Marketing today must account not only for the demographics of the average consumer being targeted but also how they behave online. Our online interactions with and about brands influence our purchases.
Last week, Beyond, our city organizers in San Francisco for Social Media Week February, hosted a Science of Sharing event, in which they unveiled their latest findings on social consumers. Surveying 3000 UK and US consumers, participants were categorized as high or low sharers. The survey revealed some interesting implications for brands.
In particular, they found that overall talking to friends or family more strongly influenced our buying behaviors than any other options but search. Given this, the finding that creators of content were 3x more likely to recommend product compared to low sharers at 41% versus 14% was especially important.
Other differences between the two groups? Well, high sharers tend to be younger, a minority, have higher levels of education, have a higher level of internet use, are more loyal to brands, and have a higher number of Facebook friends.And low sharers have a lower level of internet use, older, use Facebook more infrequently, and are more apt to switch brands.
Beyond then separated out products into two categories and looked at the characteristics of the average consumer of each. High involvement products are more quality-based products that are less frequently purchased, more complex, expensive, and more time intensive when researching. Consumers of high involvement products tend to be male, older, low sharers, married, and higher educated, and they are more likely to visit brick & mortar stores, buy quality brands, and purchase based on recommendations.
Low involvement products are focused more on product image concerns (higher purchase frequency, lower cost, minimal effort & thought)
consumers tend to be female, younger, a minority, high sharers, single, lower education levels, buy and recommend products, buy fashionable and modern brands and buy nostalgic items.
Beyond’s white paper goes more into detail about the demographics of these users and the separation of the two type of products. You can access the full report and Beyond’s summary of the event here.
Does this line up with what you’d expect to see from consumers’ online activities? Will this impact how your company markets? Let us know your thoughts, and keep up with all that Beyond is doing for Social Media Week San Francisco on their blog and on Twitter and Facebook.
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