Social content and the consumer decision journey

One Winthrop Square FL5, Boston MA 02110 617 . 206 . 3040 www.brafton.com

Social Content and the

Consumer Decision Journey

Patrick Berzai director of account management

http://www.brafton.com/


617 . 206 . 3040 www.brafton.com

“The single biggest problem in communication

is the illusion that it has taken place.”

--George Bernard Shaw

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Social for Business

How Social Content Affects the Online Buying

Journey

Resourcing

Resources

Agenda









Social For Business




What makes

buy

Business Challenge

?









While a priority can be given to drive traffic to

your main web property, buying decisions are

made over a long time.

The priority is still delivering:

1. The right message

2. To the right viewer

3. At the right time

Social Content









Goals for Social Media are to:

1. Foster ‘many to many’ conversations in a community

2. Brand authority and personality—people view brands on social as ‘people’

3. Drive traffic to intended web properties

4. Highlight the processes and successes of people who have been associated with your brand

5. Co-opt what people are talking about to insinuate your brand into their lives

Business Goals for Social Media









Clients may think it is frivolous to have a

“Facebook Page”or their “Twitter feed.”

It is important to stress that this is a brands’

“web property” or “web asset.”

Just as they need to control the content on their

main web property, they need to control the

conversations on their social properties.

A Reframe









Social Properties and Signals in SERPs

From a branded search of “Brafton” Google+ followers

show up in a

branded search for

Brafton

Brafton

Twitter page

ranks

Brafton

LinkedIn

page ranks

I am connected to

this author

through Google+

so his result

shows up in the

“News” in my

SERPs









Social Media and the

Consumer Decision Journey




Traditional Three Step Model

It used to be that people would have a need for a product or service (the

‘stimulus’) and then check out the product on a shelf and then buy the product.









BRAND EVALUATION/LOYALTY: OLD

Prior to search,

marketers assumed

that consumers

started with a large

number of potential

brands in mind and

methodically

winnowed their

choices until they

would decide which

one to buy.

After purchase,

their relationship

with the brand

typically focused

on the use of the

product or service

itself.

The Purchase Funnel









What is the percentage of US online adults

credit communication with people they know

personally for helping them discover new

brands, products, or services.

People Look to their Connections for Help









Ninety-four percent of those respondents actually

purchased or tried a new brand or product after hearing

about it through the grapevine.









of a typical B2B

purchasing decision

(research, ranking,

pricing, reviews,

etc) is done before

having a

conversation with

the supplier.

Source: http://hbr.org/2012/07/the-end-of-solution-sales/

60%

THE (NEW) B2B PURCHASE

FUNNEL








http://hbr.org/2012/07/the-end-of-solution-sales/










of a typical B2C

purchasing decision

is done before

contacting a

salesperson of

visiting a store

Source: Forbes

70%

THE (NEW) B2C PURCHASE

FUNNEL









What Was Once a Message…

Brand

The void…









…is NOW a Conversation

Now brands can talk and listen to

their potential and loyal customers,

finding out valuable information like

what interests them, how they like

to talk (about their brand) and how

they buy and user their pordcuts.

The best brand experiences are

the ones that foster not only a

brand to customer experience,

but a brand to customer to

client interaction, or ‘many to

many’experience.

It is best not to think of social

media as either B2B or B2C

but of “P2P”—People to

People.









New Paradigm




New Mental Model

Now, in the time between the ‘stimulus’ and the ‘first moment of truth’ is the

‘Zero Moment of Truth’ whereby people are researching products online,

comparing prices, reviews, videos, tutorials, etc.

And there is a lasting opportunity to for brands to remain in the front of

brands AFTER purchase now (Second Moment of Truth)









ZMOT AND DECISIONS

Savvy consumers are increasingly turning to online social interactions to check

out ratings and reviews for opinions on products and services and searching

what a brand’s Facebook Pages or Twitter account has for deals and insights

as to what’s new.

Consumers are also also using sites like YouTube and Vimeo to research how-

to videos or demos on how products are used.









The Purchase Funnel Re-imagined

The Loyalty Loop

New research shows that

rather than systematically

narrowing their choices,

consumers add and

subtract brands from a

group under consideration

during an extended

evaluation phase.

After purchase, they often enter into

an open ended relationship with the

brand, sharing their experience with

it online, making the relationship

closer resulting in repeat purchases.









Using the Loyalty Loop For Customer Acquisition

One way that new

customer acquisition can

be improved by present

client loyalty is in their

social reputation on their

social profiles.

Studies show that

prospects look at social

properties to get reviews

and discover how that

brand is building a

community, dealing with

angry clients, and what

sort of interaction is

occurring on social

properties









ANOTHER LOOK…

In 2012 44% of conusmers across industries visited a the social media site for

a brand prior to purchase. 44% “Liked,” or followed a brand prior to purchase.

Social media









The Role of Social Media along CDJ

This abstract

shows how social

properties can

affect decisions

and what sort of

social behaviors

brands would use

at key times along

the journey.









Social Media and SEO



617 . 206 . 3040 http://www.brafton.com

















SEO traditionally has meant how to rank a website highest on Google.

Over time, “Number 1 ranking” has changed on Google, as have the reasons for ranking.

Some search behavior, such as online reputation searches, users will go up to eight pages deep to investigate your brand.

The goal is to control the content on the sites that users see that influence their decision about your brand.

SEO as a Search Behavior









WHAT YOU WANT TO

SAY

WHAT INTERESTS THEM

RELEVANCE









80% believe shared content is more

important for SEO than ever before

Source: BrightEdge









Social Properties and Signals in SERPs

From a branded search of “Brafton” Google+ followers

show up in a

branded search for

Brafton

Brafton

Twitter page

ranks

Brafton

LinkedIn

page ranks

I am connected to

this author

through Google+

so his result

shows up in the

“News” in my

SERPs









Google+

Google+ is not a

social network per

se, but a search

network.

Google is constantly

trying to make

SERPs more

relevant to intent,

and part of that

assumption is that

those in your

‘circles’ or your

friends are better

indicators of quality

content tailored to

the user.









Social Content Sourcing




You can

search

by most

recent or

most

popular

You may change

the parameters of

the search to not

only search the

web, but

conversations

and people

associated with

your keyword

search

Updated

often




Use of Forums for Sourcing

Check the

moderator—what authority do they have

in the industry

Latest updates to

see what people

are recently talking

about

How many

comments

did a

discussion

get?

Look at the

most

popular

discussions. This forum is actually

not too popular.

Seed a

forum

with a

question

or a poll.

Useful

data for

an article

or blog









Drilldown

Top influencers. Find their

comments and co-opt their

knowledge of the industry

Other insights









Other Insights

There are further demographics in the insights to the

group to find global trends in the field.









Continuing the Conversation

There is an opportunity for brands to

spy on conversations.

One way for a web site to participate

or even lead the conversation in their

field is to listen in to a conversation

and then show it to an internal

executive or SME and then turn their

response into a blog topic or article.

This is a way to co-opt the

discussion or debate into the brand

narrative.









Resources




Zero Moment of Truth: http://www.zeromomentoftruth.com/

David Edelman: @davidedelman

McKinsey & Co: www.mckinsey.com

Demystifying Social Media: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/demystifying_social_media

Social Media and the Consumer Decision Journey http://cmsoforum.mckinsey.com/article/taking-social-media-along-the-consumer-decision-

journey

Jeff Bullas @jeffbullas

Resources








http://www.zeromomentoftruth.com/

http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/demystifying_social_media

http://cmsoforum.mckinsey.com/article/taking-social-media-along-the-consumer-decision-journey















Marketing

Social content and the consumer decision journey