Consumer Behavior [MKTG. 301] Chapter 13 Discussion Topic: SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES Chapter 13: WHICH CONCEPT EXPLAINS THE VALUE OF “VIRTUAL” SOCIAL NETWORKING (A) TYPE OF GROUP Primary vs. Secondary Formal vs. Informal Aspirational vs. Dissociative Physical vs. Virtual (B) INFLUENCE TYPE Normative Value-Expressive Informational (C) INFLUENCE METHOD Socialization (experience) Self-Concept ((identity) Social-Compare (status) Conformity (acceptance) (D) BRAND DATA & SPONSORSHIP [see Table 13.1] (E) SOCIAL “WOM” PATTERNS Hedonic v. Functional 2-Step v. Multi-Step [see Table 13.2]  Aspirational – for celebrity and sports and business – become your “ideal” self – and associate along those lines  Formal versus informal… social nets complement the formal with informal … and the virtual can add informal anonymity to formal associations … and formal leadership and informal online correspondence … interact with media and venues and organizations – virtual stakeholders  Formal is essential because it represents you “officially” and cannot negate “informal”  Evolution of “Formal & Informal and types of user profiles and patronage  Primary replicated most and less risky  Digital “secondary” reach & volume has “primary” interaction value, so MAYBE REDEFINITION??  Normative influences are exerted by social networking sites in the protocols, page designs, and icons/themes/terms used for user interaction (e.g., Messaging acronyms LOL, etc. Facebook “Fans” and Myspace “themes”)  Normative influences can be exerted by particular “formal” organizations upon members (e.g., professional association, educational organization, fraternity/sorority, etc.)  Value-expressive influence is most prevalent among social “informal” associations because groups and subgroups are formed based on common interests, activities, goals, and even mutual peers in social networks.  Informational influence is embedded in the Internet’s easy access & continuously updated content available 24/7  Self Concept – virtual persona enhances their natural personality  Ego. Popularity – vanity  Comparison – of status and notoriety  Becoming a “FAN” as conformity reinforcement  Sub groups based on themes, activities, narrower defined association  Criminal justice parallels the socialization trend to perform policing and investigative activity. This criminal justice “cyber-crime” presence parallels other professions that are transitioning into virtual processes.  Convenience, impulse, and non-essential brands dominate online ads  Facebook Fans & Myspace Themes as interest areas for anchoring brands  Novel animated interactive & socially networked personal page promotions unique to the online space (e.g., Trees, Better World) can be adapted to fit brands with customer profiles.  Primary opportunity for expanding customer brand awareness by replicating images/logos through online social communities ( sponsored promotions and even online dating)  Professional marketing and B2B prospecting is a viable brand strategy to support/substitute traditional business cards & gatherings  The extremely inexpensive cost of online advertising/sponsorship compared with traditional media, as well as the rapid and “viral” spread of ad content throughout entire social networks supports virtual branding  Greater simplicity, clarity and security/privacy is essential for brand strategies to build social networking customer relationships.  Over exposure to annoying ads & distasteful messages is the major barrier to successful social network branding.  We have met the enemy and it is us, marketing  When social marketing brand strategies are done right no one notices  Marketers MUST stay focused on solutions, not simply identify problems  Online social marketing addresses both hedonic (leisure, entertainment, dating) and functional (software, finance/credit)  Virtual social networks digitalize traditional 2- step opinion influence methods to permit many- to-many multi-step WOM patterns.  Virtual social networks create new kinds of “opinion leaders” (blogs) and “market mavens” (online shopping) for customer marketing.  Visual artists (photography, video, film, print, paint) and the aesthetic/entertainment fields have been significantly transformed by the expanded reach, creative tools, collaborative interaction, and market/financial prospects enabled by virtual social networks.