The Age of Social Influence
THE AGE OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE
HOW MEDIA-EMPOWERED CONSUMERS ARE HELPING TO DRIVE SALES
Methodology
This project was part of Initiative’s Consumer Connections global research program which now spans in excess of 50 countries. Our study’s sample was designed to identify those actively engaged in social media. As a result we conducted 8014 online interviews with consumers aged 18-54. Interlocking age/gender and regional quotas were set to reflect the national population in each country, the only exceptions being China where the focus was on Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and Canada where the Nunavut, NWT, Yukon regions were excluded. We used complex factor analysis to identify drivers of social behavior. This enabled us to quantify consumers’ social influence and identify those who are leveraging their superior social connections to influence purchase decisions.
THE AGE OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE
The importance of social media has been discussed at length for several years now. We know that in many markets time spent online has surpassed that of TV and that daily social media usage is continuing to increase. We know that the once linear and transaction-centric purchase funnel is now multi-directional, random and heavily influenced by opinion and information gathered by consumers. And we know that because of social media and technology, consumers can now enter the purchase cycle at various points, and spontaneously influence others as they travel along the path the purchase. But do we really understand how marketers can unlock the real value of all this? Do we know how social media works with other more established media? And do we know how to harness the power of social media for real commercial gain? In order to find answers to some of these crucial questions, Initiative set out to explore the individual and combined strength of TV, social and mobile, and how consumer interaction with each has altered the path to purchase. Specifically, we wanted to
HOW MEDIA-EMPOWERED CONSUMERS ARE HELPING TO DRIVE SALES
Methodology
This project was part of Initiative’s Consumer Connections global research program which now spans in excess of 50 countries. Our study’s sample was designed to identify those actively engaged in social media. As a result we conducted 8014 online interviews with consumers aged 18-54. Interlocking age/gender and regional quotas were set to reflect the national population in each country, the only exceptions being China where the focus was on Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and Canada where the Nunavut, NWT, Yukon regions were excluded. We used complex factor analysis to identify drivers of social behavior. This enabled us to quantify consumers’ social influence and identify those who are leveraging their superior social connections to influence purchase decisions.
THE AGE OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE
The importance of social media has been discussed at length for several years now. We know that in many markets time spent online has surpassed that of TV and that daily social media usage is continuing to increase. We know that the once linear and transaction-centric purchase funnel is now multi-directional, random and heavily influenced by opinion and information gathered by consumers. And we know that because of social media and technology, consumers can now enter the purchase cycle at various points, and spontaneously influence others as they travel along the path the purchase. But do we really understand how marketers can unlock the real value of all this? Do we know how social media works with other more established media? And do we know how to harness the power of social media for real commercial gain? In order to find answers to some of these crucial questions, Initiative set out to explore the individual and combined strength of TV, social and mobile, and how consumer interaction with each has altered the path to purchase. Specifically, we wanted to