According to Nick Bedford, Business Director at Social@Ogilvy, the Social@Ogilvy
team has conducted the most comprehensive study of global advocacy to date.
Millions of social brand mentions were analysed to help the global advertising
agency better understand the value of online brand advocacy.
As millions of people converse about brands on a daily basis, the goal was to
determine just how effective social media can be in promoting brand awareness
and instilling passion in brands and their products. Understanding how advocacy
works is critical to driving real business value.
“The data includes about seven million mentions of more than 23 brands and
eight feature films in China, Brazil, the UK and the US and the study took place
over six months,’ says Bedford. “It has shown what people actual talk about
when sharing their feelings and views about brands, what the degree of
advocacy is from a simple “like’ to enthusiastic support as well as how advocacy
differs from country to country.
Bedford emphasises that Social@Ogilvy wanted to conclude what business value
online brand advocacy has. “We wanted to establish what the bottom line is.
What is the true commercial value of being on social media and is it effective in
creating a relationship with a consumer? Up to now this information has been
very vague and it has been determined that a need for offline behaviour
certainly exists,’ adds Bedford.
“The study has proven that brand advocacy can occur anywhere and is not
category-agnostic. We need to find ways in which to talk about absolutely
everything in order to identify and amplify positive experiences and turning
them into brand advocates,’ he continues. Brands that do not create substantial
brand advocay will need to spend more in order to guarantee a wider reach.
Some of the key findings were as follows:
Where advoacy is concerned, features trup emotion
Adcocacy can occur anywhere – every brand has an opportunity to create
advocates
China boasts the highest level of brand advocacy when comparing them to
Brazil, UK and USA
Few brands are driving true passion.
Brands have an enormous social advocay gap
Bedford concludes: “Yes this study was conducted internationally so it would be
interesting to conduct a similar study in South Africa however I am sure the
principles and findings would be similar. We need to encourage conversations
about brands in as many places as possible and should create favourable online
and offline experiences. Effective brand-building requires the need to have
rational conversations with our communities. Emotional benefits, customer
service, costs and the marketing impact of ad campaigns all contribute to brand
advocay The full communication and marketing mix needs to be taken into
consideration.
