Digital communications is today's leading marketing force, owing to the fact that consumers have candid conversations about brands online. Yet, it is more challenging to derive insights in a category where there are excessive brands, or where the category overpowers the brands, making it virtually 'brandless'. Illustrated by a butter/margarine case study, Sourabh and Mario revealed how to revitalize your digital communications with greater effectiveness in such a scenario. Welcome to the social media world of butter.

1. expect great answers
Using social media in a brandless category
Improving digital communications through effective
and actionable social media research
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2. 90%of people trust online peer recommendations
14% trust advertisements
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3. 2 of 3 social media users believe twitter influences purchases
50% of people follow brands on social media
46% of social media users post brand related content
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4. 4

5. what if I am
brandless
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6. SKIM conducted “fieldwork” (web scraping) across the social media universe on
the spreads category, focusing on butter and margarine for a period of 1 year
Discover what you can learn about the overall
category
Understand how to impact digital communications
Develop actionable recommendations for
margarine producers
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7. How things came about: background

8. Social Social
Classic Media Media
Research Monitoring Research
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9. sssourabh
sssourabh
tried to make my favorite
American cheesecake in
Rotterdam a bit more
healthy by using
margarine in the frosting.
#bitter #cake 
25 minutes ago
Getting ready for
#SKIMSPIRATION!
1 hour ago
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10. The social media research method

11. “Using real butter
to make my 25th
birthday cake for
my party in
Miami!”
IP tracking Allusion to demographics
Publicly available
geographic data in verbatims
demographic data
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12. 2. Fieldwork 3. Customized analysis and
1. Design Study
Internet Scraping and Coding output
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13. 1. Design Study
sssourabh
• Author
sssourabh
• Date
tried to make my favorite
American cheesecake in • Location
Rotterdam a bit more
healthy by using • Hashtags
margarine in the frosting.
#bitter #cake  • Context
25 minutes ago
Getting ready for
#SKIMSPIRATION! • Emotions
1 hour ago
• Personality
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14. 2. Fieldwork
Internet Scraping and
Coding
• Very Positive
Consumer • Words
• Positive • Emoticons
• Location
• Neutral • Associations
• Demographics
• Negative
• Psycographics
• Very Negative
• Usage context
• Decision making
Sentiment Emotions
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15. 3. Customized analysis and
output Campaign
effectiveness
Innovation and Competitive
ideation comparisons
Social Media
Research
Netnography
Find product
and
flaws quickly
psychographics
Supplement
traditional
research
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16. In spreads, it’s all about usage

17. 2%of butter conversations mention brands
9% of margarine conversations mention brands
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18. brandless
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19. usage
General Cooking
Baking
“I use it for everything except baking. Butter is
Frying the only thing that will do when baking.”
Grilling Community Post, July 2012
Roasting
Recipes “I really think butter vs. margarine in baking is
more texture than taste. Butter seems to give a
better chew to cookies than margarine does.”
Butter Margarine Forum Comment, July 2012
N (butter) = 17032
N (margarine) = 532
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20. location context
Kitchen
Personal Use
“Fresh butter on fresh bread in my Fastfood Restaurants
kitchen – the best way to eat it.”
Discount Stores
Blog, March 2012
Hotels
“Ruth Chris Steakhouse has the best Casual Dining
steaks - maybe because they are
sizzling in butter” Butter Margarine
Blog, June 2012
N (butter) = 12148
N (margarine) = 677
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21. dig
deeper
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22. I love my butter, but not my margarine

23. Sentiment:
Continuum of negative to positive
perceptions/sentiment
Increasing Passion Hate Love Passion:
Conversations that are extreme
Dislike Like
Increasing Positivity of Sentiment
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24. Sentiment:
Continuum of negative to positive
Increasing Passion Butter
perceptions/sentiment
Passion:
Conversations that are extreme
Size of Bubble:
Volume of conversations
Margarine
Increasing Positivity of Sentiment
N (butter) = 125148
N (margarine) = 8094
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25. The taste versus health debate

26. Taste:
Continuum of negative to positive
perceptions of taste
Yummy! Best for me! Health:
Continuum of negative to positive
Tasty, not Healthy Healthy and Tasty perceptions of health
Taste
Why bother? Good for me!
Neither Healthy nor Tasty Healthy, not Tasty
Health
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27. Taste:
Continuum of negative to positive
perceptions of taste
Butter Health:
Continuum of negative to positive
perceptions of health
Taste
Size of Bubble:
Volume of conversations
Margarine
Health
N (butter) = 10015
N (margarine) = 3677
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28. What stands out about these spreads?

29. taste
Butter Margarine
importance by buzz
Increasing order of
Tasty Strength
“You could use margarine if
Moderate Strength
Salty you like, but personally I think
Fresh taste Neutral butter is the best option (in
Moderate Weakness terms of taste) ”
Sweet
Weakness
Youtube Recipe, June 2012
Spicy
“Ohh the disappointment when
Increasing Volume of Buzz
you realize the butter you
bought isn't salted. :'(
#RuinedCrumpets.”
Twitter User, May 2012
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30. health
Butter Margarine
Nutrition & Vitamins
Healthy “A major advantage of
importance by buzz
Increasing order of
Strength
Diet Friendly margarine is that it is
Moderate Strength
cholesterol free.”
Low Fat Neutral
Reddit, June 2012
Organic Moderate Weakness
Calories Weakness
Sodium “Butter is natural, and
will obviously have more
Increasing Volume of Buzz vitamins and nutrition
than its fake substitutes.”
Blog, Jan 2012
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31. functional
Butter Margarine
Small sized
“I love that my margarine
Color
importance by buzz
Increasing order of
Strength stays soft in the fridge!”
Use at hot temperatures Moderate Strength Blog, December 2011
Texture Neutral
Ease of use Moderate Weakness
Large sized
Weakness “My butter was rancid after
Greasiness just a couple of days and
this wasn't even the
Use at cold temperatures
summer time when the
ambient temperature
Increasing Volume of Buzz would turn it into goo!”
Community, March 2012
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32. the frequent chatters and followers

33. Gender Age
Butter 43% 57% Butter 4% 50% 39% 7%
Margarine 45% 55% Margarine 52% 41% 5%
Male Female < 18 18-34 35-65 >65
N (butter) = 42322
N (margarine) = 2138
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34. 40%
Butter
20%
Margarine
0%
N (butter) = 125107
N (margarine) = 8094
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35. butter
It evokes emotions of
happiness
It is used in cooking
and frying (especially
to fry snacks)
Young and middle
They talk mostly on
aged consumers talk
forums and blogs It is consumed in the
about butter
household by men,
alongside the entire
family
They talk about taste It is used during breakfast
elements or as toppings at other
mealtimes (e.g. on meats,
burgers)
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36. margarine
Concerns include
the debate of
They focus natural ingredients
on areas of
both taste
and health It is used in
Young and middle They talk mostly cooking, especially
aged consumers on forums, blogs baking
talk about and online
margarine communities Health issues
include healthy
meals, menu It is consumed by
individuals, or by
offerings, and
members of a
weight loss household
They often talk
about it as a
substitute to butter, It is used most
and compare to often for breakfast,
other oils too mainly on toast
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37. what do we take away?

38. A healthy option with Develop perceptions
low fat and low of saltiness,
calories, which is tastiness and
non-greasy and easy freshness, with a
to use. Substitute to creamy texture.
butter/oils depending Target by usage
on messaging types.
medium.
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39. Extreme preference
behavior
Comparative behavior
Product overpowers
brand
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40. Join our online
A creamy texture for community for
cookies that taste tasty recipes
perfect - every time you and healthy
bake! tips!
Keep your cake tasty A healthy way to start the day
without the calories for you and your family
The best thing to put on toast for a healthy breakfast.
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41. use social media research hereafter

42. Branded or brandless
You can learn from your
consumers.
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43. Quantitative study
Stand alone
validation /
Netnography social media
Concept and complementary Campaign / research study
claims study launch
generation effectiveness
Big brand or small brand,
social media will tell you a story.
Listen.
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44. contact us or follow us online!
SKIM | Social Media
Mario Coelho Sourabh Sharma
Project Manager Social Media Research Expert
m.coelho@skimgroup.com s.sharma@skimgroup.com
+ 44 203 586 7239 + 201 953 8430
@sssourabh
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#SKIMspiration
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