Why Consumers Ignore Brands In Social Media ?
Social media plays a very crucial role in providing relevant information of customers' profiles to the brands. One important thing a marketer can do is to understand the target consumers with the help of information provided by social media. Indeed, customers are showing interest in connecting with brands online.
53% of the customers are willing to follow or like a brand on social media. According to the Connected Life study 2016/17, it has been shown that 84% of all social media users are engaged with brands online.
As new networks are emerging, social media is becoming a more specialised platform for the marketing purposes of brands. Instagram and Snapchat are the networks based on photography. These networks have soared as customers seek out authentic, instant and in the moment content.
Brands that never develop a real connection to their customers can be disadvantaged.
What does age difference tell us about the attitudes towards brands and their advertisements on social media?
It is evident that the young internet users are the reason behind the popularity of networks like Snapchat and Instagram.
Here are the views and opinions of different age groups, starting with the younger generation:
- 10% of internet users between 16-24 think that it is an unsafe practice to share more information with brands on the internet, even if a reward is offered to them
- 9% of internet users between 25-34 feel that the brands they connect with, provide a better customer service quality online than offline.
- 14% of internet users between 35-44 completely oppose to the idea of their behaviour being tracked online by brands so that they can be provided with advertisements.
- 22% of internet users between 45-54 feel bombarded by the presence of different brands on social platforms. They feel that they are being constantly followed by online posts and advertisements.
- 39% of internet users between 55-65 actively ignore any content or posts from brands on social media.
Matt Rosenberg says that it was the fault of marketers to think that people's social profiles were stagnant. Their other mistake was to focus more than required on gaining more followers. But, the reason behind the high level of ignorance is the irrelevancy of the content. They are no longer buying from the brands. He also says," Connections without substance never really mean anything as they don't add up to much. "
Wondering What Is The Solution?
The only solution is to understand what consumers want. Consumers are going to connect with brands depending on their interests. In order to maintain strong and healthy social connections with the consumers, marketers need to know how to convert social data into consumer's interest profiles. Brands should stop acting like users on social media.
When customers like a particular brand on social media, it's nothing less than a badge. It's similar like we are managing our relationships in real life and keeping those people who are interesting and important to us in our life. We keep the brands we like. We manage out the brands that communicate awkwardly.
Global Usage of Snapchat And Instagram
- Scenario Between 2014-2016
What can be more shocking than to know that 25% of consumers in Luxembourg are actively ignoring social contents or posts from the brands? Nine in ten of internet users in Luxembourg follow brand content on Instagram and Snapchat. The popularity of Snapchat and Instagram has rapidly increased in the last two years. People seek out relevant, personal and real content.
The attendance of global internet users was doubled on Instagram jumping to 42% in 2016 compared to only 24% two years ago. In 2016 Snapchat had almost 23% of internet users which is really a mind-blowing take off from just 12% in 2014. However, in 2015, Instagram was the leading network based on photography with 32% of overall internet users around the world while Snapchat was rising slowly with just 13% of the users.
The reason behind the rise in popularity of Instagram from 2014 to 2016 is their focus on young internet users as they are leading the way on social media these days.
Snapchat and Instagram have become a way of fulfilling the consumers' desires for instant and entertaining content from family, friends, and influencers. Marketers should know how to make the right people focus on the right content, at the right moment and at the right platform. The key is to overcome people's negative perception of brands' online activities.