Customer Experience

By Liam Dowd - June 24th, 2014

User generated sales, the power of social humour and the battle of the mobile sexes

Funny money

A new survey from Ogilvy & Mather and SurveyMonkey has revealed that humour and informative content is shared the most across social media. Over a third of respondents stated they shared content to promote a cause with nearly half as a way to feel thoughtful and useful.

Says Thomas Crampton, global managing director of Social@Ogilvy “As brands become content creators, it is important for them to understand what motivates people to share. These survey results clearly show that companies must shift towards higher quality content and adjust strategy according to the local market. Simple translation does not work.”

Bennett Porter, vice president, marketing communications SurveyMonkey added: “The discovery of why consumers are sharing content has been fascinating. We’ve seen some startling differences in how emerging and developed markets approach content. It’s fascinating to see that the majority of social media users are not put off by the volume of ads seen, and are more than happy to see content – so long as its relevant and interesting.”

Brands as content creators clearly need to pay close attention to the content that engages with their customer bases. As social media is a personalised space, so content should speak to specific groups.

Corporations that are increasingly becoming publishers need to ensure the right type of content is proliferated across the social media space. Content is certainly not universal. Using specific themes should be approached with care to take cultural differences into consideration.

User generated sales

Content has been proven to still be king especially when it comes to engagement in the social media environment. A new infographic from SparkReel suggests that user-generated content is of the most value to consumers.

As nearly half of consumers will seek out user-generated content before making a purchase, brand owners should be cultivating this potentially lucrative channel. However, corporations should beware of attempting to use content that is not actually user-generated content, as consumers will see right through this and ensure the brand feels their wrath.

Battle of the social sexes

If your corporation’s goods or services speak to specific genders, the infographic from Finances Online reveals stark differences between the sexes when it comes to using social media on mobile devices. The research concludes that:

• 71% of women will like or follow a brand for deals—compared to only 18% of men.
• Men are 17% more likely to scan coupons or QR codes, though, on their mobile device.
• Women ignore social media and mobile advertising more than men.
• The top reason women use Facebook is to see others' photos and videos, while the top reason men use Facebook is to share with multiple people at once.
• Only 47% of men use social media on their phone. 57% of women use social media on their phone on a regular basis.

Until next time….

The Useful Social Media team.