The Forest Products in a Digital Age: The Use and Effectiveness of Social Media as a Marketing Tool

Iris Montague & Jan Wiedenbeck, USDA Forest Service

Kathryn Arano Gazal & Rajendra Poudel, West Virginia University

58th SWST International Convention IUFRO 5.10 Forest Products Marketing and Business Management MeetingJune 12, 2015

OVERVIEW

Background

Study objectives

Study results

Conclusions

(1824)

The foundation

for the telegraph was laid

(1876)

The telephone

was invented

(1974)

The first consumer computer

was introduced

(1980’s ) Consumer use of fax machines

began

(1990)

Consumer use of mobile phones began

(1992) Consumer use of the Internet began

Memory Lane

Social Forestry?

SOCIAL MEDIA DEFINED

• Boyd and Ellison (2008) classify a social network as a web-based service sites that allow individuals to – (1) construct a public or semi-

public profile within a bounded system,

– (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and

– (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.

EXAMPLES

• Blogs/Forum/RSS - (Wordpress, Blogger, Feedreader ect.)

• Microblogs - (Twitter, Wooxie etc.)

• Video and Image-sharing -(YouTube, Flickr, Pinterest etc.)

• Social Networking - (Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn ect.)

• Social Bookmarking - (delicio.us, digg.com ect.)

• Knowledge Sharing - (Wikipedia, Prezi, Slideshare ect.)

• Music, Entertainment Sites -(Spotify, Ping, Moof ect.)

• Review sites - (trustpilot.dk, ask.com etc.)

• Location based services -(Foursquare ect.)

http://entrepreneurepicenter.com/comparing-social-media-stats/

Objectives of Study

1. To identify the type/s of social media tools forest products companies employ

2. To examine the reasons a company chooses to use or not use social media as a marketing tool

3. To examine the effectiveness of social media marketing efforts of forest products companies

4. To examine factors affecting the use of social media marketing in the forest products industry

Directory of forest products industry was obtained from Dun & Bradstreet (D&B)

1004 surveys were sent to U.S. forest products manufacturers

Survey sections pertained to company characteristics, e-commerce, social media use and effectiveness

The total usable responses were 166, which accounts for a 16.5 percent response rate

Methods

Conducted statistical analysis to determine social media adoption predictors

Results

Social Media

Over half (57.6 %) of the respondents use social media

62.8 percent of companies that use social media have a dedicated social media employee

91.6 percent of the respondents adopted social media to increase exposure

73.7 percent of the respondents adopted social media within the past four years

Facebook most used site followed by LinkedIn

Social Media Predictors

Hypothesized to be influenced by 3 groups of variables: company characteristics, e-commerce usage, and website quality

A logistic regression model was used to model the factors affecting social media adoption

The results indicate that company age, net sales revenue, product type, the use of online marketing, perceived importance of e-commerce, and the amount of available information on company websites were significant factors affecting social media use

Measuring EffectivenessMost companies use site visits and number of social network friends as a quantitative measure of effectiveness

Most companies use relationship growth and audience participation as a qualitative measure of effectiveness

The majority of respondents (94.05 %) do not measure social media ROI

Facebook is considered the most effective social media forum

Some Examples

Conclusions

The use of social media by potential consumers is significant and will continue to increase

Social media use has been shown to make positive contributions to brand performance, retailer performance, and consumer-retailer loyaltyConsumer awareness is important and companies should take advantage of every opportunity available to remain competitiveResurvey after 3 years to compare and survey consumer use of social media to learn about wood products before purchase

QUESTIONS?