With the increasing use of social media allowing people to share more information about brands than ever before, marketers must focus on the way social sharing impacts advertising. To offer insight in this area, Synovate conducted a survey in the Netherlands and segmented a representative sample of over 1,000 people aged 18 or older into those with high (10%), average (28%) and low scores (32%) in terms of level of social sharing. The remaining people (30%) displayed no scores on social sharing, because they don’t use social media much, if at all.

The most interesting segment is the one that scores high on social sharing. These “active social sharers” exhibit high visiting frequencies on sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. And they don’t just visit these sites for private conversations. About 28% of them buy a product due to a recommendation from social media sources and 25% complain about a product/brand via social media. Social media channels are actively used by this group to form and express opinions about brands, products and services

The natural question this raises is: what can we learn from this segment of highly active social sharers? Do they also deal with advertising in a different way and can this be seen as a forerunner of the future? Even though the segment is not a large group yet, the attitude and behaviour of active social sharers promises to be highly important.

Active social sharers see less need for advertising and deal with it more critically

“Advertising is the tax one pays for being unremarkable” is an often-cited quote. But is advertising still necessary for any brand in this era of digital sharing, where information from anonymous consumers is trusted more than advertised messages?

Increasingly more people, particularly active social sharers, believe that advertising by brands has become superfluous due to social media and reviews. This trend is much higher among active social sharers than those who do less social sharing. Still, active social sharers do not avoid advertising more than any other segments. In fact, they may be more involved, as they are more critical consumers of advertising. For instance, this segment often denounces false promises in advertising via social media. Half of the active social sharers say they use social media when they believe promises made by brands are not accurate.

Forming opinions about brands

Increasingly, social media is becoming a means to form brand opinions because through these media, one can determine whether brands do what they promise. In fact, 59% of the active social sharers say that with social media, one can actually determine if brands really fulfil their promises.

Social media is also frequently used to reconsider an opinion regarding a brand. About 80% of active social sharers have frequently based or reconsidered their personal opinion about brands and products from information obtained through social media. Among those who are less active in social sharing, this percentage is lower­ – about 58% among the mid-group and 17% among people with low scores on social sharing. 

The impact on brands from social media is evident in common preferences – the most likeable brands, such as Apple, Samsung, Blackberry and Philips, are especially appreciated because they offer credible information, deliver fun promotions and provide useful information.

Active social sharers listen more to people they resemble

Unsurprisingly, close connections and experts score as high influencers in all segments. However, active social sharers are considerably more open to the opinions of others about brands than people with low scores on social sharing.

One of the stand-outs is that active social sharers, more than other groups, listen to people that they resemble or people of a similar profile within social media to form opinions.

Active social sharers also impact opinions in other segments by spreading their ideas, particularly to the mediate social sharer segment. This influence, however, depends on two factors. On the one hand, the impact is determined by the level to which they are seen as experts. On the other hand, when they are seen as ‘equal’ and easy to identify with, active social sharers are able to sway opinions.

More friend than foe

While one quarter of active social sharers seem to find advertising superfluous, marketing communication has not become irrelevant. But active social sharers clearly interact with advertising more critically. For these potentially leading edge and powerful consumers and communicators, advertising must ensure full delivery of the brand promise.

With the current ‘Twitter tax’, the time has come for greater balance between brand promises and brand experiences. Social media forces companies to apply marketing as it is really intended: listening to the target group, understanding what people want and creating engagement. There is no issue with honest, authentic advertising. But beware of cheating – the truth gap will come back to bite you!

So what now?

The important question for companies to ask now is ‘how can we use social media to our advantage?’ First and foremost, companies must confirm their customer experiences really are meeting their brand promises, especially for active social sharers. Tools such as Synovate’s True Customer View can help executives see gaps between the brand promise and the customer experience actually delivered. Secondly, companies should determine if active social sharers in their customer base can help in co-creating new experiences. Executives should conduct qualitative research to understand how active social sharers are thinking and communicating about new products and services. Lastly, business executives should experiment with social media themselves. There is no better way to see the impact of active social sharers than to see it live in real time online. After all, word travels fast in today’s era, so companies must stay on their toes – and keep their brand promises!

For more information, please contact Stephan van Velthoven, Insights Director at Synovate at Stephan.vanVelthoven@synovate.com.