Take a quick tour around the web and you’ll find no shortage of social media junkies and innovation addicts listing the myriad of things financial institutions could do in social channels. While they pound the drum of “potential and possibilities,” financial marketers are seldom (if ever) offered any hardcore stats on actual rates of engagement.
We are constantly reminded that there are 850 million users on Facebook, and many believe that fact alone should persuade marketing managers of social media’s power. But that number only represents 12.4% of the world’s population, and (of course) you probably aren’t targeting the entire world.
In the US, for instance, around 150 million people, or about half the total population, have a Facebook account. So if you have 100,000 customers, you could feasibly reach only 50%. But how many don’t know or don’t care that you have a Facebook page? Conservatively you could say 75%. How many don’t ‘Like’ any brands on Facebook? Somewhere between a quarter and three-quarters. So a financial institution with 100,000 customers could reasonably plan on reaching a Facebook audience numbering around 6,500.
But among those consumers who say they ‘Like’ brands on Facebook, 78% ‘Like’ fewer than ten brands. And what kinds of brands do they like? Fashion, food and entertainment brands such as Apple, Starbucks, Disney, Xbox, Red Bull, Helly Hansen. In other words, things people want, things they actually like. Banking is something people need (and they only need it to get the things they want), and it’s never been particularly well-liked.
It’s important to remember that there are hundreds of millions of rabid Apple fans, and yet how many are connected to the company through social media (answer: a small percentage).
While hundreds of millions of loyal and devoted Starbucks customers religiously buy their lattes every day, how many are fans and followers?
Key Question: Why should you be among the ten (or fewer) brands people connect with in social channels? What do you have to offer that competes with the social media experiences offered by big brands, who themselves struggle connecting with even their most passionate supporters?
One social media expert decided to conduct a little experiment. For one week he ‘Liked’ every company that asked him to. At the end of seven days, he had ‘Liked’ 46 different brands. But only 10 had given him any reason to do so. For the first time in history, we have marketers asking consumers to do something without telling anyone what they stand to gain from it. Where’s the benefit? If brand managers are unsure, consumers are even more unsure.
Then what happens when consumers are disappointed with a brand’s social media presence? A study by Relevation Research found that a third of those who connect with a brand in social channels later turn around and dump the company. After distancing themselves from the brand on social media, many report they then view the brand more negatively, shop/visit it less often and wind up spending less.
Bottom Line: Social media isn’t all rainbows and butterflies. Contrary to what social media’s proponents would have you believe, there isn’t this vast army consumers impatiently waiting for every brand they use to hop on the Facebook and Twitter bandwagon.
6 in 10 users don’t follow or like any brands on any social networks.
— Insites Consulting
78.6% don’t like any brands on Facebook.
— Econsultancy
75% don’t follow any brands on Twitter. Of those users who do follow brands, 64% only follow between one and four.
— Constant Contact
53% of active adult social network users follow a brand. 78% of consumers who “Like” brands on Facebook said they “Like” fewer than ten brands.
— Constant Contact
57.8% of US Facebook users had not mentioned a single brand in their status updates as of October 2011. 61.3% of Twitter users saying they have not tweeted about a brand.
— eMarketer
Only 16% expect companies to use social media to interact with them. 46% of kids, ages 12 to 17, told Forrester in a recent survey that they don’t expect companies to have a presence using social tools.
— Forrester
25% disagree that Likes mean that they are fans or advocates of the brand. Only 42% of consumers agreed that marketers could interpret a Like as such.
— Exact Target
1% of fans of the biggest brands on Facebook engage with the brands on the site.
— Ehrenberg-Bass Institute
71% of consumers report being more selective about “liking” a company on Facebook than they were last year.
–Exact Target
64% said they hate when they are targeted via their social network profiles.
— Insight Strategy Group
58% find marketing via social media to be invasive.
— Insight Strategy Group
60% find it annoying when brands communicate with them via Facebook or Twitter.
— Insight Strategy Group
39% of Facebook users do not interpret their own “likes” of a company to equate to permission for that company to deliver marketing messages to the news feed.
— Exact Target
81% of consumers have either “unliked” or removed a company’s posts from their Facebook news feed.
— Exact Target
58% of respondents indicated that they liked or followed brands in order to receive special news and deals.
— Insight Strategy Group
Over 50% of people feel overwhelmed by brand messages on social media. 75% of people think one or two Facebook messages a day is too much to receive from a brand.
— Content & Motion
39% of Facebook users do not interpret their own “likes” of a company to equate to permission for that company to deliver marketing messages to the news feed.
— Exact Target
57.8% of US Facebook users had not mentioned a single brand in their status updates as of October 2011. 61.3% of Twitter users saying they have not tweeted about a brand.
— eMarketer
58% of consumers have never had any conversation ever with a brand via a social network.
— InSites Consulting
Only 5% of consumers see social media as an appropriate channel for financial conversations, and some 60% said they wouldn’t use Twitter, Facebook or similar sites to resolve customer service issues in banking.
— BT and Avaya
Only 18% this social networking sites are a good source of word-of-mouth information on brand experiences.
— Jack Morton Worldwide
One in five think pushing “Like” buttons for brands is silly.
— Jack Morton Worldwide
40% of people feel that brand promos are too complex to enter. 20% feel that incentives are not worth the effort.
— Content & Motion
Not following any brands in social media:
46% Ages 15-17
26% Ages 18-24
24% Ages 25-34
26% Ages 35-44
38% Ages 45-54
55% Ages 55-64
69% Ages 65+– Brian Solis
59% of consumers do not connect with their favorite brands through any social media channel.
— Exact Target
71% of consumers report being more selective about “liking” a company on Facebook than they were last year.
— Exact Target
Only 42% of Facebook users agree that marketers should interpret “Like” to mean they are a fan or advocate of the company.
— Exact Target
78% of consumers who “Like” brands on Facebook said they “Like” fewer than ten brands.
— Constant Contact