Social brand promoters

Brand promoters on social media are more common in developing countries, such as India and Brazil, shows research by online survey company, SurveyMonkey, and global marketing communications company, Ogilvy.

The report differentiates between brand supporters, who might share and ‘like’ comments, or follow brands, and brand advocates, or promoters, who support the brand in the long term and promote it among their own networks.

In order to engage with brand promoters, brands should build relevance and trust through the development of strong content. Ogilvy and SurveyMonkey also recommend moving from broad demographics to the analysis of behaviour, interests and friendships, connecting with the right audience in the right place at the right time, using culturally relevant storytelling and focusing on harder business metrics, such as leads, sales, performance and loyalty.

Across the 11 countries surveyed, 84% said that they had ‘liked’, or followed, a brand, product or service. These social sharers are likely to interact with a brand and pro-actively share their experiences. However, social media addicts self-identify as being extremely likely to recommend brands and products to friends. Friends of brand promoters are also much more likely to talk about products and brands and 35% said that they would buy a product if it was mentioned by a friend. While six in ten survey respondents are sharers, only two in ten are true brand promoters.

Converting social sharers into brand promoters would be incredible advantageous for brands looking to grow their influence online. Thomas Crampton, global managing director at Social@Ogilvy, says, “Companies need to move beyond collecting 'likes' and 'retweets' with meaningless content. Through genuine interaction and content designed to connect with true advocates, companies can drive forward their brand, business and reputation in ways not possible before this era of social media."