gfk nextgeneration- social media marketing during the holiday season

19
Executive Summary Understanding diversity and target markets in social media marketing allows businesses to personalize brand interactions. In order for businesses to increase consumer involvement with social media, companies should present target consumers with products or services that are better suited to personality-driven purchasing behaviors. During the holiday season, the increase in advertisements on social media increases the challenge to break through the noise: to appeal and remain engaged with potential consumers. Users on social media may connect with brands to look for special offers or deals (Garibian). Business-to-consumer experiences can be formed through social media because of direct communication channels. The holiday season is a time of increased advertising and marketing efforts put forth by businesses. The study explores opportunities to further consumer involvement with social media during the holiday season. The following research objectives will demonstrate ways to promote efficiency in social media marketing: - Identify the visibility of social media marketing during the holiday season; - Investigate consumers’ desired level of involvement through social media; - Compare involvement of consumers on social media to business activities; - And generate social media market strategies to further engage consumers in the holiday season. Social media marketing strategies do not effectively foster brand loyalty with consumers during the holiday season. Because Millennial consumers surpassed Baby Boomers and Generati on X in population size, it is important that businesses have a deeper understanding of Millennials’ behavior in the marketplace, as well as how social media impacts their purchasing decisions (Petro). This is amplified during the holiday season, a critical time for revenue generation and brand building. Consumers’ willingness to be introduced new brands reflects the preferred activities on the social media platform. From the focus group, JUAN expressed, “When you like a Page on Facebook, it tells you similar pages. I like that feature because you can explore.” From the survey, people who endorsed Facebook above other social media platforms ranked their most preferred activities as follows: connecting with brands, sharing videos, researching products, and discovering special offers. Through this study, data like these suggest that marketers should consider social media marketing approaches to create brand interactions. With the most wonderful time of the year in mind, every day is a holiday. Thank you for your partnership throughout the research process, Nic Icaza [email protected] Louis Jaime [email protected] Iris Wen [email protected] Advisor: Stacy Neier [email protected]

Upload: iris-wen

Post on 11-Jul-2015

147 views

Category:

Marketing


1 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

Executive Summary

Understanding diversity and target markets in social media marketing allows businesses to

personalize brand interactions. In order for businesses to increase consumer involvement with social

media, companies should present target consumers with products or services that are better suited to

personality-driven purchasing behaviors. During the holiday season, the increase in advertisements on

social media increases the challenge to break through the noise: to appeal and remain engaged with

potential consumers. Users on social media may connect with brands to look for special offers or deals

(Garibian). Business-to-consumer experiences can be formed through social media because of direct

communication channels. The holiday season is a time of increased adverti sing and marketing efforts

put forth by businesses. The study explores opportunities to further consumer involvement with social

media during the holiday season. The following research objectives will demonstrate ways to promote

efficiency in social media marketing:

- Identify the visibility of social media marketing during the holiday season;

- Investigate consumers’ desired level of involvement through social media;

- Compare involvement of consumers on social media to business activities;

- And generate social media market strategies to further engage consumers in the holiday

season.

Social media marketing strategies do not effectively foster brand loyalty with consumers during

the holiday season. Because Millennial consumers surpassed Baby Boomers and Generati on X in

population size, it is important that businesses have a deeper understanding of Millennials’ behavior in

the marketplace, as well as how social media impacts their purchasing decisions (Petro). This is amplified

during the holiday season, a critical time for revenue generation and brand building. Consumers’

willingness to be introduced new brands reflects the preferred activities on the social media platform.

From the focus group, JUAN expressed, “When you like a Page on Facebook, it tells you similar pages. I

like that feature because you can explore.” From the survey, people who endorsed Facebook above

other social media platforms ranked their most preferred activities as follows: connecting with brands,

sharing videos, researching products, and discovering special offers. Through this study, data like these

suggest that marketers should consider social media marketing approaches to create brand interactions.

With the most wonderful time of the year in mind, every day is a holiday. Thank you for your partnership throughout the research process,

Nic Icaza [email protected]

Louis Jaime [email protected]

Iris Wen [email protected]

Advisor: Stacy Neier [email protected]

Page 2: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

Background

Identify Objectives and Research Question

With businesses becoming increasingly global, social media marketing has become an

indispensable and cost efficient tool for product branding, obtaining a representational consumer

profile, increasing brand exposure, and directly interacting with the targe t market. Current social media

marketing strategies are not as effective as they might be to accurately target consumers, generate

attention-grabbing advertisements, establish brand loyalty, differentiate their brand, and provide a

consumer experience to increase leisure in the consumer’s life. In order to generate insights that

improve current business-to-consumer social media marketing strategies, cultivate innovation, and

exceed revenue goals, an opportunity was found to collect data with the intention to discover

opportunities that further consumer involvement with social media during the holiday season.

Framing the research question around the holiday season, the busiest shopping time of the year,

would result in significant data findings for businesses. Additionally, by providing businesses with

consumer profile insights, social media trends, and the likes and dislikes of business-to-consumer social

media interactions, this research lends support to more effectively spend advertising budgets (Vranica).

The increase in communication between family and friends during the holiday season could be of value

to businesses; the approach of word-of-mouth marketing could be a greater asset when paired with

positive outcomes like offering transparency, building a sphere of influence, creating brand exposure,

and providing open conversations (Debono).

In order to evoke valuable insights for business-to-consumer activity, the following research

objectives were proposed: identify the visibility of social media marketing during the holiday season;

investigate consumer’s desired level of involvement through social media; compare involvement of

consumers on social media to business activities; and generate social media market strategies to further

engage consumers in the holiday season. The research objectives were selected to reliably address the

research question: What opportunities are there to further consumer involvement with social media

during the holiday season? Results could potentially lend insights to social medi a users’ habits and

desires, allow for companies to more efficiently target consumers during the holiday season, and create

a more engaging experience - with lifetime value - between consumers and brands. The research

objectives were structured with the intent to search for potential areas of development through the

integration of consumer content and brand interactions.

Literature Search

Consumers exposed to a brand’s social media platform show greater brand loyalty: “Of

consumers participating in social media, those exposed to a brand’s social media spend 20 percent more

time online compared to those exposed to only social media relevant to a brand’s category” (Copeland).

According to Aaker (1991), brand loyalty leads to reduced costs and new customers. Al so, brand loyalty

has shown a distinctive resistance to its customers and competitors’ strategies. Finally, customer loyalty

can be attributed to positive word-of-mouth (Dick). Active social networkers are twelve percent more

likely to shop online than the average internet user (Nielsen). Greater search engine optimization can

reflect companies’ interest in increasing their social media marketing. However, significant growth for

marketers is still to be gained considering the top three advantages: increasing exposure, traffic, and

Page 3: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

building new business partnerships (Stelzner). Further, women are more likely than men to be users of

social media, and urban-living users show higher activity than rural internet users (Duggan). Duggan’s

insight demonstrates potential areas of growth in a market segment that has a strong internet presence.

What is unknown, however, is the impact such trends show on marketing interactions, specifically,

timed during the holiday season.

Social media platforms are saturated with photos, videos, personal blogs, and check-ins. As a

result, marketers are assumed to gain more insight on the day-to-day activity of consumers. From a

2012 survey administered by Domo and Column Five Media, 684,478 pieces of content are shared

through Facebook, 100,000 Tweets sent per minute, and 48 hours of video content are uploaded to

YouTube per minute (Tepper). During the holiday season, 54 percent of consumers used social media to

look for sales and discounts, also, researched gift ideas. Further, sharing and commenting on stores and

sales were ranked second and third to the usage of social media, respectively (“Usage of Social Media

for Holiday Shopping in 2012”). Since communication is an encompassing part of all social media

platforms, the usage of social media for gift ideas showed a surprising 41 percent of social media users

shared product reviews with friends online (“Usage of Social Media for Holiday Shopping in 2012”).

Data Collection and Design Process

The design process began with the problem formulation in order to distinguish the need for

applicable methods to involve social media into consumers’ involvement during the holiday season. The

holiday season was specified to last from Black Friday through the first two weeks of January. An

exploratory, qualitative research design included seeking secondary data from news articles, databases,

and reports to supplement the primary data. A focus group moderator guide and in-depth interview

guide were also constructed based on findings from the secondary data. Semi-structured observations

were included to collect additional qualitative data. Lastly, descriptive research consisted of a

quantitative, cross-sectional survey. The survey was constructed through Qualtrics.

The sampling frame most representative of the target population was determined to be

consumers who use social media during the holiday season. The sample frame focused on urban

environment consumers. In particular, demographics varied in income, educational background, ethnic

background, household compositions, and gender. The sample plan is a non-probability, convenience

sample where participants are readily accessible and willing to contribute.

Managerial Implications

The value in social media is assessed through the organization’s ability to foster consumer

relationships. Social media users connect through their habits and desires, and social media marketing

can promote brand visibility and increase engagement. During the holiday season, social me dia

consumption can provide brand awareness and convey brand identity. This includes brand innovations,

lead generation, and business-to-consumer communication. Associations existing between consumer

involvement with social media and consumption patterns appear through the research, thus allowing

organizations to better define their target audience for social media activity during holiday season. This

allows the most engaged consumers to contribute to brand innovation.

Page 4: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

The research shares insights with companies to improve current social media platforms

and customize new channels. Branding the company through social media deepens relationships

between businesses and consumers.

Solution

Data Collection Instruments

Qualtrics Survey

The survey was designed to seek quantitative, primary data. Qualtrics, an online survey

tool, allowing the survey to be distributed through Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and e -mail.

Word-of-mouth was also used to encourage participation. The survey was administered the we ekend

before Thanksgiving 2013 through the second weekend of January 2014. Prior to administering the

surveys, the questions were determined to cover only variables relevant to the research question and

research objectives. Questions were written and assessed for phrasing and logic (Lloyd). In particular,

common question errors, such as double barreled, non-exhaustive, and nonspecific questions were

addressed to ensure transparency and produce “clean” data. The ‘test survey’ feature within Qualtrics

was also used to verify that the questions were free of error before distribution. Thus, pre -testing was

achieved to ensure a quality study.

Qualtrics’ built-in interactive capabilities supported the respondents’ participation by decreasing

survey fatigue and allowing for a “gamified” experience. Survey blocking was used to create sections

corresponding to each of the four research objectives. Within the survey block, the funnel approach was

implemented to begin with broad questions and drill down to more narrow questions. This reduced the

likelihood of participants being intimidated by specific questions early into the questionnaire. To further

reduce unwanted bailout, the survey was structured to incorporate a variety of question types, so

participants did not encounter unnecessary repetition. Within the survey, twenty-six questions were

asked including 19 nominal, 2 ordinal, 2 interval, and 2 ratio questions. The questionnaire strategically

includes fewer ordinal and ratio type questions. Because ratio questions allow for free responses, the

results provided may generate less accurate data since the responses are open ended. Ordinal questions

also provide less accurate data because they require that survey respondents rank data, but fail to

consider the degree to which one choice is preferred over another. Nominal and interval questions

provide the cleanest, most reliable results. Additionally, nominal questions were emphasized the most

for the sake of the areas of interest within the research.

Focus Group Moderator Guide

After the 2013 holiday season ended, six individuals were recruited for the focus group. Two

female and four male informants interacted with a moderator. The focus group moderator guide

opened a discussion regarding the research objectives amongst specific individuals who fit within the

sampling frame, while provoking discussion of topics that were inadequately covered through the

Qualtrics survey. Three main question types exist within the focus group moderator guide: engagement,

exploration, and exit. Engagement questions were used to solicit general insights from participants while

exploration questions investigated more specific consumer perceptions. The exit question asked for

Page 5: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

additional input that informants may have and closes the discussion. The moderator guide borrowed not

only the drill down approach from the survey, but the organization of questions within the

corresponding research objectives. Each question was open-ended, which allowed the informants to

respond according to their own volition.

In-depth Interview Guide

The in-depth interview guide was written to further collect insights on potential areas of interest

relevant to the research objectives that were not addressed through the questionnaire or focus group.

The in-depth interviews emphasized findings related to memorable advertising and promotions, brand

awareness, and how the holiday season shapes social media activity. The overall goal of the IDIs was to

promote greater flexibility in responses and allow data to emerge as informants responded. Individual

respondents, therefore, were provided with an open environment to speak. The guide was also

designed with interviewing across different platforms in mind. IDIs were carried out through Skype, over

the phone, and in person.

Semi- Structured Observations Semi-structured observational data for brands seen on social media was also collected. This data

was collected periodically throughout the days of Black Friday (November 29, 2013), Cyber Monday

(December 2, 2013), and Christmas Eve (December 24, 2013). The observational setting was any

environment with internet accessibility and included, but was not limited to, social media platforms of

Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Instagram. The context of the observations were not l imited

to what kind of interactions occurred on social media sites; what companies were doing to draw

consumers’ attention and awareness; how consumers’ interact with each and with brands; and how

consumers’ reach their social media on these holiday shopping days. Since the interactions happened on

the web, the physical settings observed included how activities in-stores reflect online (possibly shown

through a picture or video); what kind of products people were attracted to; who was going out to find

the promotions in-store; what activity online would make someone think that the social media user is

shopping online or in-stores; and what type of promotions were occurring in online interactions.

In terms of social or interpersonal settings, data collection also addressed how brands and

consumers interacted on multiple platforms; whether different platforms had different advertisements,

possibly stimulating different responses; how people participated in these holiday shopping events; and

how people made it visible to the social media networks they are active on. Lastly, observations were

made from online environment. This included layouts on the web; color schemes; trends or hashtags;

alternative branding approaches to fit the holiday season; and any online attributes that could have

garnered attention from the consumer. The semi-structured observations will be made three times on

the three dates proposed.

Sampling and Data Collection

Sampling Frame

The sampling frame for the data collection includes families, couples, and individuals over the

age of eighteen based near an urban environment. The target population included people who used

social media during the holiday season. Because the survey was d istributed through the researchers’

Page 6: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

social media sites, email, and word-of-mouth, not all population elements had a fair chance to

participate in the research. The primary data collection began Saturday, November 23, 2013, and

concluded Sunday, January 19, 2014. The holiday season addressed in the research question is identified

to run from the weekend prior to Thanksgiving through the second week of the new year. Given that

time frame, the survey was distributed first and was closed Monday, January 18, 2014. The focus group

and in-depth interviews were conducted Sunday January 19, 2014. The quality of the data collection is

reflected in the non-biased questions and the goal of reducing participant bailout.

Quality

The data collection was based on willing participants who were active on social media. There

was no incentive offered to participants, therefore reducing ulterior motives to participate. By

distributing a survey, conducting a focus group, and administering in-depth interviews, the research

group collected primary data through diverse methods which more accurately represented the larger

population. By doing so, a checks and balance type correspondence was initiated in the data analysis: a

funnel approach was used to generate questions. The survey was the initial source in generating

questions; based on the data patterns observed in the study, the design of the focus group was

constructed; furthermore, the in-depth interview guide questions were based on specifications made

from gaps in the focus group. During the research process, secondary sources were used to support the

data. Qualtrics data was migrated into SPSS, the raw data was coded, and the software was used to

aggregate results. The coding of raw Qualtrics output data through office edits involved assigning

numeric values to text responses and commanding SPSS to replace “pindots” or system -missing with

complete data by recoding missing variables into new values. Through Qualtrics, survey protection was

enabled by preventing ballot box stuffing. Separate sources of distribution were used to collect survey

responses, providing a variety of participants and opening the survey to broader geographic inclusion. A

focus group moderator guide was created to encourage questions and keep the participants’ input in

line with the research questions. An in-depth interview guide was produced for flexibility to reach

greater insights on the consumer. From the survey, a majority of the questions were written as nominal

and ordinal questions; these categorical question types produce more reliable data.

Underrepresented Populations Underrepresented populations include consumers that do not use social media. The research

design is also limited in that all social media platforms were not included in the survey design.

Measuring social media platforms that overlap (for example, users connecting their Instagram to their

Twitter and Facebook) also has limitations as some users may not consider themselves active on a

certain social media site but still post through a separate platform. The demographic under the age of

eighteen is also not represented in this study, although they are part of the greater population using

social media. Consumers over the age of 35 were less represented in the study; therefore, this study can

be generalized to ages 18 to 34. Finally, the survey also showed lack of high-income participants and

participants in rural settings. Therefore, the findings are most conclusive for young urban adults earning

a mid-range income. Such limitations, however, were expected due to the non-probability, convenience

sample design which best suited the research question and objectives.

Page 7: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

“Ethical Dilemmas”

Ethical dilemmas faced in the research include the objectivity of the research, selective

audience, and the rapid changes made in social media. The objectivity of the research is limited because

the changing pace of social media and its discrepancies in the use of social media. The insights gained

through the primary data can be subjective to the participant who may view him or herself as a user on

social media, whereas a brand trying to gain awareness could view the user as a possible customer. The

personal insights and usage of social media of the researchers may congest the study and misrepresent

the possibilities outside the data. Because the majority of the data collected through the survey was

through social media, the participants themselves may hold themselves bias to their usage and activity

on social media. These biases could cause the individual a greater interest in the matter, thus self-

motivation may affect the data and its possible skewness toward those who view social media positively.

With the majority of social media users on the most visited platforms, Facebook and Twitter, the limited

insights may be only appropriate to address commonly visited platforms (Brenner).

Conclusion

Identify the visibility of social media marketing during the holiday season

With the average attention span decreasing from 12 seconds in 2000, to 8 seconds in 2013,

traditional marketing approaches have diminished in effectiveness (Weinreich)(Nahai).These emerging

societal changes, along with a difference in consumer identity from previous generations to Millennials,

have created additional hurdles for social media marketing during the holiday season (Nahai). Over the

last 8 years, social media usage among U.S. adults has increased by 800 percent (Olenski). Statistics

suggest that in 2013, 72 percent of U.S. adults were using social media, a movement that increases the

importance of successful with social media marketing for raising brand awareness, influencing the

purchasing behavior of consumers, and building business-to-consumer relationships (Olenski).

When determining if businesses are successfully targeting and conveying the values of their

brand to consumers during the holiday season through social media, the data indicated that only 49.3

percent of people have been led to make a gift purchase by social media. Of the 49.3 percent, 56

percent identified as female, 24 percent identified as male and 20 percent prefered not to report their

gender. Additionally, of these consumers, 53 percent said that they are between 18 to 34 years of age,

comprising a representation of 28.7 percent of the United States population (United States of America).

The questionnaire identifies the time periods that male and female consumers used social media

throughout the holiday season. The crosstabulation of “What is your gender?” and “During which time

frame, throughout the holiday season, do you use social media the most?” exposed a preference from

6:00 P.M. to 12:00 A.M. for both genders. For females, 68.1 percent of the sample size stated that it was

the time period they used social media the most, while only 41.5 percent of the male sample size stated

similarly.

During the focus group, insightful qualitative data was generated by participants when asked,

“What has been the most effective way for a brand to communicate with you through social media?”

and, “Which platform was it on?” Of the six participants, Facebook and Pinterest were mentioned the

most. Focus group participants stated that effective ways businesses have communicated with them in

Page 8: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

the past were through direct marketing, discounts and deals, free products for liking a business profile,

having been tagged in a promotional photo by a business, and through a user-friendly product

presentation on the business’s profile. Contrary to the focus group, question 4 of the questionnaire,

“Which of the following ways will you use social media during the holiday season?” generated findings

that indicated 70.4 percent of people would not use social media during the holiday season to discover

special offers, and 83.6 percent would not use social media to connect with brands. These quantitative

and qualitative findings present valuable insights for businesses and suggests that by initiating contact

with discounts or free products, social media users will perceive value in the brand.

When consumers were asked “Please rank the following social media platforms in order of

visitionation,” 48 percent of the sample size indicated Facebook as the most visited platform. Of the 48

percent, 54.8 percent stated that using social media during the holidays has led them to make a gift

purchase. From ranking platforms by order of visitation, survey participants showed that 85.7 percent of

consumers who listed Pinterest as their second most visited platform, confirmed that using social media

during the holidays led them to make a gift purchase. In connection, 73.7 percent of Instagram users

who ranked the social media platform second, and 81.3 percent of users who ranked it third stated, that

using social media during the holidays also led them to make a gift purchase. This suggests that visual

social media channels have a powerful medium for influencing the purchasing behavior of consumer

activity and a fostering environment for brand awareness during the holiday season.

To generate qualitative data on how consumers are able to recall business-to-consumer

activities, the focus group moderator asked participants to “Describe an ad seen on social media" and

"What makes you remember this ad?” Although participants eventually shared insights for the

aforementioned questions, observations of non-verbal cues suggested that participants encountered

difficulty when asked to recall a social media advertisement; informants did not respond immediately,

but paused to think about their response. Therefore, an additional question strategically probed to

include holiday advertisements beyond social media. Even with the addition of the probe, Steven simply

responded, “I can’t” when asked “Tell me about some advertisements you remember from the holiday

season.” Blaine’s response was followed by laughter. This indicates that consumers are not spending

enough time for the ads to make an impression on them. Consumer recall is no better at the holiday

season than it is at any other time during the year. These qualitative findings, coupled with with

statistical findings, indicate a four second decline in the average attention span suggesting social media

marketing strategies fail to retain the attention of consumers (Weinreich).

Investigate consumer’s desired level of involvement through social media Through asking questions rooted in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, specific motivators can be

associated with varying consumer behaviors. Such questions probed for data regarding how consumers

are driven to fulfill their needs. Survey respondents were asked to indicate how important “Excitement”

and “Self-fulfillment,” among other motivators, are in their daily lives. Fifty-four percent of respondents

expressed that self-fulfillment was either important or very important in their daily lives. A cross-tab

extending from these questions shows that 43.3 percent of those who have the most followers on

Facebook find self-fulfillment very important in their daily lives, but only 33 percent find excitement very

important. Conversely, 16.7 percent of participants who indicate that they have the most followers on

Page 9: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

Twitter than other social media sites find self-fulfillment very important, while 50 percent find

excitement very important. This could reflect the nature of the specific platforms, with Facebook

satisfying a role as a personal extension of the user and Twitter providing quick, low-involvement

connectivity. “Excitement” may also be associated with the number of social media accounts a user

engages on; 55.3 percent of these respondents indicated having 5 or more social networking profiles.

Fifty-one percent of survey takers who used social media to generate gift ideas during the

holidays used Facebook to participate in gift idea research. Similarly, 56.8 percent and 35.0 percent used

Pinterest and Twitter, respectively, to complete gift idea research. Cross-tabs further revealed varying

desired levels of social media involvement across different devices. Eighty-one percent of primary tablet

users connected with family during the holidays, yet only 72.7 percent connected with friends.

Conversely, smartphone and computer users were more likely to connect with friends via social media

during the holidays than with family. Seventy-seven percent of smartphone users and 67.7 percent of

computer users connected with family during the holidays via social media; and 84.2 percent of

smartphone users and 83.9 percent of computer users connected with friends. Thirty -six percent who

prefer to access social media through their tablets also connected with brands during the 2013 holiday

season, compared to just 17.1 percent for smartphone users and 9.7 percent through computers. Primary data generated from Qualtrics also points to consumer desires to find savings through

social media interactions. Thirty-six percent of respondents who used smartphones the most to connect

with their profiles, also sought special offers during the holidays. Although survey data indicates that 58

percent of consumers who used social media to generate gift ideas during the season did not research

products, they did find special offers through social media. The data reflects the “dealer-chic” trend, in

which the ubiquity of connected devices along with consumer price consciousness has led to an

insurgence of thrifty consumers who seek to maximize their consumption, finding the best goods and

services at the best prices (“12 Crucial Consumer Trends for 2012”).

From a 2013 Statista report on social media marketing in the U.S., consumers were asked to

respond to a series of questions relating to brand interactions and different applications of social media

platforms. When asked which method was preferred for communicating with a business about its goods

and services, only 14 percent preferred social media versus 56 percent through e -mail. Forty-one

percent of respondents wish to receive information and advertisements for companies and retailers

through Facebook, compared to 18 percent through Twitter. When responding to the uses of social

media for holiday gift ideas, 41 percent said they used reviews, followed by 19 percent indicating they

use wish-lists on sites like Amazon.com; only 11 percent discussed items on social media with friends,

and 9 percent looked at the gift recipient’s page (Forte). The previously mentioned findings were further corroborated by in-depth interview responses.

During an in-depth interview, Karen mentioned a lack of personal evangelism for different brands and

products with which she is connected through social media. “Although I like quite a few brands on

Facebook, I don’t usually tell my friends to ‘like’ these pages or to buy the products. I’m sure some do

that on their own,” she said of online word-of-mouth influences. “Sometimes friends will ‘share’ a

coupon or page that I can use or look at before buying a product,” she also added, affirming the notion

of “dealer-chic” consumers, and further acknowledging that ‘prosumers’ actively spread branded

messages.

Page 10: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

Compare involvement of consumers on social media to business activities

In the past ten years, there has been a consistent growth in e-commerce; in 2013, retail e-

commerce sales during the holiday months of November and December totalled $46.55 billion, an

increase of over $4 billion dollars to the previous year (comScore). In the survey, participants between

the ages of 26 to 34 show the most interest in using social media to create a holiday wish list. The

growing social media users between the ages of 35 to 54 show interest in using social media to sharing

holiday offers. More shoppers are hoping to join the e-commerce growth. Some incentives that are

influential to a consumer’s decision to buy gifts online includes free shipping, discounted items

compared to in-store prices, avoiding crowds, and ease to use website (“2011 US Holiday Shopping

Survey”). Since half of all social media users under the age of 35 follow their friends’ business

recommendations, business-to-consumer activities on social media can have a significant impact on

word-of-mouth marketing practiced online (Baur). “There about 131 million U.S. Facebook users

between the ages of 18-64,” which is a large audience that marketers can captivate (Griffith).

The top three primary benefits of social media have been increased awareness to the

organization, products, or services among target customers; increased traffic to website; and more

favorable perceptions of our organization, products, or services (Harvard Business Review Analytic

Services). While brands are learning how to engage on social media, 95.7 percent of participants

between the ages of 18 and 25 use social to communicate with friends (this was the top reason to use

social media within this age group). In the 35 to 54 age group, 41.7 percent use social media to discover

special offers; this was a higher percent than other age groups. The relationship between the business

activity and the consumer on social media can be connected through targeting customers through

strategic marketing plans. Some businesses are hesitant to join the social media network, at the same

time others have quickly made new marketing positions and moved spending to include social media

marketing to their brand. Of 2,100 companies surveyed in Harvard Business Review Analytic Services,

The New Conversation: Taking Social Media from Talk to Action, 58 percent of companies currently using

social media likely engage on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube (Harvard Business Review Analytic

Services). Of the companies that believe they are “getting there” with their social media strategy, 69

percent admit to a learning curve but predict the use of social media will increase (Harvard Business

Review Analytic Services). In the survey, participants were asked to write in the top three mobile

applications used. The results for the most written in appl ications were all social media sites: Facebook,

Instagram, and Twitter. The elicit response reflected a primacy effect which the survey takers used free-

recall to fill-in his or her answers. The answers likely reflected the latest application used. The results of

the survey show the interest in social media and its active use of users. During semi-structured observations in the 2013 holiday season, an exponential increase in

Twitter activity was revealed, specifically on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Through observations

made of brands that the researchers follow, companies are using diverse methods to engage customers.

Through observations made on Twitter, #BlackFriday was trending beginning Thanksgiving Day.

Hashtagging was the most common by Big Box retailers and category killers: for example, #BestBuy,

#Walmart, and #Target. These retailers appeared multiple times and had a consistent appearance on the

newsfeed on Facebook and Twitter on Black Friday. Many pictures showed long lines for the steep deals

for the holiday shoppers. Brand marketers are aware of social media’s uses to drive brand awareness

rather than direct sales (Cohen). The use of social media extends the reach of connecting with the target

Page 11: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

audience, paid social media advertising is growing cause to the interest in marketing budgets

(Rueter). #CyberMonday was linked to brands’ deals displayed on Facebook and Twitter. The responses

on Twitter to tweets with deals attached with #CyberMonday.

According to IBM, on Cyber Monday alone, sales grew by 20.6 percent from 2012; specifically,

mobile sales lead 17 percent of total online sales: this has been increasing 55.4 percent annually (The

Wall Street Journal). From the primary data collected from the Qualtrics survey, 49.3 percent have had

social media lead to a gift purchase during the holiday season. Half the participants access social media

through their smartphone, followed by 20.4 percent through a computer, and 7.2 percent through a

tablet (22.4 percent did not respond). From insights brought by IBM, smartphones draw high online

traffic in comparison to tablets which draw more sales (The Wall Street Journal). Primary data suggested

that social media users who use a tablet to access their accounts have a higher purchasing rate than

smartphone users. Businesses have increased interest in online shopping and their social media efforts.

The 2013 holiday season showed a significant increase in online shopping, and the reflection in

advertising spending was evident. U.S. online advertising spending jumped from $17.03 billion in 2012

to $20.07 billion in 2013 as reported by Interactive Advertising Bureau (Rueter). The majority of tweets

posted with a picture or video were observed were posted through a smartphone. Deals posted on

company Twitters were also retweeted through a mobile device on the dates observed. Cyber Monday

photos were comprised of screenshots from smartphones or tablets. Geographically the posts were

from all over the United States with the greatest frequency of pictures coming 5th Ave nue in New York

City and Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

Word Cloud:

“Task: Please use your social media platforms and think of your role as a consumer through

these sites. This role can be defined by behaviors and activities associated with how you engage

on these platforms. Please pull out any brands, products, and activities used through the holiday

season. The words should portray what you want or need from social media sites. This can

include interactions with brands, desires for social media uses, and personalization of your

online consumer identity.”

Through the focus group activity, a word cloud was produced. The words generated were

Anthropologie, Starbucks, “Like,” connection, entertainment, know-it-all, no-all-caps, customization,

breaking-news, creative, coffee, on-sale, and uniqueness. The participants in the focus group came up

with the words from the task mentioned above.

Word Cloud

Page 12: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

Generate social media market strategies to further engage consumers in the holiday season

During the holiday season, 36.4 percent of survey respondents who are most active on

Facebook indicated that Facebook led them to making a gift purchase. With 23 percent of Facebook

users checking their account five or more times each day, it is no surprise Facebook has the highest

engagement level and takes the most time and attention from the user (Honigman) (Adler). Similarly, 44

percent of respondents who indicated that Pinterest was their top social media site during the holiday

season were led to make a purchase from the site. While Pinterest is heavily used by women, Pinterest

users spend the most on the social media platform over any other platform users’ time (Wallace).

Pinterest users on average spend one hour and seventeen minutes on the site for each visit (Bennett).

Pinterest allows virtual pinboards: favorite products, product suggestions, and sharing pins. Retailers can

post new items instantly: it offers businesses a low-cost, practical approach to reach customers visually

(Capitol Media Solutions). Sixty percent of those under the age of 30 prefer to share information using

Facebook (Hart). In an overview by Capitol Media Solutions, “Facebook advertising can be targeted by

age, interests, geographic region, and lots of other factors.” Facebook also allows advertisements to be

Page 13: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

shared if a friend likes the product or service (Capitol Media Solutions). Social media allows messages to

virally spread. The personalization of social media can offer potential customers recommendations,

spread promotions, and share events to the target customer. In ways, search engine optimization (SEO)

takes place in the suggestions on social media platforms like Facebook and Pinterest. SEOs can increase

the chances of a brand being discovered or connected to the appropriate consumer (Capitol Media

Solutions).

Of the surveyed participants, 67.1 percent do not use social media to generate holiday gift ideas.

78.9 percent also indicated that they do not research products during the holiday season through social

media. While 62.5 percent of respondents acknowledged that they share photos through social media

during the season, 84.9 percent don’t share videos. Instagram and Pinterest are a visual platform for

social media. Instagram allows users to upload photos and videos. Pinterest’s high traffic-driving power

has an astounding 10 million unique visitors each month (Constine). A consumer’s interest in multiple

platforms may stem from their reason for engagement. Specifically to brands they follow, Pinterest

users show interest in learning about products and services, keeping up with brand activities, and

following for promotions (Garibian); Instagram users on the other hand follow brands to keep up with

brand-related activities, learn more about products and services, and make purchases (Garibian).

Twitter users keep up with brand activities and provide feedback, while Facebook users tend to follow

brands participate in sweepstakes and promotions or complain about a product or service (Garibian).

Possible implications from this finding could indicate that marketing communications be channeled

through social media platforms where photo sharing is prevalent, as opposed to video sharing

platforms. Despite the fact the photos can be shared on all social media channels, the special interest in

a photo platform separates Pinterest and Instagram users to Twitter and Facebook users. However,

platforms have shown engagement growth through multi-device accessibility (Adler).

From the survey, 33.3 percent of survey respondents who selected Twitter as their favorite

social media platform during the holidays are most active from 9:00 P.M. to 12:00 A.M. Advertising on

Twitter can be done by targeting specific users or by paying to keep a tweet or trend at the top of the

newsfeed (Capitol Media Solutions). On Twitter, only 23 percent of all tweets generate a reply (Wallace).

The best time to tweet is said to be noon and 6 P.M. because it has been studied that the largest activity

is at those times. Noon is said to be the best time to share things on Facebook (Zarrella). According to

business-to-consumer engagement happens on both the weekday and the weekends on Twitter;

however, on Facebook, marketers have 30 percent change to better engage on the weekend (Baer).

“Facebook attracts roughly seven times the engagement that Twitter does, when looking at both

smartphone and PC usage, in per-user terms” (Adler). Facebook is also the most preferred social media

platform in the researcher’s survey: 42.5 percent of respondents of the survey who say Facebook is

their most preferred social media platform during the season are most active from 6:00 P.M. to 9:00

P.M. and 30.1 percent use the site most from 9:00 P.M. to 12:00 A.M.

A relevant trend for 2014 that facilitates further engaging consumers is presented by

Trendwatching and is known as “crowdshaping.” Crowdshaping employs user generated data from

within the digital space to shape and personalize experiences, both online and in-person, based on the

aggregation of preferences and behaviors of individual consumers (“Crowd Shaped”). The focus group

activity led to the generation of the words “personalization,” “customization,” and “uniqueness,” which

all point to user awareness of brands and industries to produce more rich and engaging experiences,

Page 14: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

shaped to the individual consumer. These consumers are not only aware of these capabilities, but also

seek deeper implementation of them within the context of the holiday season. Karen revealed during

the in-depth interview that during the holidays, she uses Pinterest most frequently to generate “unique”

gift ideas and holiday activities. “I may also see what my friends’ ‘likes’ and ‘pins’ are to get inspiration

for what they might want as a gift.” Crowdshaping is rooted in bridging multiple reference points to

create this “unique” user experience; providing consumers with this enriched experience both on - and

offline can function as means of deepening engagement through social media, particularly during the

holiday season when consumption is at its peak.

Conclusion to Analysis

The primary data reflects consumer engagement trends on social media, how businesses

improve brand identity, and increase awareness through social media. The holiday season leads in sales

revenue which reflects businesses’ year-round effort to plan, promote, and establish a position in the

marketplace. In the survey, visibility of social media marketing was present to the majority of

participants; however, activity on social media did not reflect interactions made through the marketing

efforts: 70.4 percent of people on social media, during the holiday season, are not looking to discover

special offers. Nearly 84 percent are not attempting to connect with brands. Data findings suggest that

visual social media channels are influential with purchasing behavior. Participants that selected

Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram as the platform most frequently visited, stated that using social

media during the holiday season led to a gift purchase. Consumers’ desired level of involvement was

evident when switching between social media platforms. Over half of the consumers who used social

media to generate gift ideas during the holiday season did not use social media to research products.

Despite the fact, these participants did use social media to find special offers.

By comparing personal importance of self-fulfillment and excitement, respondents showed how

different platforms can generate varying types of involvement. The difference in Facebook, being

accessible as a personal extension, and Twitter, being a low-involvement means of connectivity, is an

example of how consumers want to be involved through the platforms they have the most followers.

Consumers were found to have preferences when it came to receiving information and advertisements

for companies and retailers: 41 percent preferred Facebook over the 18 percent that preferred Twitter.

While some businesses are converting to social media marketing at a slower rate than others, those who

are leaders must learn to effectively reach target customers. While the top three responses for mobile applications were all social media platforms

(Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter), it can be concluded that consumers actively check the accounts and

recall due to the primacy effect. By focusing business efforts on specific consumers, brands can define

their social media activity during the holiday months. To generate social media market strategies that

further engage consumers during the holiday season, personalization, customization, and uniqueness

were terms informants in the focus group used to depict the wants or needs desired from social media

sites. This shows that consumers seek implementation of exclusiveness within the context of the holiday

season. Companies associate social media platforms as a tool to increase consumer-to-business

engagement.

Page 15: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

Limitations and Sources of Error

Sources of error that arose through the research methodology, specifically within the survey

distribution, would include possible variations in the choice of digital surveys as an alternative to

physical pen-and-paper surveys. Qualtrics allowed the questionnaire to be optimized for online formats,

using skip logic, gamification, and interactive question types which translated poorly on pen-and-paper.

On the other hand, online surveys are known for lower response rates than pen-and-paper surveys.

Although the total reach of possible sample frame survey cases is unknown, a sample of 152 completed

surveys is sufficient to detect and report patterns in the data set.

Regarding focus group and in-depth interview recruitment, limitations ranged from time

constraints, arranging a location that would accommodate all participants, and privacy concerns due to

recorded responses. These factors caused unwillingness to participate in the study among potential

candidates. However, identities of informants are protected through use of pseudonyms.

Page 16: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

Works Cited

"12 Crucial Consumer Trends for 2012." Trendwatching.com. Trendwatching.com, 2011. Web. 22 Jan.

2014.

2011 US Holiday Shopping Survey. Rep. Accenture, Oct. 2011. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

Aaker, David A. "Measuring Brand Equity Across Products and Markets." Rev. of Managing Brand Equity:

Capitalizing on the Value of a Brand Name. California Management Review Spring 1996: 102-20. Print.

Adler, Emily. "Social Media Engagement: The Surprising Facts About How Much Time People Spend On

The Major Social Networks." Business Insider. Business Insider, 5 Jan. 2014. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.

Baer, Jay. "B2C Facebook Results Are 30% Above Average on Sundays." Convince and Convert Social

Media Strategy and Content Marketing Strategy. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Baur, Louie. "5 Reasons That Social Media May Never Die." Techi Fresh Daily Technology News. N.p., 19

Feb. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Bennett, Shea. "Users Spend More Time On Pinterest Than Twitter, LinkedIn And Google Combined

[STATS]." Mediabistro. All Twitter, 18 Feb. 2012. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Brenner, Joanna. "Pew Internet: Social Networking." Pew Internet. Pew Research Center, 31 Dec. 2013.

Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Capitol Media Solutions. Holiday Advertising for Brands. Rep. Capitol Media Solutions, n.d. Web. 24 Jan.

2014.

Page 17: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

Cohen, Heidi. "7 Actionable Social Media Tactics To Rock Your Marketing Plans." Heidi Cohen. Heidi

Cohen, 19 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

comScore. "U.S. Holiday Season Retail E-commerce Sales Figures 2005-2013." Statista. ComScore, Jan.

2014. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

Constine, Josh. "Pinterest Hits 10 Million U.S. Monthly Uniques Faster Than Any Standalone Site Ever -

comScore." TechCrunch. N.p., 7 Feb. 2012. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Copeland, Chris. "The Influenced: Social Media, Search and the Interplay of Consideration and

Consumption." Scribd. GroupM Search, Oct. 2009. Web. 18 Jan. 2014.

"Crowd Shaped." Trendwatching.com's Trend Briefing Covering "7 Consumer Trends To Run With In

2014" Trendwatching.com, 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Debono, James. "13 Reasons Why Using Social Media for Business Is Non-Negotiable!"Socialmedia

Today. Social Media Today LLC, 30 Mar. 2012. Web. 18 Jan. 2014.

Dick, Alan S., and Kunal Basu. "Customer Loyalty: Toward an Integrated Conceptual Framework." Journal

of the Academy of Marketing Science 22.2 (1994): 99-113. Print.

Duggan, Maeve, and Joanna Brenner. The Demographics of Social Media Users- 2012. Rep. Pew

Research Center, 14 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

Forte, Gregory. Social Media Marketing in the U.S. Rep. Statista Dossier, Aug. 2013. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

Garibian, Lenna. "Digital Influence: Blogs Beat Social Networks for Driving Purchases."MarketingProfs.

N.p., 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Griffith, Terri L. "Tapping into Social-Media Smarts." The Wall Street Journal (2011): n. pag. 25 Apr. 2011.

Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

Page 18: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

Hart, Steve. "30 Billion Minutes on Social Media But Don't Pick My Personal Data!"Relevanza. N.p., 8

Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Harvard Business Review Analytic Services. The New Conversation: Taking Social Media from Talk to

Action. Rep. no. 10815-PDF-ENG. SAS, 1 Aug. 2010. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

Honigman, Brian. "The Amazing Social Media Statistics 2012." The Huffington Post. Mediabistro, 3 Dec.

2012. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Lloyd, Sam. "The 10 Commandments For Writing Outstanding Survey Questions." Web l og post.

Qualtrics. Qualtrics Labs, Inc., 28 Jan. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Nahai, Nathalie. "5 Things You Need To Know About Marketing To Gen Y." Web log post.Psychology

Today. Sussex Directories, Inc., 13 May 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Nielsen. State of the Media: The Social Media Report. Rep. Statista, 2011. Web. 18 Jan. 2014.

Olenski, Steve. "Social Media Usage Up 800% For U.S. Online Adults In Just 8 Years."Forbes. Forbes

Magazine, 6 Sept. 2013. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

Petro, Greg. "Millennial Engagement And Loyalty -- Make Them Part Of The Process."Forbes. Forbes

Magazine, 21 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Rueter, Thad. "U.S. Online Ad Spending Jumps 18% in the First Half of 2013." Internet Retailer. Internet

Retailer, 9 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Slagen, Dan. "The Pros and Cons of Twitter Advertising for Small Business." Web log post.Hubspot:

Inbound Hub. N.p., 16 Apr. 2012. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Page 19: GfK NextGeneration- Social Media Marketing During the Holiday Season

Stelzner, Michael A. 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report. Rep. Social Media Examiner, Apr.

2010. Web. 18 Jan. 2014.

Tepper, Allegra. "How Much Data Is Created Every Minute?" Mashable. Domo and Column Five Media,

22 June 2012. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

The Wall Street Journal. U.S. Edition. Cyber Monday Goes Mobile With 55 Percent Sales Growth, Reports

IBM. The Wall Street Journal. IBM Global Communications, 3 Dec. 2013. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

United States of America. U.S. Department of Commerce. United States Census Bureau.United States

Census Bureau. United States Census Bureau, 2012. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

"Usage of Social Media for Holiday Shopping in 2012." Statista. EMarketer, Nov. 2012. Web. 22 Jan.

2014.

Voleti, Sudhir, Paul Nelson, and Sanjog Misra. Brand Equity as a Revenue Multiplier. Rep. William E.

Simon Graduate School of Business, 2009. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

Vranica, Suzanne. "Retailers Boost Spending on Holiday Advertising." The Wall Street Journal (2009): n.

pag. 9 Nov. 2009. Web. 18 Jan. 2014.

Wallace, David. "Social Stereotypes: You Are What You Share." Search Engine Journal. SEJ, 22 Nov. 2012.

Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Weinreich, Harald, Hartmut Obendorf, Eelco Herder, and Matthais Mayer. "Attention Span Statistics."

Statistic Brain RSS. National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, The

Associate Press, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

Zarrella, Dan. "The Science of Social Timing." The Science of Social Timing. Kissmetrics, n.d. Web. 24 Jan.

2014.