BLOG #2 - Qualitative Research of Online Social Behavior

I’m not an outlier when it comes to social media…at least I don’t think I am.  I have a Facebook page which I visit numerous times a day; I post once a week and “like” 2-3 times a week. I have around 600 Facebook friends, but don’t “like” any brands, and the only non-friends I follow are musicians.  I have a Linkedin account, but other than setting up my page, my only activity is accepting contact requests.  I have a Spotify account which I use every day to listen to and find new music and I frequently send and receive tracks with my Spotify (Facebook) friends.  I read blogs but don’t write my own; I use Yelp but don’t post myself; and I don’t have a twitter account (and I’m confused by people who do).  I’m pretty sure I’m right in the middle of the bell curve of social media consumption and maybe farther down when it comes to production of social media.

If we assume I am a ‘typical’ user and producer of social media it doesn’t bode well for the companies that attempt to target me on the web.  Although I am relatively active online, I have NEVER clicked on an ad (be it on Facebook or anywhere else on the web).  Moreover, I don’t list very much information about myself other than the day (not year) I was born, my sex, where I live, and the bands I like.  Clearly a company could ‘mine’ my Facebook wall and learn more about me, but as of now, I don’t think that technology is very robust. 

Now, while some people find it ‘creepy’ to see that advertisements on Gmail or Facebook have clearly been directed at one of their ‘public’ interests, I find it almost quaint.   Let me explain.  I dream of a web experience where I get to benefit from the free use of robust, well-designed and customized applications and websites in exchange for viewing advertisements for products and services that I am really interested in.  Currently, this happens about 1% of the time and, as a result, I don’t engage in these ‘targeted’ advertisements.  So long as advertisers only make use of information I have shared publicly, I have no problem at all with them using that information to help educate me on what’s available in the marketplace.  In fact, I wish they would do it a lot better. 

Currently, the advertisements that I (and people like me) have learned to ignore on the web have no added value for us.  In fact, unless you count that they are paying for the free services I use, they currently have a negative value in that they take up space that could otherwise be used more effectively.  I look forward to the day when the ads I view online help inform me and facilitate purchases that improve my life.

On the other hand, advertisements are only a small piece of a company’s interaction with users like me on the web.  Until they can do a better job targeting ads and discounts to exactly the people who are interested in them, companies can use social media to target customers like me in two ways: via CONTENT and via SUPPORT. 

First let’s discuss ‘content’.  I spend more time on the web than I do on any other form of media.  If a company can entertain me on the web, I will pay attention to them and evangelize their brand.   I’ll repost, email, and share their ‘content’ for my friends to see.  This is the goal of every ‘viral’ web campaign out there, and for me it makes a lot more sense than a generic banner ad.  It builds brand awareness and it has its own intrinsic value separate from the product it is advertising.  As a consumer, if one brand can entertain me for 30 seconds on the web, I’m going to have a positive view of them compared to their competitor who wasted my time with a generic ad that I had to scroll past or suffer through in order to get to the content I was looking for.  Some brands that consistently excel at this in my mind are Audi, Old Spice, and Redbull, among others.

Second, there is ‘support’.  This type of social media interaction is targeted at existing and high-potential users.  These people either own the product or are actively researching the product for a potential purchase.  The aim here is to keep current customers happy and convince potential customers who are still on the fence.  In order to keep me as a customer, a company must have a way to answer my questions quickly and easily on the web.  I don’t just want a company representative, I want to hear from other users like me.  When I am researching a purchase, ads no longer hold any value.  I want to hear from existing users and learn how positive/negative their experience has been.  Apple is the gold standard in this regard.

It all comes down to trust in the end.  Social media users like me trust their friends and rely on their opinions.  We trust companies that we perceive to be smart, funny and stylish because, in the end, the products we use reflect on us.  I look forward to the day when I am no longer forced to suffer through ads, promotions, and discounts for products I have no interest in.  I realize that this will never happen completely, but currently, there is a lot of room for improvement.