Social media boosts your brand trust among your consumers, okay, I am NOT the first to say this but do you really think consumers trust your brand online communications (blogs, micro-blogs and community sites etc) easily, because there is a difference between how people and how brands perceive social media?.
I was intrigued by a recent conversation with a friend on why do people have low trust factor on brands online communications? and what it takes to build such trust? after I found a Forrester research report released in December-2008 that highlights few people trust the data in your brand online communication channels like corporate blogs and social network profiles pages despite growing adoption of social media.
Below are the trust factors used by people in decreasing preference:
As you can see from above report data - corporate blogs and social networking profiles of a company or brands are the least trusted sources of information for consumers - while this trending is changing as more people are adopting social media platforms as not only their personal life streaming channels but also as knowledge/information sharing medium.
So why people don’t trust brand online communications easily? .
Building online trust is one of the challenging tasks for marketing and communication folks at organizations as they tend to push marketing messages on product or service or brand through online channels. Thanks to growing online participation behavior of consumers - brands cannot fake what they are to new users or prospects. It is known fact that people are increasingly becoming averse to marketing messages, forced selling or spamming with ads and claims of “the best” by every brand.
McDonald’s is using an interactive bill board advertisement with a giant LED screen as an entertaining experience where people can take pictures of holding dumbbells, umbrella, airing balloons, blowing out birthday cake candles and many other amusing things. This smart entertaining experience initiative from McDonald is attracing lot of attention and spreading viral among locals & tourists visiting London.
It is known fact that people do spend time online to research information before making product or service purchase decisions (like automobiles, electronics, gadgets, lifestyle products, high-end service offerings, gauge product experience among it’s consumers, brands customer support experiences and many other things ) and also to understand particular brands reputation among it’s users to choose which brand product/service to buy - so your band online reputation and advocacy has a key role to play in influencing prospects purchase decisions.
Why online brand advocacy and reputation are important?
Consumers doesn’t make purchase decisions in isolation instead spend time online to find out product feedback among it’s current users.
Web provides a quick and easy way to understand particular product/service quality, customer service and brand reputation feedback almost instantly.
Current online reputation of a brand has great influence on the purchase decision of new prospect.
Positive online reputation helps brands in spreading word-of-mouth marketing or social media marketing campaign initiatives and create loyal online brand advocates.
Consumer curiosity and online brand advocacy are two new main dimensions impacting product purchase.
Creating a positive online brand reputation has significant importance because that’s where your consumers go to research their purchase decision so it is essential for brands to monitor, manage and create positive brand or product experience among it’s consumers.
The Nielsen Online conducts Brand Advocacy Quotient research, an ongoing quarterly measurement of consumer advocacy toward brands, based on a combination of online survey data & consumer experiences shared through online buzz.
Key highlights from nielsen online automotive brands report:
Toyota has strong online brand advocacy (positive) among all automobile brands.
Quality is one of the largest drivers of both brand advocacy and brand detraction.
Price and value also drive advocacy, especially for lower priced brands Hyundai and Kia.
Brand perception problems may also effect it’s online reputation.
I handle the product development at GizaPage, a social media hub and apps platform to help brands build and manage their social identity.You can connect with me on @amnigos or drop me an email to vijay [at] gizapage [dot] com
