The Age of Social Influence

7/31/2019 The Age of Social Influence

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Methodology

This project was part o Initiatives Consumer

Connections global research program which nowspans in excess o 50 countries. Our studys sample

was designed to identiy those actively engaged in

social media. As a result we conducted 8014 online

interviews with consumers aged 18-54. Interlocking

age/gender and regional quotas were set to reect the

national population in each country, the only exceptions

being China where the ocus was on Tier 1, Tier 2 and

Tier 3 cities and Canada where the Nunavut, NWT,

Yukon regions were excluded. We used complex

actor analysis to identiy drivers o social behavior. Thisenabled us to quantiy consumers social inuence and

identiy those who are leveraging their superior social

connections to inuence purchase decisions.


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The importance o social media has been discussed at length

or several years now. We know that in many markets time spent

online has surpassed that o TV and that daily social media usage is

continuing to increase.

We know that the once linear and transaction-centric purchase unnel

is now multi-directional, random and heavily inuenced by opinion and

inormation gathered by consumers. And we know that because o

social media and technology, consumers can now enter the purchase

cycle at various points, and spontaneously inuence others as theytravel along the path the purchase.

But do we really understand how marketers can unlock the real value

o all this? Do we know how social media works with other more

established media? And do we know how to harness the power o

social media or real commercial gain?

In order to fnd answers to some o these crucial questions, Initiative

set out to explore the individual and combined strength o TV, social

and mobile, and how consumer interaction with each has altered thepath to purchase. Specifcally, we wanted to investigate:

Howdoweproducegreatersynergybetweenoursiloed

media,socialandmobilebudgetsandtacticsthatresultina

greaterreturnoninvestment?

Whataretheimpactofsocial,TVandmobileonshopper

decision-making?

Whatroledoesconsumerinuenceplayalongthepathto

purchase?

To do so, we conducted a global online study among 8014 web users

aged 16-54 across eight countries: Argentina, Australia, Canada,

China, Germany, the Netherlands, the US and the UK. We also spoke

one-on-one with a group o super inuencers in the US and the UK to

gain a better understanding o social behavior.

THE AGE OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE


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For many years, orward-thinking marketers have called or greater

integration between their online and oine touchpoints in the hope o

creating a multiplier eect that drives greater reach and scale. However,

our study ound that while the integration o social, TV and mobile

has indeed altered the way consumers make decisions about brands,

it is not because o their ability to simply multiply brand messages.

Increasingly, consumers are becoming the driving orce powering what,

when and where brand interactions occur. Based upon our fndings,

Initiative believes that by leveraging the consumers natural inclination

to engage with media across multiple screens and social media, wecan create a consumer-powered media synergy effect that is both

non-linear and emotional - driving deeper engagement and trust. The

result is an acceleration o the purchase process unobtainable by any

o the three media independently.

We have identifed three strategies or marketers that use the combined

power o social, mobile and TV to navigate through the complexity:

MEdIA SyNErGy ACCELErATES

THE pUrCHASE prOCESS

THE SOCIALINFLUENCER

TAPPING INTO

THE POWER SOURCE

POINT OFINFLUENCE

TRANSFORMING A

CALL TO

ACTION

INTO A

SYNERGY

OPTIMIZING

TOUCHPOINTS

TO PRODUCE1 2

3

Thee stategies o maketes


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TAppING INTO THE pOwEr SOUrCE

THE SOCIAL INFLUENCEr

First, marketers must seed messages with consumer inuencers who

have the ability to quickly and eortlessly ampliy brand messages

across their large social circles. While this is not a new idea, social media

has changed the size o inuencers in the population and the speed

with which messages can spread. Back in 1962, sociologist Everett

Rogers popularized the Diusion o Innovation theory estimating that

only 2.5% o a given population are innovators, being the frst to adopt

new innovations and inuence others to try them. We identifed that

10% o online users have a disproportionate share o inuence - we

ocused on this group and called them the Top 10%. These superinuencers are defned by several key attributes and behaviors: having

higher levels o media consumption, a social predisposition and wide

category shopping; being more likely to research products online and

make recommendations to others.

These social extroverts have signifcantly larger social circles than

those with lower inuence and a higher proportion o their regular

social contacts (every 1-2 weeks) are communicated with online.

REGULAR

FACE TO FACE CONTACT

BUT NONE ONLINE

REGULAR

FACE TO FACE CONTACT

PLUS ONLINE

REGULAR

ONLINE CONTACT

BUT NONE FACE TO FACE

2110

387

469

TOP BOTTOM10%10%

INFLUENCERS INFLUENCERS

Average number of people in my social circle

Base: Web users aged 16-54 years of age

Focus ou maketing on the most infuential

1


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TOP BOTTOM10%0%

LAPTOP

98% 97%TABLET

53% 5%SMARTPHONE

86% 30%OTHER MOBILE

25% 46%

DEVICES OWNED

Talk on a smartphone

Send or receive email

Text on a smartphone/mobile

Access a social networking site/microsite

Chat using instant messaging services

Read an online forum/discussion

Send an MMS/picture message on a mobile

Socialise with others at home

Contribute to an online forum/discussion

Socialise with others outside the home

Participate in online gaming

Video conference

88%

84%

84%

77%

77%

60%

58%

58%

52%

52%

48%

38%

25%

64%

26%

47%

9%

14%

2%

27%

7%

12%

9%

2%

More thanonce a day Oncea day More thanonce a week Every1-2 weeks Every3-4 weeks Less often Never

22%

1% 1% 1% 2% 1%

25%

69%

30% 31%

9%

5%2% 1%

FREQUENCY OF RECOMMENDINGA PRODUCT OR SERVICE ONLINE

SOCIAL ACTIVITIES ON AND OFFLINE

INFLUENCERS INFLUENCERS

Base: Web users aged 16-54 years of age


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Media synergy also demands that marketers re-evaluate how they

perceive media and its role in the purchase process. Too oten,

media is relegated to driving awareness, consideration and buzz, but

i planned properly media can make a much bigger impact. When

selectively combined, TV, social and mobile create a dynamic path to

purchase that speeds up the overall decision-making and purchase

process, while making shoppers eel good about their choice.

We discovered that each medium examined in our study was ound to

have core strengths (see right). We also ound that certain countrieshad a greater afnity or social and mobile as a marketing vehicle. For

instance, in Argentina, online users are more likely than other countries

in our study to think social media helps you share important ino

about a brand with others, (70%), fnd out more about a brand that

you are interested in, (57%) and provides you with an unbiased and

trusted recommendation about a product/service or a brand, (51%).

On the other end o the spectrum, online users in the Netherlands had

the least avorable perceptions about social medias role in marketing.

Only 24% believe that social media provides unbiased and trusted

brand recommendations and a little over a third (36%) think it is helpulor sharing brand inormation.

When it comes to internet-enabled mobile, Chinese online users

have a greater afnity or mobile with 77% having personal use o a

smartphone compared to 58% o total online users in our study. Their

mobile usage is also more varied as they use their smartphones in the

ollowing ways more than once a week: 63% - wif access, 61% - mp3

player, 57% - video camera, 41% - instant messaging, 40% - video

player.

It is no surprise that they also rate mobile more avorably as a vehicle or

interacting with brands. For them, mobile provides basic inormation

about brands (41%), is a way to fnd out more about a brand that you

are interested in (40%) and share important inormation about a brand

with others (38%).

Media planners and buyers are well versed in the role o media as

a communication vehicle, but now must expand their expertise to

include how dierent combinations o online and oine media perorm

as a point o inuence.

OpTIMIzING TOUCHpOINTS

TO CrEATE SyNErGy 2

Case stu: Caling

Carling Black Label wanted to get

consumers to reappraise the brand. The

beer brand signed a fve-year sponsorship

deal with South Arican soccer giants Kaizer

Chies and Orlando Pirates to leverage theanaticism around ootball and engage with

nearly 90% o its target audience. With the

critical insight that everybody wants to be

a coach Carling Black Label organised a

match between the two Soweto giants

and let the ans choose the teams. Driving

both awareness and participation would be

critical or the success o the campaign.

Initiative Media used a combination o TV

and print to call or the couch coaches

to choose players. Social media was then

used to encourage interaction betweenthe ans, and mobile and online advertising

was used to drive people to the brands

Facebook page. Over 10.5 million team

votes were recorded and over 11 million

bottle tops were redeemed. Carling Black

Label had the highest awareness o

promotions advertising in the beer market

during the campaign.


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56%MAKING YOU

AWARE OF

NEW BRANDS50%

HELPING YOU SHARE

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

ABOUT A BRAND

WITH OTHERS

37%HELPING YOU

FIND OUT MORE

ABOUT A BRAND

32%HELPING YOU

FIND OUT MORE

ABOUT A BRAND

33%INCREASING YOUR

LOYALTY TO AFAVORITE BRAND

36%PROVIDING YOU

WITH A TRUSTED

RECOMMENDATION

ABOUT A BRAND

48%PROMPTING YOU

TO TRY OR BUY

A BRAND

46%INCREASING

THE APPEAL

OF THE BRAND

43%GIVING YOU

BASIC INFORMATIONABOUT A BRAND

TV ADConvincing consumersof their wants and desires

SOCIALInfluences byleveraging peerand expert advice

MOBILEInstantly connectsconsumers to in-depthproduct information

Q: Thinking about the range of different resources - social media, internet enabled mobiles/smartphones, TV shows and TV ads - which of the tasks shown here are these things good at?Base: Web users aged 16-54 years of age

Meia sneg: Ho touchoints ok togethe


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40%

Mobile phones

& services

PC, laptops

or tabletcomputers

Travel, flight

or hotel

Household

appliances

Home

entertainingequipment

Fashion,

clothing &accessories

Beauty or

personal careproducts

30%

20%

10%

RESEARCHED

OR TALKED

ABOUT ONLINE

BEFORE BUYING

PURCHASED

THROUGH A

SOCIAL MEDIA

WEBSITE

RESEARCHED

USING SOCIAL

MEDIA

Webusers*

Q: Which of these products/services have you ever...* Percentage of web users who have shopped for the listed categories in the last two years and used social touchpointsBase: Web users aged 16-54 years of age

Social meias shee o infuence


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TrANSFOrMING A pOINT OF

INFLUENCE INTO A CALL TO ACTION

Consumers are organically having conversations about brands prior

to purchase, but marketers are not always using these conversations

as a distinct point o inuence on the path to purchase. We also ound

that these points o inuence occur across categories.

Once marketers can establish where their points o inuence are or

their category and brands, we think there is an opportunity to create

social environments that transorm organic community conversations

into product inormation portals. Once inside the portal, consumers

seeking brand inormation should be given the option to obtain moreinormation, participate in a brand experience that underscores brand

benefts, request a sample or more personalized inormation or link to

make a purchase.

By converting inuence into action, marketers can use media more

eectively, and improve the consumer and shopper experience by

providing relevant inormation and expediting the shopping process. In

return, consumers are more likely to share positive experiences about

brands with their communities and hopeully become brand loyal.

Case stu: Kia

Optima, one o Kias core sales vehicles

was relaunching with an upgraded product

oering. Optima now had innovative and

uturistic brand attributes, but was more

positioned among mature drivers. We

needed to attract a younger audience and

get people talking about Optima in a newway. The NBA, with its All-Star game, would

be an ideal platorm to engage our social

inuencers. Kia came up with an idea that

would get these key inuencers talking

and drive the social conversation all the

way to Kias website. We collaborated with

basketball star Blake Grifn, who agreed to

jump over a Kia Optima during the All Star

game. The conversation on social platorms

caught fre, driven by our partnership

athletes and celebrities who were all

tweeting about the jump. Search and social

worked in tandem and there were overlays

on YouTube with a clear call to action

driving people to the Optima Explore page.

And Kias audience certainly heeded the call

Kia saw a 24% increase in sales ollowing

the All-Star weekend.

Imlications o maketes

Buildbrandedplatformsandtoolsthathelpamplifythe

socialcuratorsvoice.

Gofarbeyondthe30-secondspotandcreateadditional

content,suchasbehindthescenesfootage,historical

timelinesandculturalassociations.Thesewilldrive

discussionsandprovidealinktobranddiscovery.

Enlistateamofbrandandcategoryrelevantsocial

inuencerstopreviewnewproductsandcampaigns,

stimulatedialogueanddisseminatecontentalongthe

pathtopurchase.

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Fin ou ans To 10%

In addition to the robust consumer segmentation studies conducted

by many marketers to create clusters o consumers based upon

purchasing behavior, we suggest completing a comprehensive analysis

o social inuence. This would be achieved by determining which

consumers have the potential to inuence the purchase decisions o

others. Our Inuencer Multiplier is a proprietary scoring method that

quantifes the relationship between sociability, purchase behaviour,

and media consumption.

The Inuence Multiplier can be used to optimize media plans by

ensuring that the Top 10% are adequately represented within the

consumer audience. Since they are an inuential source o category

and brand inormation, their inclusion allows brand messages to reach

more people in less time. On a global basis, marketers can use the

Inuence Multiplier to help prioritize media budgets between markets

based upon the strength o national scores. We have ound that

individual market scores vary due to the dierent media landscapes,

stage o technological development and cultural drivers. Our analysissuggests that a marketing message is more likely to spread quickly in

markets with a higher Inuencer Multiplier score.

HOw TO CrEATE A MEdIA SyNErGy

EFFECT FOr yOUr brANdS


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Ceate immesive multi-sceenexeiences

Marketers can design personal brand experiences by creating

media synergy across multiple screens that provide a meaningul

and actionable brand experience. This can be achieved by careullystudying the consumers media multitasking behavior, their path to

purchase, and understanding their motivations and preerences (eg,

unique content, access and experiences). By leveraging these insights,

a message broadcast to the masses on television can directly create

a personal, customizable, consumer-powered experience in search,

mobile, and social media.

These immersive brand stories are already being told by brands such

as H&M, Century 21 and GE who are using TV to direct viewers to

a richer online or mobile brand experience, as seen in campaignsexecuted during this years US Super Bowl. For example, brands that

made the most o their Super Bowl advertising investment ($3.5m or

a 30-second TV spot) led with TV with visible calls to action, such

as a URL or Twitter hashtags. Successul brands intuitively navigated

their consumers to other paid media, such as search and mobile,

complementary owned media and earned media touch points. Social

was then used to extend the experience and brand engagement with

relevant social response. (IPG Mediabrands Digital Marketing Report

2012 Super Bowl)

Case stu: F&N

Sot drink brand F&N in Malaysia had been

synonymous with un or many years, butwas under attack rom Fanta which was

encroaching on its space and growing

market share. In order to regain its territory,

Initiative Malaysia tapped into the dance

reality phenomenon and created a massive

dance mob that saw TV and social

working in combination across a ull multi-

screen experience. The F&N Custom Song

& Dance was introduced via Malaysias frst

outdoor augmented reality screen (utilizing

the largest LED screen in the country).

People learned the dance moves and saw

themselves live with the virtual dancers. The

experience then extended across TV with

celebrity hosts picking up the dance moves

online through F&Ns Facebook page

and then amplifed with online coverage

by the leading online newspapers. With

86% o the youth target engaged via

the campaign, F&N saw a massive 18%

increase in spontaneous brand awareness

and maintained its market-leading position.


Anticipateonline/ofineinteractionsacrossmultiple

screens.Bereadyfor24/7connectivity,immediate

search-and-nd,andon-demanddelivery.

Setasideanemergingtechnologyexplorationbudget

tobecomecomfortablewiththeunknown.Keeping

yourngeronthepulseistheonlywaytostayaheadof

socialinuencers.

Forgetwaitingtodiscussmust-seeTVaroundthe

watercooler,activateSocial+TVtogiveviewers

theopportunitytojoininrealtimediscussionand

connections.


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Integate evething

Media synergy is not business as usual, it requires new belies,

practices and organizational structure. While many have adopted

integrated marketing in theory, nearly 20 years ater its conception,

most organizations unction in separate silos. To create a media

synergy eect, marketing departments such as brand management,

advertising, media and digital, as well as their accompanying budgets

will need to be integrated. I physical integration o a companys

marketing departments is not easible, then an integrated planning

approach with requent communication among cross-disciplinary

teams is a must.

Integration is also required outside o an advertisers marketing

department. Marketing will need to work more closely with other

departments such as customer service or retail/trade to activate,

monitor and respond to conversations occurring at the points o

inuence. Additionally, marketers will need to seek new methods

o collaboration among groups o agency, media and technology

partners that may have once seemed unimaginable. Those who are

nimble enough to adapt to new work styles or have the capability to

deploy technology solutions that acilitate integration will win.


TrainteammemberstobecomeT-shapedbeing

specializedhasitslimitations.Marketingorganizations

needtalentwithbroadercommunicationsexpertiseand

thatabilitytocreativelysolveproblems.

Bringtheteamtogethertocreateteamrespectthat

drivescollaboration.Encourageanagencyexchange

programacrosspartners.Designatetimeforspecialists

inmedia,advertising,design,digitalandpublicrelations

togainrespectforaspectsofbuildingconnections.

Learnhowideasareoriginated,cultivated,executed

andoptimized.


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1 Target the power source. Target the top 10%o inuencers in order to accelerate marketingeectiveness.

2 Engage with social inuencers early and oten. Theyhave the power to make or break campaigns. Testbrand messages with them pre-launch and careullymonitor their eedback during the duration o the

campaign.

3 Go ar beyond the 30-second spot and createadditional content, such as behind the scenesootage, historical timelines and cultural associations

to drive discussion and provide a link to branddiscovery.

4 Enlist a team o brand and category relevantsocial inuencers to preview new products andcampaigns, stimulate dialogue and disseminate

content along the path to purchase.

5 Integrate everything. Encourage an agencyexchange program across partners. Designate timeor specialists in all agencies to gain respect or

aspects o building connections.

FIVE ESSENTIAL TAKEOUTS

FOr MArKETErS


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AbOUT INITIATIVE

Initiative is a perormance-led media communications company.

Initiative believes that all marketing should be perormance-driven. Data, analytics, insight and innovation are

central to all our services, and we hold ourselves ully accountable to client business goals. This commitment to

perormance is at the heart o Initiatives unique process and culture.

Owned by the Interpublic Group, Initiative is part o media management group Mediabrands and a partner o Magna,

IPGs centralized media negotiation entity. Initiative employs more than 2500 talented proessionals, working in 89

ofces across 71 markets, worldwide.

Initiatives comprehensive range o perormance-led communications services include: research and insight, media

planning and buying, digital communications solutions, content creation, and evaluation and accountability services.

CONSUMEr CONNECTIONS

Through our Consumer Connections program o research, we are connected to 230,000+ consumers across more

than 50 markets. We interact with these consumers to understand purchase patterns and media behaviors across

continents to bring resh insight into their lives and the role o the brands they use. The powerul single source data

we gather as part o this programme also inorms planning decisions delivering enhanced ROI or our clients.

.initiative.com

Documents

The Age of Social Influence