Gender Gaps on Social Media Marketing

#GenderSMM

Hajin Choi @hchoi37

Huanchao Tang @veryhal

Index #GenderSMM

Social Media TrendsResearch Objective & TheoryGender Difference in MediaQualitative ResearchMid-ConclusionCase Studies: GE, Topshop, Uniqlo, JaguarOpinionsConclusion & Recommendation

Internet Trends in the U.S.

87% of American adults use the internet as of today.

90% of them have a cell phone.

58% have a smartphone.

73% of American internet users use social networking sites.

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Social Media Trends

SM Usage by Age Group

Adults ages 18-29 = 90% Adults ages 30-49 = 78% Adults ages 50-64 = 65%Adults ages 65&+ = 46%

Used social networking sites in 2013.

#GenderSMM

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Social Media Advertising Trends

Social Marketing = Mobile

The video opportunity

Native expansion

Social ads get more programmatic

Moving beyond the walled garden

Location makes a comeback

New venues, new ad opportunities

(source: http://www.emaketer.com)

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Leading Social Networking Sites

Facebook is still the number one active site.

Image-driven sites such as Instagram and Snapchat are the fastest growing sites.

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Research Objective

To analyze gender behaviors toward marketing messages in different social media platforms.

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Interpretative and Interaction Theories (Source: http://ow.ly/vn1cd)

Symbolic Interactionism (Source: http://ow.ly/vui7m)

Communication Theories #GenderSMM

Research Questions

RQ1. Are women more attracted to image-driven social media practices?

RQ2. Do men tend to respond toward text-driven marketing tools?

RQ3. What is the best advertising practice to men and women in social media?

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Gender Difference in Media

“Females are more expressive and can send messages more clearly via using nonverbal clues” (Dennis, Kinney & Hung, 1998)

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“Women are more likely than men to express agreement or ask for another’s opinion, to provide nonverbal or back-channel support for other speakers, and to use other conversational devices that serve to draw out one’s conversational partner” (Eakins, 1978）

Gender Difference in Media

“Men are perceived to make faster decisions and more likely to achieve as much information as possible.” (Maguire, 1998).

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“Young men reveal early signs of “networking fatigue” with declining interest in participating in social media communities.” (Clipson, Wilson and DuFrene, 2011)

Gender Difference in Media #GenderSMM

Women

● Decode, understand, and use nonverbal

cues better than men

● Focus more on social-oriented activities

● Understand other’s gestures and facial expression

better than men

● Maintain relationships and develop intimacy

by driving conversation

● Use social media for self-expression and connecting with friends and family

Men

● Focus more on task-oriented activities

● Use social media for news sources and

networking with professionals

● Intend to achieve certain goals by

communications

● Have clear purposes in using media

Gender Difference and the Use of Social Media

“Women tend to use social media in order to self-publish, self-represent, and have a voice in the public sphere.” (Humphrey and Vered, 2013)

Male Female

Message Text-Driven Image-Driven

Purpose Task-Oriented Relationship-Oriented

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SNS Usage Based on Gender Difference

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71.4% Pinterest users are female as of December 2013.

Online Survey #GenderSMM

Which social media platform do you think is the most masculine vs feminine?

Masculine Feminine

SNS Usage Based on Gender Difference

(Source: http://www.govtech.com/)

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The Reason for Using Social Sites - Men

(Source: internetsericeproviders.org)

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The Reason for Using Social Sites - Men

(Source: internetsericeproviders.org)

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The Reason for Using Social Sites - Women

(Source: internetsericeproviders.org)

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The Reason for Using Social Sites - Women

(Source: internetsericeproviders.org)

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Compare Social Networking Sites #GenderSMM

Google+Instagram

PinterestLinkedIn

Compare Social Networking Sites #GenderSMM

v

Brands have to consider the main marketing objective to choose different social media platform to express their campaign.

Men are the most active users in content-driven sites.

Linkedin & Google+ is the perfect platform to achieve their goals rather than interacting with other users.

Women are very active in relationship-oriented sites.

Pinterest is still the number one female-driven social media because its nature.

#GenderSMMMid-Conclusion

GE on LinkedIn

#GenderSMMCase Study - GE

Brief: To enhance GE’s reputation as a thought leader in the energy and healthcare industries.

Solution: Use LinkedIn to reach potential buyers - heads of companies. Thus, a serious, powerful, accountable, responsible, straightforward, and masculine voice was needed.

Results: Average of 6% interaction rate with Content Ads on LinkedIn generating over 1,300 unique content downloads. There are high levels of conversations, virality, and traffic for initiatives on LinkedIn due to relevant content and voice of male-driven brand.

#GenderSMMCase Study - GE

#GenderSMMCase Study - Jaguar

Brief: As a re-modernized high-end automobile brand, Jaguar wanted to engage with professionals and business buyers to show that these prestigious cars are within their reach.

Solution: Jaguar was maintaining consistent brand voice through LinkedIn regarding social media campaign. Jaguar created a Company Page on LinkedIn as an online showroom for the brand. More importantly, Jaguar doubled the chance to reach out potential buyers via LinkedIn. The brand was able to reach high-value businessmen, such as C-level executive and generate earned media through their recommendation.

Results: Jaguar has more than 13,000 followers and more than 420 member recommendations. It has successfully turned followers into brand advocates on LinkedIn.

#GenderSMMCase Study - Jaguar

(Source: http://www.aiga.org/)

#GenderSMMCase Study - Uniqlo Storm

Brief: Build national awareness of the japanese brand, and introduce the pinterest community to UNIQLO.

Solution: simply creating buzz interaction on Pinterest.

Results: UNIQLO earned more than 6 million mentions on Twitter, and garnered 55 million earned media impressions. Uniqlo+Pinterest was featured by 64 media outlets, including blogs like Mashable, Adage and Business Insider. This added 37 million media impressions.

#GenderSMMOpinions

“A platform like Pinterest seems to attract more women in that it offers the opportunity to create pin topics like recipe pages, wedding pages.”

Jacqueline Colette ProsperEditor and Social Networking StrategistLinkedin

Elizabeth LillySocial Media Strategist Robin Baron Design@Elizabeth_Lilly

“There's definitely a gender gap in Pinterest, as it is mostly populated with women. I'd say it's the most apparent amongst social media platforms. If you're trying to drive commerce in women, it would be wise to use Pinterest.”

Ellen YangSocial Media Strategist at Coffee Meets Bagel San Francisco, California Linkedin

“The most important factor to consider when choosing a platform to target men is probably quantity because men likes to see a lot of options vs women prefer quality of how useful it is.”

● Women are more attracted to image-driven social media practices.

● Men tend to respond toward content-driven marketing tools.

● Understanding the gender gap is essential for marketers to develop strategies.

● Brands should understand the gender gap when planning social media campaign.

#GenderSMMConclusion

What is the best advertising practice to men and women in social media?

Share your opinion on Twitter using #GenderSMM, Thank you!

#GenderSMMConclusion