Social Media = Engaged customers ? Karel Jan Alsem, Professor in Marketing Pieter Hoogendoorn, Lecturer in Marketing ? k.j.alsem@pl.hanze.nl

Role social media from a marketing perspective In the past Now WORD OF MOUTH!

Strategic ‘use’ of social media Stimulate ambassadorship Among customers Among employees ‘Viral marketing’! Create experiences

Direct use of social media Use social media yourself as additional communication channel Listen to what customers tell about you Free source of marketing research data! This research is about direct use

Our questions What do smaller companies do on social media? How do customers respond on companies posts? What are the brand effects? For practical reasons: focus on Facebook only

Social media engagement Our model …in the real world ….on social media Campaign Real world effects Social media engagement Fanpage Posts fans likes comments shares opinions loyality buyers advocates

Putting Facebook posts into categories 2. New Product Announcement (here: a new software package) Category information (here: information on healthy food)

Putting Facebook posts into categories 3. User generated content (here: picture by customers) 4. Call for reaction (here: invite readers to give opinions) 5. Promotions

Outcomes Campaign

Social media engagement Outcomes Social media engagement Posts with User Generated Content  more response. 10% more USG-posts  3% more response

Outcomes Real world effects 84 % of the fans have/buy the product, so 16% do not! 92% of the fans recommend the product to others

Recommendations Stimulate ambassadors among customers and employees Especially fans of small & medium companies are more active Use social media in a really ‘social (marketing)way’: focus on user generated content Facebook can be a good tool for SME’s to build relations with clients

Example

Good luck with branding your organization! If you this conference ! tweet using #OUP14 !! Good luck with branding your organization!