Social Marketing Brand Advocates SMK07-C04

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Brand Advocates
Creating Rewarding Relationships
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Advertisers often use viral campaigns and social marketing to encourage brand advocates to engage, create content, and spread messages.

Research Topics
Viral Marketing Consumer-Created Content Engagement Metrics

Key Questions
What characterizes brand advocates online? How can marketers successfully target and engage brand advocates?

July 31, 2007 Lead Analyst

Emily Riley

Key Finding
Twenty-four percent of online adults are influential brand advocates, but they spend more time online researching and purchasing than spreading the word, and prefer mainstream media to social media when researching products. Social marketers should target this group with product microsites, product previews, and sweepstakes, rather than blogs and user-generated content (UGC).

Contributing Analyst
David Card

Research Director
Zia Daniell Wigder

Intended for the sole use of JupiterResearch clients. All opinions and projections are based on JupiterResearchs judgment at the time of publication and are subject to change. For more information on JupiterResearchs services, including syndicated research and custom research tailored to the specific needs of your business, visit www.jupiterresearch.com, e-mail researchsales@jupiterresearch.com or call 800 481 1212 (North America), +44 (0) 20 7903 5020 (Europe) or +1 212 389 2032 (rest of world).
2007 JupiterResearch, LLC/SMK07-C04 COPYRIGHT STRICTLY ENFORCED

Brand Advocates: Creating Rewarding Relationships 2

Brand Advocates Are Discerning and Active Consumers

Brand advocates make up nearly one-quarter of online users, and their age, gender, and income do not vary widely compared with the average online user. Rather, brand advocates can be defined by their savvy research and purchase behavior and high rate of online activity. On a monthly basis, 69 percent of brand advocates research products online and 68 percent purchase, compared with 52 percent of all online users who research and 54 percent who purchase. While 76 percent of brand advocates prefer to look for a good deal on a product, quality trumps price. The most important factors for brand advocates when purchasing products are reliability (80 percent) and value for money (86 percent), whereas only 46 percent of brand advocates prefer to buy products simply because they are low priced. Brand advocates also seek out next-generation products; one-quarter of brand advocates purchase new and innovative products compared with 16 percent of all online users, and one-in-five are the first in their group to purchase new gadgets, compared with one-in-ten online users. While many brand advocates are loyal to brands they like, they are not afraid of being critical when disappointed; more than one-quarter of brand advocates have posted negative reviews online compared with 12 percent of all online users.

2007 JupiterResearch, LLC/SMK07-C04 COPYRIGHT STRICTLY ENFORCED

Brand Advocates: Creating Rewarding Relationships 3

Brand Advocates Focus on Product Information and Purchase, Less on Engagement and Viral Activity
Fig. 1 Brand Advocates Social Media Use
Used a search engine to find out more information Purchased online 45% 33% 39% 29% 33% 22% 20% 11% 13% Posted an opinion or other writing 8% 12% Interacted with the ad right on the site 8% 12% Forwarded an advertisement to a friend 7% 9% Uploaded photos or videos 0% 6% 20% 40% 60% 80% Percentage of Users, by Segment Brand advocates Overall 100% Engagement Purchase/ Research

Purchased in a store Told a friend about the advertisement or product

Question: Which of the following activities have you engaged in as a result of viewing advertising online in the past 12 months? (Select all that apply.) Source: JupiterResearch/Ipsos Insight Individual User Survey (6/07), n = 3,580 (US), n = 847 (brand advocates, US) 2007 JupiterResearch, LLC

Contrary to many social marketers expectations, brand advocates spend more time researching products and services than they do advocating them. Brand advocates are much more likely to exhibit characteristics of classic influentials (whose friends ask them for advice before purchasing products) than of new influentials (who spread brand messages), indicating that brand advocates have an impact on only a small group of friends and family, but that their opinion is very trustworthy. Brand advocates are valuable to marketers because they have many of the same influential traits as classic influentials, but are even more likely to recommend particular brands that they like. In fact, 53 percent of brand advocates are also classic influentials, compared with 33 percent who are also new influentials. Marketers should be wary of focusing too narrowly on the brand advocates who are also new influentials. This combination group is small, and many social marketing campaigns attempt to engage them, creating clutter and campaign fatigue. Of all viral activity or brand engagement, brand advocates are most likely to tell a friend about an ad, which emphasizes the fact that brand advocates have influence over a close group of people. Marketers who wish to encourage widespread online viral activity or UGC will have better luck targeting the entire group of new influentials. (See Marketing to Influentials: Identifying the New Influentials, Social Marketing, November 7, 2006.)

2007 JupiterResearch, LLC/SMK07-C04 COPYRIGHT STRICTLY ENFORCED

Brand Advocates: Creating Rewarding Relationships 4

Marketers Must Reach Brand Advocates Through Mainstream Information Outlets

Fig. 2 Brand Advocates Trust of Online Resources
Brand advocates Overall Brand advocates Overall Brand advocates Overall Brand advocates 40% 34% 46% 32% 34% 24% 14% 2% 11% 7% Posting on company site 5% Posting on forum/message board 30% Company site 26% 14% Professional review

Overall 10% 2% Brand advocates 13% Overall 9%

Question: When researching a product for purchase, how trustworthy do you find the following sources when it comes to providing information about product quality/performance? Source: JupiterResearch/Ipsos Insight Individual User Survey (6/07), n = 3,580 (US), n = 847 (brand advocates, US) 2007 JupiterResearch, LLC

2% Blog 2% 2% Advertisement 2% 20% 40% 60% 80% Percentage of Users, by Segment 100%

Brand Advocates 11% Total 9% 0%

Somewhat trustworthy Very trustworthy

Brand advocates are more likely to consume social content than create it. Thirty-five percent of brand advocates read blogs and 32 percent visit social networking sites. However, brand advocates typically go to mainstream sources when researching product information, as many are untrusting of UGC. The gap between brand advocates trust of information on a company site or a professional review compared with their lower trust of UGC is wider than for typical online users. Therefore, social marketers who want to target brand advocates should focus campaigns on sponsored product information and learning-based engagement rather than encouraging consumer content creation. Microsites should have a lot of product detail and reviews to appeal to brand advocates interest in product research. Marketers will have a relatively easy time targeting and attracting brand advocates if they use the right tactics. Both behavioral and content targeting are likely to attract brand advocates, of which 53 percent are more likely to pay attention to online ads that fit their interests and 29 percent pay attention to ads that fit their current activity. In addition, marketers must actively purchase search keywords that match brand messaging and link to rich product information. Forty-five percent of brand advocates go to a search engine to research more information as a result of seeing an online ad compared with 33 percent of all online users. Marketers should also use traditional database marketing to reach brand advocates; more than one-half of brand advocates enter sweepstakes as a result of seeing an ad, and more than one-third sign up for e-mail newsletters.

2007 JupiterResearch, LLC/SMK07-C04 COPYRIGHT STRICTLY ENFORCED