Are Social Networking Personas Useful as Market Research Data?

CHALLENGE:
Marketers are increasingly using behavioral targeting and harvesting information on individuals found on the internet, such as Facebook and MySpace. But are social media participants creating false personas in cyberspace and are marketers creating invalid strategies due to their reliance on these data? Are marketers basing strategies on imagined personas? A study comparing Facebook personas with their real-world authors found a strong correlation between impressions created by personas and their real-world counterparts. Personas who were liked, were also liked in the real-world.

HOW THEY RESEARCHED IT:
Professors at the psychology department of Tufts University conducted the study comparing Facebook personas to real-life counterparts using 37 undergraduate volunteers. Undergrads were individually paired with one of six confederates in a four-minute “get-to-know-you” meeting. The confederates rated the undergraduate subjects on a number of dimensions related to likability. Undergraduates from another university viewed videos of the meetings and coded specific cues about the subjects’, non-verbal expressivity. Undergraduate subjects’ Facebook page was accessed by the researchers with the permission of the undergraduate subjects. Undergrads from a private university then rated the undergraduate subjects based on his or her Facebook page in terms of likability, and these ratings were combined to reveal a final “Facebook liking” score.

WHAT HAPPENED?:
Results from the survey indicate that impressions made through social media are similar to those attained through real-life interaction. The correlation between confederate liking and Facebook liking was statistically significant, and males and females were perceived similarly across all variables. Positive first impressions based on Facebook correlate to increased webpage expressivity and likewise positive first impression based on dynamic behavior correlate to increased non-verbal expressivity. In accordance with previous research the study finds no evidence of a linear relationship between self-disclosure and impressions of liking with relation to face-to-face interaction or personal web pages respectively. Other concluding evidence finds that online behavior is similar to that of personal interaction, for example people who disclose personal information and are expressive in face-to-face interactions tend to display the same traits on web pages. An interesting caveat of the study is that self-disclosure and expressivity are unrelated to one another, both online and in dynamic interactions. Overall concluding evidence shows that while there is some divergence between online and real-life personas, for the most part the two are very highly correlated.

WHY MANAGERS SHOULD CARE:
Marketers in today’s technologically driven business environment rely increasingly heavily on social media to provide a glimpse of what consumers want. The issue of whether or not social media accurately portrays consumer personalities is therefore an important concern for anyone using the Web to glean information about the consumer market. For marketers this study reveals positive news: searching Facebook sites is not for nothing. Nearly all Gen Y consumers update information on at least one social networking site, and older consumers are increasingly joining the trend. A high correlation between real-life and online personalities means that marketers can use the social networking sites to gather lifestyle information from consumers who may otherwise be unwilling to share, or instead of using costly and time consuming methods primary data collection methods. Social networking sites should not be the sole source of consumer research as there is some differential between dynamic interaction and online personas.
CAN YOU HELP?
Comment back by sharing how you have implemented data gained from social networking sites to improve marketing and promotional strategies. Does this study make you feel like you can rely on Facebook profiles or do you think more research is needed before you will rely on social website data? If you have been relying on social website profiles, have these profiles been efficacious?

From Max Weisbuch, Zorana Ivcevic, and Nalini Ambady “On being liked on the web and in the ‘‘real world”: Consistency in first impressions across personal webpages and spontaneous behavior,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 45 (2009) 573–576

Women and Gen Y Are Key Targets for Retail Loyalty Programs

CHALLENGE:
Research has been telling us Gen Ys tend not to be loyal consumers in comparison to older Boomer consumers. But the current economic recession has made more consumers sensitive to prices and deals. So do the typical deals offered by loyalty programs now draw more Gen Ys? New research says absolutely!

How they researched it:
An online survey was launched in April, 2009, by Colloquy, a marketing consulting and research organization, to follow up on a similar study in 2007. They collected 2,152 completed responses. The focus was on loyalty programs, such as “frequent flyer” or “frequent buyer” programs maintained by the travel industry and retail stores.

What happened?
Compared to their 2007 study, overall participation in loyalty programs have increased by 19%. Participation by women has jumped by 29% and Gen Ys are up by 32%. Nearly half of women and Gen Ys as well, report retail rewards programs are “more important” during the recession, and 27% of Gen Ys say they are actively seeking out new loyalty programs with which to stretch their budgets.

Interestingly, while loyalty program membership is up, redemption of rewards has stayed relatively constant. Consumers say they are saving (30.3%) their membership points rather than redeeming them on necessities (18.5%) or on luxuries (14.7%). Most redeem points for themselves rather than for gifts or family members.

Why Managers Should Care:
The research findings suggest that consumers, particularly women and Gen Ys, are using loyalty programs as a strategy to save. Hence, the core message for attracting new members to such program is more likely to be successful if “savings” is stressed. The savings could be for the future, and should focus on rewarding the buyer (loyalty member), not necessarily others.

The economy may be creating the predisposition of consumer response to loyalty programs, and this predisposition could be the basis of attracting new consumers and for laying the groundwork of longer term repeat purchasing.

How can you help?
Comment back on your REAL experiences. If you have a loyalty program, have you noticed more women and Gen Ys signing up? Are they redeeming points and if so, on what?

This research is based on Rick Ferguson and Kelly Hlavinka (2009), “Consumer Attitudes and Perceptions About Loyalty Programs in the Post-Recession Economy,” Loyalty One, Colloquy. A copy of the report may be downloaded after free registration at: http://www.colloquy.com/default.asp