Rules of engagement in Media by Insites Consulting. What can we learn from conversations taking place on Facebook, YouTube & Twitter? Engaging consumers is key, brands try to win the hearts of consumers through social media. What can we learn from those experiences across brands?

2. We went on a safari

3. Brands try to
win the What can
Engaging
hearts of we learn
consumers from those
is key consumers experiences
through social
across brands?
media

4. Goal:
Identifying what is driving consumers to engage in branded
conversations across social media
About this study:
We collected branded conversations on the big 3 social media:
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
• Over 2 million online conversations
• > 300 brands included in our study
• We applied social media netnography to identify the
rules of consumer engagement
• Results were presented in March

5. What we learnt

6. Engagement ≠ number fans content
management is key for activity
• A large fanpage does not lead to engagement if the brand does
not manage the content (0,11 correlation).
• In case of good conversation and content management, this
correlation increases to 0,92 showing that you can tap into your
social potential with a good conversation strategy.

7. Many more positive conversations than
negative conversations
• 21% positive conversations vs. 15% negative conversations on Twitter
• 45% positive conversations vs. 32% negative conversations on YouTube
• 32% positive conversations vs. 16% negative conversations on
Facebook
• Don‟t forget to leverage these positive stories!

8. The main drivers behind negative
conversations are bad
consumer service,
product failure and bad
advertisements
3 offline touchpoints
you can work on
every day!
BUT…
These were also the three most
positively discussed themes!

9. 1 True fanship about media content
But it comes with a responsibility
“Millions of men and women have been viewers Media is a very popular sector on the big
for 60+ years now and watch these soaps with three social media. A lot of serenades are
great enthusiasm. ABC is making a huge
mistake to cancel these iconic shows. Millions of found on media content discussing
fans have come together in protest of these characters, story lines, execution in detail.
cancellations. You can make millions happy, as
everyone will tune in to you. Please help us and Viewers are looking also for other people‟s
we will help you in turn.” (Comment on the experiences! However, disappointed fans
Facebook page of NBC)
hope to have an influence via social
“They are the worst commercials ever. How is it media. Broadcasting companies are also
funny to throw a soda can at someone and hit
them in the groin?” (Complaint about held responsible for the advertisements
advertisements on NBC) they broadcast on their channels.
Consumers expect a careful and ethical
selection by the channel.

10. Hate pages hardly exist
They contain almost no conversations
and have very few fans
Protest pages are more
realistic
Corporate
Social
Responsibility
is key

11. 2 Responsible broadcasting
The societal function of television
Consumers expect a television channel to
broadcast programs which are in line with
their ethical and moral codes. They also
have a social responsibility which they
should take up.
Viewers complained about one of the characters
in the MTV show 16 and pregnant. Viewers
picked up her irresponsible behaviour and asked
and told MTV to take responsibility as the baby
seemed to be put in danger. Viewers reminded
MTV of their social responsibility.

12. What if it goes wrong?
Most companies apologize to their
customers
Consumers are
redirected to
the
customer
service
department The reaction of consumers?
None!
Don‟t expect a thank you!

13. 3 When things really get out of hand
Learn from PlayStation how even a disaster can turn into many likes and
positive comments
Last year PlayStation was the victim of a cyber attack. During our
study, they launched an open letter from the senior Director
corporate communications and social media apologizing for the
event. This more formal apology lead to over 10,000 likes on
Facebook and in this case people did express their gratitude.
Clearly, in the case of mistakes that affect a larger group of
customers, apologizing can be a good mean to restore the trust in
your brand.

14. The basic marketing tricks still work
Although social media is a relatively new area, we should not be afraid of applying existing
marketing principles that also work in the offline world.
• Your fans like to share news about your company and like to be kept informed about
the developments relating to their favourite brand. The newer and the hotter the news,
the more conversation power.
• Evoking curiosity: show consumers a little bit of what they can expect later or spread
a rumour to evoke attention.
• Giving away free things is used as a powerful mechanism to increase the number of
fans or likes.
• One of the main pillars of traditional advertising is that funny commercials work. And
this is also the case on social media. „Joke of the day‟ is one of the most popular topics
on Facebook pages. Jokes or funny one-liners are easily re-tweeted on Twitter. Also on
YouTube we found that movies commented as being funny were often given a higher
YouTube rating.
Find out some more marketing
tricks on the next slides

15. 1 Free always works
Don‟t forget about branded utility
Giving away free things is used as
a powerful mechanism to increase
the number of fans or likes !
Do not only think about free
products or service, but also for
free content or experiences!
“Hope you're ready for '50 Days of Summer!'
A free song a day for 50 days starting May
3rd - right here on Walt Disney Records Face
Back page! Wahoo!”

16. 2 Evoking curiosity
Sneak previews are very popular
„Traditional‟ sneak peeks still work: show
consumers a little bit of what they can
expect later. Not just on television, but also
on social media. In many occasions,
“Sneak Peek of tonight's CSI. Christina viewers are online also rewarded with some
Milian guest stars and Langston's wife exclusive content.
pays a surprise visit to the crime lab! 9/8c
on CBS!”

17. 3 Gamification
Reckitt Benckiser is very active on their Facebook page and
regularly offers fans games to enjoy, in the process
engaging their fans and probably creating new ones. One of
these games is called Urban Thrill and invites fans to
perform all sorts of stunts and climb heights.
“Check the wrapper of your favourite
Crunch bar to receive a promotional code “Perform stunts, climb new heights, feel the pace! We have
for the Nestle Gold Rush Game and enter launched our new free-running game - UrbAN THRILL! Play now
by clicking on the 'Nestle Gold Rush and enter into the prize draw to win a flight for 2 to destination of
Promotion' tab on the left. You can also visit your choice worth up to £2,000. Spread the word and share this
apps.facebook.com/nestlegoldrush to enter. game with all your friends”.
Good luck!”

18. The power is in the mix of media
• Social media are a natural place to talk about anything related to the
digital environment. So, digital initiatives from brands will be picked up
easily online.
• When you spread something online, make sure that you also follow
the rules of social media: tweets that contain a hash tag are more
likely to be spread.
• Don‟t think too much in silos. Go for integration of social media types,
not separation. Don‟t forget about the offline too.

19. 1 Integration, not separation
Go for integration between online and offline touchpoints
Providing information on different offline and
online platforms to patients and their families
is key in the media sector. Integration, not
separation of offline and online media is
“Watch the world television première of needed.
Iron Man 2 with director’s commentary
on Epix HD. During the première, enter
to win a round trip to the première of We observed a lot of cross referencing
Thor by taking the EPIX Iron Man 2 quiz. between different types of media. In the
For a second chance to win, enter on case of YouTube movies, the comments on
Epix HD’s Facebook page.”
the best movies (rating) often contain
references to television, radio and the
company website. Also people mentioned
more frequently that they had engaged in
offline word-of-mouth, suggesting that if you
integrate offline & online social media, you
are more effective.

20. 2 Social media, the new website?
Not a good strategy if you want to reach engagement
“Question to you, Visa, do you have a credit
card that works both in Europe and the Some consumers use social media as a
USA?” replacement of the company websites.
“I just moved to a new address. Should I use
Tactical questions do not lead to
my new address or the old address where I engagement.
lived for five years?”
Keep your website as the main source for
“I have a question for you, Emirates Airlines. practical information about your product &
Do you have plans for Boeings 747-800 service.
Intercontinental? Please reply.”

21. 3 Hitting the sweet spot
No difference between online and offline movies
For the branded YouTube movies, we looked
at the correlation between the topics that
were raised in the comments and the
“Where and what seasons from so
you think you can dance are availible
ranking of the movies (1-5 scale). The
on dvd yet? Of all the reality tv they results revealed that movies with a higher
could put on dvd,what do we get in rating were typically judged as
australia? Gotta find the good series
on dvd man.” (Comment on a „original‟, „nice‟, „warm‟ and „not
YouTube movie of „So you think you boring‟. People also made the link more
can dance‟)
frequently with their personal situation:
they mentioned recognizing certain aspects
in the movie or even referred to their
personal memories and childhood. The
elements found are also the crucial
characteristics in offline advertising.

22. Consumers want to collaborate with
brands
• Ask consumers for feedback on your products & communication
• Co-create new products or campaigns with your fans
• Invite them to think along with your brand
• ...it will lead to a lot of activation on your digital platforms!

23. 1 When consumers take over
They love it! What about you?
Sometimes collaboration is
the only option. 45% of
Facebook brand pages are
owned by consumers across
sectors.
The Facebook page of Mad Men has more then 2 million fans and
there‟s a lot of action from and interaction with consumers.

24. 2 Treat them as colleagues
Consumers love to know the people behind the brand
“Behind the scenes” gives
consumers and fans a nice peak into
the daily business of a company and
their employees.
Few media companies seem to provide a peek behind
the scenes, except for the BBC. On the Facebook page
of BBC World News, a link was shared for a behind the
scenes at BBC Business.
“Our friends on the BBC Business Facebook page
have just shared a few behind the scenes shots for
this week’s Middle East Business Report.”

25. 3 Be one of them
Don‟t forget about the small things in life
Disney: A mother‟s love is the ultimate Brands need to be a friend for
comfort. consumers. They need to act as a
Disney: “You ain't never had a friend like
me!” – Genie person, paying attention also to the
Disney: “There must be more than this small things in daily life. It is a crucial
provincial life!” - Beauty and the Beast
(Top 3 most liked posts on Facebook across element to stress that you consider
sectors)
your consumer as an equal.

26. It is not about your brand
• It is crucial to understand the (digital) lifestyle of your fans. A customized
approach is so much more powerful!
• Don‟t forget about the social graph

27. 1 It is about your customer
Think broad!
Most popular branded YouTube
videos are by airplane
enthusiasts filming planes
taking off and landing at You should think broader than just your
airports, others filming brand and product. Especially on
themselves and their on-board Facebook fan pages or YouTube
experiences. Such videos can
receive thousands and thousands
people like to talk about what the are
of views. interested in in general. On many
pages, music and sports are very
popular themes. Especially for brand in
On the TBBT website there‟s a
a low involvement product strategy, this
forum where all „nerdy‟ things
seems to be the way to go.
are shared, regardless if they
Understanding the digital lifestyle of
are connected with TBBT or not.
People share their day-to-day your target is key!
frustrations, their quirky & nerdy
routines and upload personal
videos and pictures to showcase
their TBBT lifestyle.

28. Not just me…
2 Make my family or friends happy
BBC, thank you for your excellent
coverage of the rescue of the Chile
miners. Me and my family could not stay
away from the TV!”
What better way than enjoying a media
product with family? When consumers
“I became a fan on Facebook to support enjoy a movie or TV show together with
the Imagination Movers. My family and I their family, they are quick to share their
love the movers. Perfect entertainment
for the entire family! We sing along positive experiences and even thank
together and dance and play. We went to the company responsible for their joy.
the concert and had a blast! We love
watching the show! Keep up the great
work and thank you Disney for
supporting them!”

29. The rules of engagement
• Content management is key for consumer engagement
• Don‟t forget about your offline touchpoints. They will determine the
buzz online
• The basic marketing tricks still work
• The power is in the mix of the media
• Consumers want to collaborate with brands
• Understand the (digital) lifestyle & interests of your target group

30. Thank you!
@InSites
marketing@insites-consulting.com
http://www.facebook.com/insitesconsulting
http://www.slideshare.net/InSitesConsulting

31. Research team
Annelies Verhaeghe Martijn Huisman
+32 9 269 1406 +31 10 742 10 34
annelies@insites-consulting.com martijnH@insites-consulting.com
@annaliezze http://be.linkedin.com/in/martijnhuisman86
http://be.linkedin.com/in/anneliesverhaeghe

32. Want to know more about
research within the
media sector?
Hakim Zemni
Business Director Media
+32 9 269 15 26
hakim@insites-consulting.com