Facebook Audience Drives Strong Brand WOM . . .Offline - Ed Keller - MediaBizBloggers

The question about whether brands are a welcome part of social networking sites like Facebook is a robust one for commentary and debate among marketers and the marketing trade press.

Facebook recently earned the #1 ranking on AdWeek's Digital Hot List 2009, and not a week goes by without new reports touting its power as a brand building force. This past week alone has seen stories that highlight "The Secret to Brand Social Popularity," while another reveals research that concludes, "Social media sites are on their way to becoming a brand's best advertising medium." Facebook has now unveiled new tools available to advertisers with its "friends of connection" targeting, which allows advertisers to deliver their ads to the friends of people already connected with their Page, Application, Group, or Event.

Yet at the same time, there is also a growing body of research that draws the opposite conclusion, namely that social networking sites are popular because they help people to create and maintain personal connections, and brands have only a small role (if any) to play. For example, in May 2009 Knowledge Networks released a report saying, "Internet users turn to social media to seek one another, not brands or products." In June 2009 the Harris Poll reported, "Offline social word of mouth influence on brand decision-making [is] more frequent and powerful than online social media." And just last week, the Parenting Group reported, "While moms clearly turn to online communities and social networks for advice, support and connection . . . their offline personal network of family and friends still drives purchasing behavior, trumping online social networks by a scale of 4 to 1."

We decided to take a different type of look at the power of Facebook to help drive brand growth, and from it emerges a very interesting insight: The Facebook audience is, indeed, a potent word of mouth engine even as most of their brand-related conversations – ironically-- take place offline, not online.

According to TalkTrack®, an ongoing word of mouth tracking system that measures both offline as well as online WOM, we find that Facebook users engage in 36% more word of mouth conversations per week than the average American.

More specifically, the Facebook audience engages in higher levels of conversation across a wide range of product and service categories, with 40% or more conversations per week than the average American about children's products, retail/apparel, technology, media/entertainment, travel and personal care/beauty. They engage in between 30% and 40% more conversations per week about sports/hobbies, beverages, food/dining, and telecom.

Consistent with the higher levels of conversation, we also note that Facebook users are 67% more likely than the average to qualify as word of mouth influencers (a group we at Keller Fay call Conversation Catalysts™). While there is variation by category, the largest percentages are influencers in the food category, followed by media, retail, technology, and personal care/beauty.

Weekly Conversations by Category: Facebook Users Indexed vs. Total Public (Ages 13-69)
Source: Keller Fay’s TalkTrack®, January – September 2009

Where do these conversations take place? Not where you might think. More than three quarters (77%) take place face to face, and another 14% take place over the phone – meaning that 90% of their conversations are offline, a figure that is identical to what we see for the total public. Only about 1% take place via chatrooms, blogs, or social networking sites.

Facebook Users Primarily Spread Word of Mouth Face to Face

Source: Keller Fay’s TalkTrack®, January – September 2009

Given these findings, the picture that emerges is that the "debate" about the role of brands in social media needs to be recast. We shouldn't put the technology at the center of the discussion, focusing on the tools; rather we need to put people first – the people who use Facebook and other social networking sites. It's clear that the audiences like Facebook's are extremely attractive in terms of their power to drive word of mouth about brands—especially offline. The question is how can advertisers best leverage this large and growing audience of influencers?

It is not at all clear that there is a pent up demand to "friend" or "fan" lots of brands. A few brands are successful at this; but many aren't and won't ever be. To succeed requires more than just having a Facebook strategy or a Twitter strategy. The evidence is clear that audiences like Facebook's will talk -- both offline and online – sharing stories about truly remarkable experiences. Brands need to appreciate what stimulates and motivates these people to talk, and then determine what they can do to deliver those experiences—or sponsor them. Those that do are the brands that will be increasingly successful tapping into the word of mouth power of people who use online social networks like Facebook.

Ed Keller, CEO of the Keller Fay Group, has been called "one of the most recognized names in word of mouth." The publication of Keller's book,The Influentials, has been called the "seminal moment in the development of word of mouth." Ed can be contacted at ekeller@kellerfay.com.

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