelman (2010)
introduced a nuanced view of consumer decision making model. The basic premise
of this new consumer decision journey may not seem radical; however its
implications for marketing can be seen to be profound. Based on market research

conducted by Mckinsey & Co to study the purchase decisions of nearly 20,000
consumers across five
electronics, and mobile telecom across three continents,
model of how consumers engage with
Journey”. It was revealed through their research that today’s consumers take a much
‘more iterative and less reductive journey
figure 3 below gives diagrammatic representation.
Figure 3:The Consumer Decision Journey [Source: Mckinsey
The following are the 4 key stages
Consider: The journey
of products and brands based on visual
consumer takes into account a set of products that he/she considers will satisfy their
need.
consumers across five industries-automobiles, skin care, insurance, consumer
electronics, and mobile telecom across three continents, Edelman (2010)
model of how consumers engage with brands; it is called as “Consumer Decision
It was revealed through their research that today’s consumers take a much
more iterative and less reductive journey’ (Edelman, 2010) of only four stages, the
figure 3 below gives diagrammatic representation.
:The Consumer Decision Journey [Source: Mckinsey Quarterly
The following are the 4 key stages that are undertaken by consumer:
journey begins at Consider stage where consumer builds the decision
of products and brands based on visual cues i.e. exposure to ads, store display. The
25
automobiles, skin care, insurance, consumer
(2010) developed a
“Consumer Decision
It was revealed through their research that today’s consumers take a much
of only four stages, the
Quarterly, 2009]
undertaken by consumer:
stage where consumer builds the decision
exposure to ads, store display. The

26
Evaluate: At the evaluate stage the initial consideration made by consumers expands
in trying to gain more knowledge about product i.e. seek review from peer, retailers,
reviewer etc and compare it with other competitor products and choose or narrow
down to a single product.
Buy: At this stage consumer can be persuaded or dissuaded based on the product
pricing, packaging, and availability to buy the product.
Enjoy, Advocate, and Bond: The most important stage wherein the consumer shares a
deeper connection with the product. If the consumer is pleased with the product they
will advocate, broadcast it thus the brand has got loyal customer but if the consumer
is not pleased with the product they will sever ties with it.
Traditional means of marketing have always targeted these moments, or touch points,
when consumers are open to influence while they undertake this decision making
journey. These touch points have been understood through the metaphor of a
“funnel” wherein consumers starts with wide range of brands and narrow down the
choices as they move through the funnel, and at the end they emerge with the one
brand they chose to purchase and if satisfied then they become a loyal fan of brand.
The figure 4 below shows the traditional linear funnel approach assumed by the
marketers.

Figure 4: The T
But, according to Edelman
touch points due to emergence of well
communication channel’s .Today’s c
decision making journey ( fig 3). Underst
journey is thus of importance to marketers as these four stages can act as crucial
touch points where consumers can be influenced.
One of the only observed limitations of this model is that it omits the two influencing
factors (environmental and personal differences) which are mentioned in the CPD
model discussed. It however represents the decision process of consumer today,
whose purchase intentions are influenced by
by means of word of mouth.
After having understood the different stages of consumer decision making process
and various touch points in the journey
imperative for marketers to understand what factor can greatly influence co
The second half of the literature review will
communication which
decision making journey.
: The Traditional funnel [Source: Mckinsey Quarterly
Edelman et all, this “Funnel concept” today fails to capture these
touch points due to emergence of well-informed consumer and explosion of digital
communication channel’s .Today’s consumer takes a more complex non
n making journey ( fig 3). Understanding of this new consumer decision
touch points where consumers can be influenced.
whose purchase intentions are influenced by interactions within digital environment
word of mouth.
and various touch points in the journey where consumers are open to influence
imperative for marketers to understand what factor can greatly influence co
The second half of the literature review will thus focus on
which can be an influential factor at these touch points of consumer
decision making journey.
27
Quarterly, 2009]
et all, this “Funnel concept” today fails to capture these
informed consumer and explosion of digital
onsumer takes a more complex non-linear
new consumer decision
interactions within digital environment
where consumers are open to influence. It is
imperative for marketers to understand what factor can greatly influence consumers.
thus focus on word of mouth
at these touch points of consumer

28
2.5 Word of mouth communication
Word of mouth communication (henceforth, WoM) traditionally has been defined as
“oral person-to-person communication between a receiver and a communicator
whom the receiver perceives as non-commercial, regarding a brand, product or
service.”(Ardnt,1967). Engel et all (2006) defined it as “informal transmission of
ideas, comments, opinions, and information between two or more individuals, both of
whom are not marketers”. However, due to emergence of new communication
channels, WoM can have several definitions. As Buttle (1998) mentions that WoM
need not be necessarily about product or brand and neither it has to be face-to-face or
direct, for instance virtual or electronic WoM. A more simple definition is “the act
of consumers providing information to consumers” (Word of mouth marketing
association, 2010), by this definition the transmission of information is neither
restricted to the content nor is it limited to face-to face situations.
There has been considerable number of studies proving that WoM aids in influencing
consumer in their decision-making process and that the influence is strong when a
consumer is considering the purchase of a new product or service. There are
however, many factors that affect consumer’s decision process, but it appears that
WoM is perceived to be the most trustworthy source of information and thus making
it an influential factor. It has been demonstrated that while consumers searched for
information for purchasing new household items WoM recommendation was the
most important influencing factor. ( Katz and Lazarsfeld 1955, Blackwell et all,
1969, Herr et all 1991 ).Arndt (1967) work also uncovered that WoM is most
influential at “searching for information” and “evaluation of alternative” stages of the
decision making process.

29
WoM is said to be “seven times more effective than newspaper and magazine
advertising, twice more effective than radio advertising and four times more effective
than personal selling “(Katz & Lazarsfeld ,1955).These statistical findings may be
considered outdated, but the power of word of mouth cannot be underestimated.
Dichter (1968) says that “the glossy magazine page or television screen can never
replace the value and the influence of a personal recommendation”. In support of
this statement Herr et all (1991) mentions that more importance is placed on WoM
when compared with printed communication thus emphasizing the strength of WoM.
Consumers tend to rely on personal or informal communication sources such as
friends, family, peers etc., when making purchase decisions as opposed to
commercial or marketing communication sources such as advertisements. (Bansal
and Voyer,2000).
In the recent times however due to the rise of new digital communication channels
and technologies such as social media, consumers interact through these channels to
share their knowledge, experiences and opinions. This has led to emergence of a new
type of word of mouth communication, called as electronic word of mouth (E-WoM)
also referred as ‘word of mouse’. (Hennig-Thurau et all,2004)
2.6 Word of mouse
The E-WoM or ‘word of mouse’ defined by Hennig-Thurau et all (2004) states that it
is ‘positive or negative statement made by potential, actual, or former customers
about a product or company, which is made available to a multitude of people and
institutions via the Internet”. E-WoM can be said to be the counterpart of WoM in
the cyber space, its diffusion can take place through online discussion forums,
through virtual communities, personal e-mails etc. Godes and Mayzlin (2004) in

30
their work show that E-WoM has the potential to overcome the limitations of WoM.
The online conversations that happen within the communities or forums provide
consumers the possibility to acquire information from other consumers when
considering set of products or brands to be purchased.( Park and Kim,2008) Thus E-
WoM can be said to influence the pre-purchase or evaluation of alternative stage of
consumer decision making process. This consumer generated online content is the
new way of presenting information from a perspective of a consumer, who have
purchased and used the product. Ever more so with the advent of social media, E-
WoM has become more pervasive and more powerful in influencing the consumer’s
decision-making process. (Valck, Bruggen, Wierenga, 2009)
2.7 Social media : It’s significance in influencing consumers
As discussed earlier in this chapter and having understood the consumer decision
making journey and the impact word of mouth can have in influencing the
consumers. The literature review now looks at how social media can be an important
factor that can influence consumer in their purchase decisions.
Constantinides and Fountain (2008) in their work, presented a new altered version of
Kotler’s (1996) original ‘Stimuli and Response model’. This changed version was
proposed to incorporate social media as one of the influencing factor in consumer
decision making process. The figure no.5, illustrates the factors influencing the
consumer decision making process.

31
Figure 5: Factors influencing the Consumer Decision-Making Process [Source:
Constantinides and Fountain, 2008]
According to Constantinides and Fountain (2008), due to the rise in digitally-focused
marketing environment, there has been an addition of two new influencing factors in
consumer decision making journey. The first is the (C) Online controllable marketing mix
which represents the digital marketing activities controlled by companies/marketers. The
second important addition is the (D) Online uncontrollable marketing mix which is the
social media experiences.
As demonstrated through this model, it is evident that today consumers no longer solely
rely on (A) traditional marketing channels for gaining information about new products.
The consumer’s preferences and decisions are increasingly influenced by social media
(online uncontrollable mix). The customer feedback cycle illustrated in this model acts as
a purchase validation tool. Wherein social media connects back the consumers feedback
during the post-purchase evaluation stage ( pg. no.19 ). Evans (2008) highlights the role
of social feedback cycle which sets in motion when consumer voices opinion about post
purchase evaluation of brand. This opinion drives the word -of-mouth or rather word-of-

32
mouse through social media. This opinion then feeds back into the cycle and becomes an
influencing factor for another consumer during the consideration stage of its decision
making journey. Thus one consumer acts as an influencer for other. These social media
influencers can be said to be the endorsers who shape other consumers attitudes by the
use of social media.( Freberg et all,2011).
Social media can thus act as an effective medium in diffusion word of mouth and
subsequently influence consumer decision making journey. As Ahonen and Moore (2005)
in their book Communities Dominate Brands also points out that ‘the word of mouse has
become significant market force that influences consumer decision making journey’.
Social media can thus seem to provide a common platform to the (FMCG brand)
marketers to connect with its consumers at the touch points of their decision making
journey. As these touch points have become digital, the marketers have the opportunity to
collect and use customer information to understand the consumers and influence them
through social media.
So as Ahonen and Moore (2005) mentions, for the brand marketers to convince such
digitally connected consumers, the only way is to join them, share their interests, engage
with them and activate them and thus influence them. This study therefore researches as
to how the FMCG brand marketers specifically, can influence this digitally connected
consumer through social media.
The following chapter will thus provide an insight as to how the research study was
carried out to identify key strategies which can be of help to FMCG brands (marketers) to
make use of social media to influence the consumers.

33
CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter explains the research methodology used in answering the central
research question. It will further discuss which type of research approach was
considered suitable, how primary data was collected, which different tools were
utilized for data collection and why they were used and how they were used.
3.1 Choice of Approach: Qualitative over Quantitative
There are broadly two types of research methods for data collection and analysis,
quantitative and qualitative. In researching the question of how FMCG brands can
make use of social media to influence the consumers, both these methods were
considered and weighed for its relevance and importance for finding answer to the
research question.
Qualitative research can be defined as "any kind of research that produces findings
not arrived at by means of statistical procedures" (Glasser and Strauss, 1967, p. 17).
It is the kind of research that provides findings arrived from “real-world settings
where the researcher does not attempt to manipulate the phenomenon of interest and
let it unfold naturally" (Patton, 2002, p. 39).As Hewitt and Taylor (2001) puts it the
qualitative research better reflects “the quality of the lived experience of individuals,
which cannot be reduced to numerical values using statistical analysis.”
In contrast, quantitative research attempts to fragment the findings into measurable
or statistical figures (Winter, 2000). In this methodology the research involves the
"use of standardised measures so that the varying perspectives and experiences of
people can be fit into a limited number of predetermined response categories to

34
which number are assigned" (Patton, 2002, p.14). A quantitative research approach
analyses the “relationship between variables that creates a static view of social life
independent of people’s lives”.( Bryman and Bell,2007 pg. no 425).
After comparing both these methods, for the purpose of this research study however
qualitative methodology was found to be most relevant as that enabled to capture the
ambiguity of the subject area rather than quantitative analysis.
Due to the subjective nature of the research area as well as the research question, a
qualitative research methodology analysing primary data was found appropriate.
Since the outcome of research aimed to identify key strategies which would help
answer the research question, the qualitative research approach was chosen to help
understand the dynamism of subject better.
3.2 Primary Research Method
The qualitative semi-structured type of interviewing process fitted well into the
research design. As this method, provides greater emphasis on generality in
formulation of interviewee’s own perspectives and experiences.(Bryman and
Bell,2007).
The semi-structured interview process also allows the interviewer to probe the
interviewee to elaborate on certain questions to gain detailed insight. It gives
flexibility in terms of directing the interview towards achieving greater insight from
the interviewee. (Bryman and Bell,2007,pg 475). This method also provides the
interviewee more leeway to answer the question. The interviewer possess a set of
interview guidelines which provides necessary control to steer the interview from
going off the tangent thus enabling the interviewer to cover specific topics that are
required to deduce the findings. The advantage of using this method is that it

35
provides high validity, as the interviewee can talk about something in detail and
depth. The problem of pre-judgement for the researcher is also resolved as
interviewer cannot pre-judge what information is important and what is not and also
such interviews can be recorded easily. (Harrell and Mellisa, 2009)
Moreover since generating key themes from the interviews was important for this
research study, asking different interviewee’s similar set of questions helped to
maintain the consistency across all the interviews thus capturing the nuances of the
research subject.
3.3 Secondary Research
The academic literature available in the field of social media was found to be very
niche. However, academic literature in the area of consumer behaviour and word of
mouth marketing was looked into. Due to the nature of the subject, the research
process also consisted of wide reading from books, white papers, articles, blogs,
discussion forums and content published by the practioners in area of social media.
These resources helped in fleshing some of the interview questions.
During the time of research, there also happened to be an event called “Internet
World, 2011” which was Europe’s leading event for digital marketing. It consisted of
several workshops, keynote presentations by the industry experts from Facebook,
Google, and LinkedIn etc which helped in gaining insight into the latest and the
upcoming developments in field of social media.

36
3.4 The Interviewees
The purpose of the research study was being able to generate key strategies, to help
marketers to establish a social media strategy for their brand, interviewing
practitioners in area of social media was found to be essential. The practitioners in
field of social media can mainly be identified as the ones working for advertising,
digital marketing communications agencies or brand consultants. The reason to
include only social media practitioners in the study sample was the fact these
professionals are the ones who directly work with the brand on social media
platform. Gaining their insights was crucial, as these people are constantly updated
on the latest tools and techniques in field of digital/social media marketing. Another
reason to choose social media practioners was to get an individual viewpoint to
complement the theoretical foundation of the research study.
One of the challenges with this type of study sample that was thought of initially was
the fact that since they are social media practioners, they might not divulge lot of
details in regards to particular questions or agree for in-depth interview as their ideas
and opinions have “value”, a price. However, the candidates who did agree for an
interview were liberal in explaining and answering the questions in detail, even while
re-questioning a few for in-depth insight. For the purpose of this study, the criterion
for selecting the potential candidate was only bound to their profession and not to
their geographical location.

37
3.5 Access to Interviewees
There were different methods used to identify potential candidates for the study. As
the study sample consisted of social media practioners, using social media platform
itself to identify potential interview candidates was found to be advantageous.
LinkedIn is platform for professional networking, where each profile of the person
provides background information about him/her. It provides the details regarding
designation, job description, previous job experience, company, field of work etc.
This platform thus helped in identifying the potential candidates as it provided a pre-
filtered sample i.e. social media practioners.
One of the challenges also faced in using this platform was, gaining access to these
identified candidates. As linked in doesn’t allow user to directly send message unless
paid for it, otherwise one has to be a part of group which is mutual between the user
and candidate. The compulsion for joining the group actually proved to be of an
advantage, because it led to a pool of other potential candidates. Having done so,
potential candidates were contacted via linkedin message.
LinkedIn platform also allows members of the group to start a discussion within the
group. This function was found to be of great use, to get insight from the industry
professionals. For this study a discussion was started on one of the groups “UK
Marketing lounge” and one the interview question was used as a topic for discussion.
Several interesting insights were captured through this discussion. This data however
wasn’t used for this research study. (Appendix C)
The other social media platform used was Quora, it’s a platform that aggregates
conversations and discussions regarding various topics and also allows users to
collaborate on them. This platform also provides a profile of every individual and

38
also gives the details of the conversational topics initiated by them. This platform
however allows the user to directly contact other people.
Another popular social media website called Mashables is widely followed by
industry professionals, it is best known for providing the latest information and most
of the content writers on the website are industry experts. This was also one of the
sources of identifying interview candidates.
One of the advantages of using social media platform itself, for identifying and
contacting industry experts was its sheer global outreach. However, during the
process of research, gaining access to the study sample also posed a big challenge.
The following table provides a better perspective.
Table 1: Methods for contacting potential candidates
Method Total Contacts Responses Interview Conducted
Direct Email 22 5 3
LinkedIn 26 4 2
Other (blogs, Quora, websites) 20 2 1
Total 68 11 6
After contacting 68 potential candidates through direct email, LinkedIn messages,
and using other resources like blogs, websites etc, 11 responded positively and
agreed for an interview. But only 6 interviews were conducted for this research
study. Some of the candidates who agreed for the interview, backed out as they
couldn’t provide time during the period of research. The following table provides the
final list of interviewees.

39
Table 2: Details of final interviewees
Name Designation Organization State/ Country
Ben Grossman Communication
Strategist
Oxford
communication
New Jersey, USA
Guy Bevan Planning Director Publicis Modem Northampton, UK
Dinesh
Chindarkar
Global Country Head Global HealthPR Mumbai, India
Tara Coomans Social media Strategist Akamai marketing Hawaiian islands,
USA
Anonymous Social media
Consultant
Not disclosed Mumbai, India
Anonymous Digital marketer Not disclosed London, UK
3.6 Type of Interview
Once the interviewees were identified, they were offered a choice for the type of
interview. Due to the geographical distance however, personal in-depth interview
was not feasible. Hence, they were given an option of email interview, interview
through instant messaging or video interview. They were also given the option of
anonymity.
Out of the 6 interviews, only one person agreed for video interview. For this purpose
again, the use of social media tool proved useful. The latest interactive online
communication platform launched by Google called as ‘Google+’, has the facility of
video conference, instant chat , video share all built in one. This medium was used
conduct the video interview. It was possible to gain better in-depth insight through
video interviewing.

40
The remaining five candidates agreed for an email interview. Out of the five, two
candidates choose anonymity. In case of the email interviews, every question needed
a bit more of explanation, probing wasn’t a possibility this possessed a challenge.
However the interviewees were open to follow up questions and for the explanation
of some of their responses.
3.7 Interview Questions
A set of interview questions was prepared generated during the initial reading of
literature and from wide reading from books, white papers, blogs, magazines etc. It
was important to ask same questions to all the interviewees as the method of analysis
was to constantly compare the answers given by each interviewee The following
questions were asked to interviewees.
• Are there any specific challenges for FMCG brands in creating social space
compared to other product brands?
• How different is Social media as a ‘marketing channel’, compared to other
traditional marketing communications mediums?
• How important it is for the marketers to understand the use of different tools
within social media (e.g. facebook, twitter, and blogs), while building Social
Media plan for a FMCG brand?
• Can social media serve some other purpose, besides just being used as
marketing tool, especially in context of FMCG brands?
• Are there any guidelines/ rules or key elements that one follows or takes into
consideration for developing social media strategy for brand?
• What aspect of the social media do you think FMCG brands should take into
account while setting a platform?

41
• How can social media be helpful in influencing consumers in their decision
making journey?
• Do “Influencers” play major role in successful social media strategy?
3.8 Method of Analysing the Interviews
The method best suited for analysis of interview data was using Constant comparison
analysis. Analysing the transcripts from the interviews becomes easy by means of
constant comparisons as this method helps in forming categories or key themes.
(Hewitt and Taylor, 2001).
Each of interview transcripts can be broken down into data bits and emerging
themes, ideas, keynotes and can be compared and contrasted. As Tesch (1990) puts it
“the goal is to discern conceptual similarities, to reﬁne the discriminative power of
categories, and to discover patterns.”
The responses gathered from all the interviewees were broken down and were
grouped together in one document; this was done for each of the questions
separately. This method provided a better feasibility for a quick look at the responses
to examine if there were any recurring themes that emerged. The response of first
interviewee was compared to the second and so on and so forth and a code was
assigned to specific ideas, topics and issues that evolved. By doing this a common
line of thought and ideas emerged and they were put into categories.
The detailed analysis of the interviews is discussed in the next chapter.

42
CHAPTER 4. ANALYSIS OF INTERVIEWS
4.1 Introduction
As mentioned in the previous chapter, six in-depth interviews were conducted as a
part of primary research that were important in helping to understand how FMCG
marketers can influence consumers through social media. They also helped in
identifying key strategies which FMCG brand marketers can make use of while
creating a social media platform for their brand.
This chapter will further discuss the result and findings from analysing these
interviews and will draw out some of the key themes that emerge by using the
constant comparison method of analysis. The interview analysis is done by
comparing the answer by each interviewee to each of the question that was asked,
for better understanding.
4.2 Do FMCG brand marketers face any specific challenges to use social
media?
At the start of the interview, each of the interviewee was asked if they think that the
FMCG sector faces any specific challenges in using social media. This question was
put forth to gauge the effectiveness of this media for marketing FMCG brands.
There was common consensus that there are specific challenges in marketing FMCG
brands through social media. The specific challenge was the fact that FMCG
products are low engagement products means that marketing them in social space is a
challenge. As Ben Grossman (Appendix A) said

43
“The obvious challenge is that, because these are often low-risk investments,
consumers often go through a significantly shorter active evaluation cycle prior to
buying the products.”
Also in social media context building brand recall for FMCG brand pose challenge
that was identified. As the product purchase doesn’t happen in social media space but
at supermarket store, where there are several different brands lined up on single
shelf.
“it is a bit of challenge for FMCG to build a top of the mind recall of the brand with
social media, nobody is necessarily going to buy something because they liked page
of it on Facebook” – Dinesh Chindarkar (Appendix B)
“the problem FMCG brands face is the fact that few people really identify with these
types of brands as part of ‘who they are’. I mean, who really identifies with their
toilet paper brand?” – Tara Coomans
However, Ben Grossman was of the opinion that inspite of the challenges FMCG
brands also have an advantage of utilizing social media platform
“the fact that FMCG brands are generally purchased continually and without much
thought also yields a major advantage to FMCG brands in other forms of social
media”
In understanding the effectiveness of the social media for FMCG brands, it was
found that since these are low involvement products, high level of engagement with

44
the consumers on social media is important for influencing consumers buying
decisions. As Tara Coomans suggests
“FMCG brand like toilet papers who creates a community based on what’s
important to Moms, without actually directly advertising their product, but rather
providing a platform for mother’s to connect and being part of delivering solutions
to parenting challenges.”
And this comment by Ben Grossman can be found to support the same rationale,
“though social media might not help consumers make the first purchase decision, it
is what keeps them making a specific decision over and over, because it helps form
relationships with consumers”
To draw a conclusion from these responses it can be said that for FMCG brands
especially, connecting emotionally with consumers, building relationships with them
and developing community of followers on social media platform are more important
than merely advertising or promoting a brand.
4.3 How different is social media compared to other marketing channels?
Based on the views, social media when compared to traditional marketing channels is
different in several aspects. In traditional channels such as print media, television etc
where marketer sends out message say in the form of advertisement and the
consumer receives it, it act as one way messaging channel, where marketer has
balance of power. Social media on other hand acts as two-way communication
medium. As one of the interviewee (anonymous) puts it

45
“Communication requires listening, question asking, engaging. One-way messaging
doesn’t require any of these things. Social media is about conversation”
“It (social media) doesn’t create an intrusion for consumers as the traditional
mediums would do, that’s biggest difference”- Dinesh Chindarkar
It can be said that social media cannot be used the way traditional media is used. It
can be useful in conversing or having a dialogue with consumers and not bombarding
them with marketing messages. As one of interviewee said
“it can never be used in the same way as traditional media where it is always a one
way conversation with a brand pushing a product in your general direction to see if
you like it”
“social media is dynamic ,brands who embrace this inherent element of social media
often end up learning things about their consumers” –Tara Coomans
It was observed that the responses had a slight trend towards identifying social media
as being better and more effective communication medium than a marketing channel.
In comparison, the balance of power seems to lie with consumers when it comes to
social media, hence understanding consumers and their needs and wants is essential
than just advertising the brand.

46
4.4 How important it is to understand different tools within social media?
Social media tools mentioned here basically consist of various web – based
applications which have been mentioned in the introduction( pg. no 10) , each of tool
serve a purpose based on its application type for eg Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Blogs etc. It was thus essential to ask the practitioners their take on how important it
is for brand marketers to understand different features and uses of these tools. Each
of the interviewee was of the opinion that it is extremely important for marketers to
recognize and understand various tools, applications within social media.
“Each platform has a distinct and yet nuanced culture and expectations. Marketers
MUST understand these micro-cultures before they jump in”- Tara Coomans
They were also of the opinion that, it is not just about knowing different tools but
also understanding the significance; these tools can have in shaping the brand in
social space and thus indirectly impacting consumers as well. Guy Bevan said
“ it is important for marketers to understand which tool can be work well with the
kind of message it has to send out, if there isn’t much to talk about, twitter feed is not
going to be of any help”
It can therefore be concluded, in the words of Ben Grossman “it is extraordinarily
important for marketers to have an extraordinarily thorough understanding of social
media principles” to build a social space for an FMCG brand to drive the right type
of customer towards the brand in that space.

47
4.5 Can social media serve other purpose besides marketing in case of FMCG
brands?
Social media platform is known to marketers as new marketing communication
channel. Considering this research study involves FMCG sector, it was felt important
to ask whether social media can serve some other purpose besides just being a
marketing medium.
It was surprising to find out that, most of the interviewees did not consider the use of
social media as an effective marketing communication channel in context of FMCG
sector. Dinesh Chindarkar strongly stressed on this point by saying
“social media as marketing channel ranks 3rd
, first would be it’s a market research
tool, getting consumer insight is at its best through social media…….second would
be as a listening medium….. listening to what consumers are saying and then as
marketing channel”.
It was observed that in case of FMCG sector, social media can be best used as market
research medium to draw consumer insights about the brands and products. As Guy
Bevan puts it “it can probably be used to measure sentiment to a brand”.
It can be deduced that, it is best suited for FMCG brands to create a social media
platform to monitor and listen to the consumer’s and their needs and wants.

48
4.6 Which aspect of social media should be utilized by FMCG brands?
As it has been discussed in the introduction, social media can be utilized in different
ways for different purpose, this question was put forth especially to understand what
aspect of social media should the marketers utilize for FMCG brands, how it can be
best influential. However, there was initial discrepancy in understanding the
question, so it was elucidated further by asking them whether social media platform
of an FMCG brand should be utilized for advertising or as interactive platform or act
as customer response centre etc.
From the responses it seemed that, to use any aspect of social media varies from
brand to brand, depending on what objective brand wants to achieve by its presence
on social media. There isn’t any “one size fits all” method that can be influential.
Given that, one point was particularly highlighted was, social media is best utilized
to engage with consumers. In the words of Ben Grossman
“No matter what a brand really wants to accomplish in social media, it will be forced
to also see social media as a place for consumers to engage with the brand”
“Engage the audience early and understand what they are looking for. It’s that
simple” – Guy Bevan
The responses also suggests that brands should experiment with different aspect of
social media, although not blindly but by monitoring and understanding their
consumers first. As stated by Tara Coomans

49
“Experiment is key thing, it may work it might not work…….. But, if you listen to
your consumers first and then plan…... the probability of it working out is much
more”.
4.7 What impact can social media have in influencing consumers in their
decision making journey?
As discussed in the literature review, consumers are more receptive to influences
during certain stages of their decision making journey. It thus seemed important to
ask how social media can help in influencing consumer in their decision making
journey.
Each one of the interviewee had different take on this, one of them stated that
“Emotional connections are far more powerful than product or promotion”
Since social media allows brands to directly interact with consumers, if brand can
build emotional bond with them, then it can influence their decisions in choosing that
brand over other while making purchase. Social media can help brands to remain on
the top of mind of consumer, irrespective of where purchase happens.
An interesting point made by Ben Grossman was, that a brands presence on social
media can impact the consumer during ‘active evaluation’ and ‘post evaluation’
stages of the decision making journey.(Appendix A) This fact strengthens, the point
made in consumer decision making theory, discussed in the literature review
chapter.( pg. no 28)

50
4.8 Role of ‘Influencers’ on social media in impacting consumers.
As briefly mentioned in the literature review( pg. no 30) , influencers are no different
than consumers but have a potential to influence people, so understanding the role
played by them on social media platform seemed important.
Amongst the responses there was general agreement that influencers do play a major
role on a social media platform. However, influencers may not necessarily always
have a positive influence; they can sway in both directions. As Dinesh Chindarkar
puts it
“consumers trust what his friends would say or recommend ,social media provides
just that ‘people who are just like me’ the consumers would listen to peers, common
man rather than a celebrity telling them how good the product”.
It was also inferred from the responses that there are different types of influencers,
some who just express their opinion, some are fan followers and there are brand
ambassadors, who openly propagate about the brand. These influencers can also be
negatively influential. So, it is important for the brands to recognize and utilize the
right influencers, while creating their social media plan. Ben Grossman said
“influencers also assist in moving social media from a one-to-one (less efficient)
medium to a one-to-many (high efficiency)”.
It can be understood that influencers do have a potential to widely spread brand
awareness.

51
CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION
5.1 Findings and Discussion
After reviewing and analysing each of the interviews, there were several interesting
insights and key themes that emerged. The findings from the interview can be briefly
summarized as follows:
• Social media can be best utilized as listening medium and for gaining
consumer insights rather acting as a marketing medium for FMCG brands.
• It can be best used for monitoring and tracking consumer conversations,
feedback, views they have about the brand.
• As social media offers direct contact with the people; it acts as a better
platform for understanding the needs and wants of their customers rather than
advertising or promoting a brand.
• Social media can act as platform to keep the consumer ‘engaged’ with the
brand.
• Social media cannot be used in isolation for marketing a FMCG brand; it has
to be a ‘part’ of integrated marketing communications plan.
• On social media platform, consumers “speak their mind”, hence for a brand it
is essential to have system in place for online reputation management.
• Social media platform can be utilized differently by several different brands,
hence adapting to new tools on social media and experimentation is the key.
This process helped in identifying and formulating key strategies, which are now put
forth.

52
5.2 The Key Strategies
In conclusion, the following are 10 key strategies that were drawn upon, that can
help FMCG brand marketers to make use of social media platform for their brand to
influence the consumers.
1. Humanize the brand: When setting a social media platform, if a brand has more
“human” voice than a marketing tone, it can help in connecting with the
consumer better. Consumer need to identify and relate to the brand in order to
bond with it. Hence such a brand can remain at the top of the mind of consumer,
while purchasing the product.
2. Message is the key: It is very important to communicate the right message to the
audience; the message should be of interest to the consumers, which they would
like to share with their social peers, which could perhaps be spread through
‘word of mouse’.
3. Listen and monitor: The best use of social media is for listening to consumers,
monitoring their conversations in social space. It is this way that brands can get
into the minds of consumers.
4. Know the social media tools: Before delving into social media space, it is
important to know the pros and cons of different tools and also to identify the
best fit for achieving its marketing goal. For e.g. Facebook can act as effective
medium for consumer engagement, twitter for consumer response.

53
5. Interact and engage: Social media for FMCG brands means less marketing and
more interacting. So the strategy is to interact first, engage the consumer and then
sell the products.
6. Connect to consumer emotionally: Social media is best used to understand and
connect to consumers and to know their views and perspectives about the brand
and if the consumers can connect to a brand on emotional level, it helps brand
build relationship with the consumer.
7. Identify and utilize influencers: It is important to identify right influencers of
their brand. The strategy is to find them, cultivate them and utilize them to
transform the consumers from fan followers to brand ambassadors.
8. Build consumer response platform: In the social media, it is of utmost
importance to maintain continuity of dialogue with consumers. It is essential to
track and manage these conversations. Hence the resources required to keep this
in momentum need to be aligned before creating a social media space for brand.
9. Plan for long term: For FMCG brands, social media is about building and
maintaining relationships with its consumer, hence it is important to plan a social
media platform in such a way that it can sustain in the long run.
10. Adapt and Experiment: Social media space is continuously expanding and there
are several different new tools to utilize and as mentioned before there is no “one
size fits all” strategy that can be implemented for all brands. Hence adapting to
new tools and experimenting with them is the vital for the brand to influence its
consumers.

54
5.3 Limitations
One of the main limitations of researching social media subject is the paucity of
academic literature. Hence it was difficult find theoretical base to support the
research study with the available literature. The practitioner’s literature mostly seems
like opinion journalism and the lack of peer reviewed literature posed a challenge. In
terms of primary data collection, one of the limitations was less number of
interviewee candidates. The ratio of number of potential candidates targeted to the
ones who agreed for interview turned out to be very less.
Another limitation associated to it, was the type of interview conducted. Since email
interview had to be conducted due to the geographical distance, in-depth probing of
the questions was not possible. Although the email interviews were very descriptive
in nature, the emotional tone of voice can be better captured through face to face
interviews. Another limitation that must be mentioned is, due to less number of
interviews, the findings from the interview could not be significantly generalised.
5.4 Implications for future research
Since this research study lacked in gaining very in-depth insights from the social
media practitioners. A further research could be undertaken with larger sample size.
Also it would be interesting to gain insight from FMCG brand marketers themselves,
as to how confident they are in utilizing this medium.
As mentioned in this research study, since the field of social media is rapidly
evolving, these strategies will also have to evolve with time. Hence the implication
for future research would be to know how newer tools within social media can be
effectively used.

55
REFERENCES
Ahonen, T. & Moore, A. (2005), Communities Dominate Brands, UK, Future Text
Anderson C. (2006), The Long Tail, New York, Random House.
Andreas M. Kaplan, Michael Haenlein (2010), Users of the world, unite! The
challenges and opportunities of Social Media, Business Horizons, 53, 1, 59-68
Arndt, J. (1967), Role of Product-Related Conversations in the Diffusion of a New
Product. Journal of Marketing Research, (4) ,291-295
Arndt, J. (1976), Word of Mouth Advertising: A review of the Literature 1st
edition.
New York Advertising Foundation, New York
Bansal, H. S. and Voyer, P. A. (2000), Word-of-mouth processes within a services
purchase context. Journal of Service Research, 3, 2, 166–177
Barnes, N. G. & Mattson, E. (2009) Social Media in the 2009 Inc. 500: New Tools &
New Trends,[Online] Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/jaycampbell/social-
media-in-the-2009-inc-500-new-tools-new-trends-2633542 [Assessed on 9th
April
2011]
Bhattacharya, C. B., & Sen, S. (2003). Consumer–company identification: A
framework for understanding consumers’ relationships with companies. Journal of
Marketing, 67(2), 76– 88.
Blackshaw, P. & Nazzaro, M. (2004). Consumer-Generated Media (CGM) 101:
Word-of-mouth in the age of the Web fortified consumer. [Online] Available at:
http://www.nielsenbuzzmetrics.com/whitepapers [Accessed on 22nd
August, 2011]
Blackwell, R.D., Miniard, P.W., Engel, J.F. (2001). Consumer Behaviour. Orlando,
FL., Harcourt College Publishers.
Bone, P.F. (1995), Word-of-Mouth Effects on Short-Term and Long-Term Product
Judgments, Journal of Business Research, 32, 2, 213-223.
Brito, M (2007), Measuring Social Media Marketing: It’s Easier than you Think!
[Online] Available at: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/measuring-social-
mediamarketing- its-easier-than-you-think/5397 [Assessed on 9th
August 2011]
Bryman A and Bell, E. (2007). Business Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Buttle, F. A. (1998), Word-of-mouth: understanding and managing referral
marketing, The Academy of Marketing Annual Conference, 100-106.

56
Catterall, M., & Maclaran, P. (2001), Researching consumers in virtual worlds: A
cyberspace odyssey. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 1(3), 228– 237.
Constantinides, E., (2004): Influencing the Online Consumer’s Behaviour: The Web
Experience, Journal of Internet Research, 14, 2,111-126.
Constantinides E. & Fountain S. J. (2008). Web 2.0: Conceptual foundations and
marketing issues. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 9 (3),
231-244.
Dan Zarrella (2011) The Facebook Marketing, O’Reilly Books.
Dellarocas, C. (2003). The Digitization of WOM: Promise and Challenges of Online
Feedback Mechanisms. Management Science, 49, 10, 1407-1424.
Dichter, E. (1966) How WOM advertising works. Harvard Business Review, 131-44.
Dick Stroud (2008), Social networking: An age neutral commodity -Social
networking becomes a mature web application, Journal of Direct, Data and Digital
Marketing Practice 9, 278 – 292.
Dholakia U.M., Bagozzi R.P., Pearo K.L,(2004) A social influence model of
consumer participation in network- and small-group-based virtual communities,
International Journal of Research in Marketing.21, 241-263.
Druery.G (2008), Opinion piece: Social media: Should marketers engage and how
can it be done effectively? Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice 9,
274 – 277.
Edelman.D .C (2010) Branding in the Digital Age: You’re Spending Your Money in
All the Wrong Places, [Online] Harvard Business Review, Available at:
http://hbr.org/2010/12/branding-in-the-digital-age-youre-spending-your-money-in-
all-the-wrong-places/ar/1 [Assessed on 9th
August 2011]
Erasmus, A. C (2001). Consumer decision-making models within the discipline of
consumer science: a critical approach. Journal of Family Ecology and Consumer
Sciences, 29, 82-90.
Engel, J. F., Blackwell, R. D., Miniard, P. W. (2006). Consumer Behaviour 10th
edition, Thomson South- Western publishing.
Ennew, C. T. (1993). The Marketing Blueprint, Oxford: Blackwell.
Evans. D, (2008). Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day. John Wiley & Sons.
Hoboken, NJ, USA
Evans M, Jamal A, Foxall G (2009). Consumer Behaviour 2nd
edition, John Wiley
&Sons ltd.

57
Facebook (2011). Statistics. [Online] Available at:
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics [Assessed on 12th
August 2011]
Fischer, E. and Reuber, R. (2011), Social interaction via new social media: (How)
can interactions on Twitter affect effectual thinking and behaviour?, Journal of
Business Venturing, 26, 1, 1–18
Foux, G. (2006, May 8). Consumer-generated media: Get your customers involved.
Brand Strategy, 38-39.
Foxall, G. R. (1997) 'Consumer decision making' in M. J. Backer (ed.), The
Marketing Book, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Freberg, K, Graham K.,McGaughey K, Freberg L (2011). Who are the social media
influencers? A study of public perceptions of personality,Public Relations Review,
37,1, 90-92
Futurebuzz (2009) Social Media, Web 2.0 And Internet Stats. [Online] Available at:
http://thefuturebuzz.com/2009/01/12/social-media-web-20-internet-numbers-
stats[Assessed on 12th
April 2011]
Gillin, P. (2007). The new influencers: A marketer’s guide to the new social media.
Sanger, CA: Quill Driver Books.
Glaser, B. G. & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies
for qualitative research. Chicago: Aldine.
Glowa. T (2001).Understanding how consumers make complex choices.[Online]
Available at: http://www.glowa.ca/Understanding_consumer_behaviour.pdf
[Assessed on 12th
August 2011]
Godes, D.& Mayzlin D..(2004). Using Online Conversations to Study Word-of-
Mouth Communication. Marketing Science. 23(4): 545–560.
Golia, N. (2009). Dos and don'ts: Measuring social media.[Online] Available at:
http://www.dmnews.com/dos-and-donts-measuring-social-media/article/126712
[Assessed on 12th
April 2011]
Gordon M (2010), Fmcg brands not even sure they should be in social media. The
wall –Social, media, marketing blogged. [Online] Available at:
http://wallblog.co.uk/2010/06/11/fmcg-brands-not-even-sure-they-should-be-in-
social-media/ [Assessed on 9th
April 2011]
Harrell, M. C., Melissa A. B.(2009) Data Collection Methods: Semi-Structured
Interviews and Focus Groups. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2009.
[Online] Available at:
http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/technical_reports/2009/RAND_TR718.p
df [Assessed on 9th
April 2011]

58
Haven.B. (2007) Marketing’s New Key Metric: Engagement, Marketers Must
Measure Involvement, Interaction, Intimacy, And Influence. [Online], Forrester’s
research Inc, Available at:
http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/marketings_new_key_metric_engagement/q/i
d/42124/t/2 [Assessed on 9th
April 2011]
Hawkins, D.I, Best, R.J, Coney, K.A (2001), Consumer Behaviour,8th
edition, New
York, USA: Mc Graw-Hill.
Helm, S., (2000), Viral Marketing- Establishing Customer Relationships by Word-
of- Mouse, Electronics Markets, 10, I3, p.158-161.
Hennig-Thurau, T., Gwinner, K.P., Walsh, G. and Gremler, D.D. (2004) E- word of
mouth via consumer-opinion platforms: what motivates consumers to articulate
themselves on the Internet? Journal of Interactive Marketing, 18 (1), 38-52.
Herr, P. Frank, K. & John K. (1991). Effects of WOM and Product- Attribute
Information on Persuasion: An Accessibility-Diagnosticity Perspective. Journal of
Consumer Research, 17, 454-462.
Hewitt. J & Taylor B (2001) Use of constant comparative analysis in qualitative
research, Nursing Standard Official Newspaper of the Royal College Of Nursing, 15,
42, 39-42
Howard, J. A. (1977) Consumer Behaviour: Application of Theory, New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Howard, J. A. and Sheth, J. N. (1969) The Theory of Buyer Behaviour, New York:
John Wiley and Sons.
Kaplan Andreas M., Haenlein Michael, (2010), Users of the world, unite! The
challenges and opportunities of social media, Business Horizons, 53, 1, 59-68.
Katz, E., Lazarsfeld, P. (1955), Personal Influence, Free Press
Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Saunders, J. and Wong, V. (1996) Principles of
Marketing: The European Edition, Hemel Hemstead: Prentice Hall Europe.
Kozinets, R.J. (1999),E-tribalized Marketing?: The strategic implications of virtual
communities of consumption, European Management Journal, 17, 3 , 252 – 264.
Kozinets R.J, (2002) The field behind the screen: using netnography for marketing
research in online communities, Journal of Marketing Research, 39, 1, 61-72
Kozinets.R.,Valck.K.,Wojincki.A.,Wilner.S.(2010).Networked Narratives:
Understanding Word-of-Mouth Marketing in Online Communities, Journal of
Marketing, Vol.74, Issue 2, 71-89
Lamb C.W, Hair J.F, McDaniel C, (2006) Essentials of Marketing. South-Western.
Li, C, & Bernoff, J. (2008). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social
technologies. Boston: Harvard Business Press.

59
Mangold, W. & Faulds, D. (2009), Social media: The new hybrid element of the
promotion mix, Business Horizons 52 (4), 357-365
Mayfield, A. (2008, August 1). What is social media?, iCrossing [Online],Available
at:
http://www.icrossing.co.uk/fileadmin/uploads/eBooks/What_is_Social_Media_iCros
sing_ebook.pdf [Assessed on 12th
April 2011]
McKenna, K. Y. A & Bargh, J. A. (1999). Causes and consequences of social
interaction on the internet: A conceptual framework. Media Psychology,1, 249– 269.
Mckinsey Quarterly (2009), The Consumer Decision Journey. [Online] Available at:
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/The_consumer_decision_journey_2373
[Assessed on 9th
August 2011]
Morgan.A (2010), Case Study crunch fmcg social media studies, The Cube, [Online]
Available at:http://redcubemarketing-blog.com/2010/06/23/case-study-crunch-fmcg-
social-media-case-studies.[Assessed on 9th
April 2011]
Mowen, J. & Minor, M. (2006). Consumer Behaviour a framework. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Murdough, C. (2009). Social Media Measurement: It's Not Impossible. Journal of
Interactive Advertising, 10 (1), 94-99.
Neilson (2009), Global Faces and Networked Places-A Nielsen Report on Social
Networking’s New Global Footprint. [Online]Available at:
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-
content/uploads/2009/03/nielsen_globalfaces_mar09.pdf [Accessed on 13th
August,
2011]
Nicosia F.M (1966), Consumer Decision Process, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-
Hall.
Park, D.H. & Kim, S. (2008).The effects of consumer knowledge on message
processing of electronic word-of-mouth via online consumer reviews. Electronic
Commerce Research and Applications, 7(4), 399.
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative evaluation and research methods (3rd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Pingdom. (2010, February 10). Twitter: Now more than 1 billion tweets per month.
[Online], Available at: http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/02/10/twitter-now-more-than-
1- billion-tweets-per-month/ [Assessed on 12th
April 2011]
Postmes, T Spears, R.& Lea, M.(2000). The formation of group norms in computer
mediated communication. Human Communication Research, 26(3), 341– 371.
Ramsey, G. (2006). Digital marketing strategies in the age of consumer
control.[Online] Available at:

60
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1003886&src=article_head_sitesearch
[Assessed on 9th
April 2011]
Sassenberg, K. (2002). Common bond and common identity groups on the internet:
Attachment and normative behaviour in on-topic and off-topic chats. Group
Dynamics, Theory, Research and Practice, 6(1), 21– 37.
Sheth, Jagdish N. Mittal, Banwari (2004),Customer Behaviour: A Managerial
Perspective 12th Edition, Thomson/South-western Publishing.
Solis.B, (2010). Defining Social Media: 2006-2010. Brian Solis, [Online] Available
at: http://www.briansolis.com/2010/01/defining-social-media-the-saga-continues/
[Accessed on 21st
August, 2011]
Tesch, R., (1990). Qualitative Research: Analysis Types and Software. London:
Falmer press.
Valck,K.,Bruggen,G.,Wierenga,B. (2009), Virtual communities: A marketing
perspective, Decision Support Systems, 47, 185-403
Vollmer.C, & Precourt, G (2008). Always on: Advertising, marketing, and media in
an era of consumer control. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Walters.G.C & Paul.G.W( 1970). Consumer Behaviour: An Integrated Framework,
Irwin-Dorsey Ltd,Homewood, Illinois
Weinberg, Tamara 2009. The new Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web.
O’Reilly Media Inc. Sebastopol, CA, USA.
Wilkie, W. L. (1994) Consumer Behaviour 3rd
edition, New York: John Wiley and
Sons.
Winter, G. (2000). A comparative discussion of the notion of validity in qualitative
and quantitative research. [Online] The Qualitative Report, 4(3&4). Available at:
http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR4-3/winter.html [Accessed on 21st
August, 2011]
Word of mouth marketing association (WOMMA) (2010), WOM 101, [Online]
Available at: http://womma.org/wom101/ [Accessed on 21st
August, 2011]
Zaltman G, (2003) How customers think- Essential Insights into the Mind of the
Market, Harvard Business School Press, Boston

61
APPENDIX A
Interview with Mr Ben Grossman, Communication Strategist at Oxford
Communication.
[Interview via email, response received on 16th
August, 2011]
Info: The content marked in the bracket indicates the additional detail provided to
interviewer for a better understanding of the question.
1. Do you think there are any specific challenges for FMCG brands in
creating social space compared to other product brands?
(Given the fact that these are low involvement products and consumers take
relatively less time in making purchase decisions?)
Yes—but it is important to note that there are both challenges and advantages
for FMCG brands in the social media landscape. The obvious challenge is
that, because these are often low-risk investments, consumers often go
through a significantly shorter active evaluation cycle prior to buying the
products. The absence of more intensive active evaluation means that
consumers are less likely to rely on some common forms of purchase-driving
social media, such as forums, recommendations from online acquaintances,
ratings and reviews.
That said the fact that FMCG brands are generally purchased continually and
without much thought also yields a major advantage to FMCG brands in
other forms of social media. First, FMCG brands are usually curated well by
brand managers, and thus, have a compelling brand story and image that can
play out splendidly through social media. More brand-centric forms of social
media, such as social networking site brand pages (i.e. Facebook) and content
sharing sites (i.e. YouTube), allow brands to play out fully and establish
loyalty. In other words, though social media might not help consumers make

62
the first purchase decision, it is what keeps them making a specific decision
over and over, because it helps form relationships with consumers.
2. How different would you say is ‘Social media’ as a marketing channel,
compared to other marketing communications mediums? ( say for eg
traditional media such as TV Advertising, Print media, email etc)
The most major way social media is different as a marketing channel is that
other channels are a one way communications stream. That is, the advertiser
creates the message; it is filtered through a channel and received by a
consumer.
Social media means that messages go through a different communications
cycle. Sometimes the advertiser creates the message and sometimes the
consumer does. Sometimes that message is filtered through a paid channel
and sometimes it is filtered through a consumer generated content channel.
Ultimately, it may be received by a consumer or rejected by a consumer (i.e.
unsubscribe). Finally—and this is the very new part—the consumer often
gives feedback based on the message that comes to them. Sometimes it is
received again by the advertiser and sometimes it is just the beginning of
another message being sent to another consumer (i.e. ratings and reviews).
3. How important it is for the marketers to understand the use of different
tools within social media (eg facebook, twitter, blogs), while building
Social Media plan for a FMCG brand?
It is extraordinarily important for marketers to have an extraordinarily
thorough understanding of social media principles and details while building
a social media strategy for an FMCG brand. Even if the plan does not directly
involve use of social media, all marketers have to know that consumers are
going to take their brands there whether they like it or not. Even if a marketer

63
tries to ignore the channel in their plan, they better have a crisis response
plan, or else face major risk when their product ends up in social media in a
poor light. It’s much easier to cope with crisis when presences are already
established and respected.
4. Do you think Social media can serve some other purpose, besides just
being used as marketing tool, especially in context of FMCG brands?
( eg for market research, consumer insight , research & development etc)
Social media can and will certainly serve other purposes than marketing in
any context. Brands can draw out invaluable insights about their products,
consumers and marketplace. All of that information should better inform the
formation of products and campaigns alike. Of course, social media, just like
as a marketing channel, should serve as one part of a solid research method
mix.
5. Presently, are there any guidelines/ rules or key elements that one follows
or takes into consideration for developing social media strategy for
brand?
While most marketers know there are no rules to the profession (other than
legal ones), there is a general process that is used for developing social media
strategy for a brand:
Step 1 – Assess business challenges: For businesses to see value in social
media, strategies must be designed to overcome business challenges. Do you
need to get better at customer service? Do you need to encourage incremental
sales? Do you want to tap into consumers for research and development?
Step 2 – Create marketing goals: One marketing tactic likely isn’t going to
solve a business’s entire challenge, so it is important to define what part of

Identifying Key Social Media Strategies for FMCG Brands to Influence Consumers through Social Media- Dissertation Thesis by Prachi Salvi

Identifying Key Social Media Strategies for FMCG Brands to Influence Consumers through Social Media- Dissertation Thesis by Prachi Salvi

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Identifying Key Social Media Strategies for FMCG Brands to Influence Consumers through Social Media- Dissertation Thesis by Prachi Salvi

Similar to Identifying Key Social Media Strategies for FMCG Brands to Influence Consumers through Social Media- Dissertation Thesis by Prachi Salvi (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Identifying Key Social Media Strategies for FMCG Brands to Influence Consumers through Social Media- Dissertation Thesis by Prachi Salvi