As marketers, our customers needs and wants should be at the heart of everything we do. But what does a somebody want when they sign up to follow your brand on Facebook or Twitter?
The obvious answer is ‘discounts’, which is part of, but not the whole story.
Certainly, research shows this is by far and away the primary motivation for people to follow a brand on Twitter, as you can see from the table below. Reasons such as ‘I am a Current Customer’ and ‘Interesting or Entertaining Content’ trailled in a poor 2nd and 3rd behind ‘Exclusive Deals or Offers’.
Reasons Internet Users Follow a Brand on Twitter
But for Facebook, the picture is a little more complex. Recent research from ExactTarget shows that although the desire to ’Receive Discounts and Promotions’ is the no.1 motivation for Facebook users to follow a brand, it’s very closely followed by the desire to show support for a brand to others.
Motivations for Liking a Company, Brand or Association
This contrast in motivations between the users of the 2 social networks is a reflection of their differing functionaility. On Twitter, people are likely to follow more brands as the visibility of those connections is low and therefore those connections are likely to be looser. Twitter clearly recognises that most of the ‘person to brand’ associations on its platform are offer-driven, hence the launch of their own @EarlyBird service earlier this year.
On Facebook, however, ‘liking’ a brand creates a wall post that is fed into a fan’s friend’s newsfeeds and leads to a permenant listing of that brand alongside other interests such as Movies, Books and Music on their profiles. Hence, a Facebook ‘Like’ is more likely to be a venue for personal self expression than a follow on Twitter, or an even an email sign up.
This would suggest that Facebook followers are more likely to be brand advocates, with potential to spread valuable word of mouth. Of those brand advocates, some will be ‘max connectors’, those with over 500 connections, looking for more and deeper engagement than just deals – perhaps as fuel to enhance their role amongst their friends as a social recommendation hub.
So what does this mean in terms of social media strategy?
Well it’s suggesting that a Facebook Fan may be of more value to your brand than a Twitter one, certainly in terms of online and offline word of mouth.
In addition, you should be aiming to offer a mix of content, with offers dovetailed with further information such as product previews and insights into what goes on behind the scenes.
And you should be considering a separate strategy for those you identify as ’super advocates’ – those for whom their level of interaction or level of personal connections suggest could be especially valuable in spreading positive word of mouth to a wide audience.
But this research is also suggesting that you shouldn’t bombard your users with content on Facebook in particular. Twitter users are habituated to searching long streams for relevant information but Facebook’s primary function for most of it’s users is to keep up with personal contacts. Too many posts can clutter up a fan’s newsfeed, distract from their primary purpose for signing in and become an irritant. The research authors suggest not only a ‘less is more’ approach but also recommend initiatives that facilitate interaction between fans, thus multiplying the opportunities for brand advocacy.
