Social Media case study: Broadcast vs. Engagement in forums

There is a lot of discussion going about these days about the difference and effectiveness of broadcast and engagement styles of marketing.

Broadcast is the bastion of old school marketing. We still see it used extensively in the new "social media" arena primarily because it is less expensive, familiar and to some degree effective. However, if social media has a mantra at all, it is "engagement".

Engagement is the "social" part of social media. Where two individual (even if one individual is a multinational) can come together and converse. This theoretically creates a more powerful bond between consumer and brand which then compels (or propels) the consumer into spreading the brand's joy far and wide with no further motivation than the satisfaction of "engagement".

Well is there any truth to this? I for one sure hope there is. I have never been a fan of advertising and I am one of the biggest proponents of social media.

We conducted an 8 week longitudinal study testing the effectiveness of broadcast vs engagement marketing techniques in forums and on Twitter. This is an "early days" study, and so the experimental design is rough. Below describes the Forum study, the Twitter analysis will be presented at another time.

Over an 8 week period approximately 200 forum entries were posted to over 150 different English language forum sites each week. For the first 5 weeks a broadcast technique was used. On the 5th week through the 8th an engagement technique was introduced. There was no activity during the 6th week due to client review. The broadcast technique is described as:

• Threads were created using statements (not questions)
  
• Forum entries were written as a product message without intent to initiate a conversation or get opinion. There purpose was to deliver an informational message.
  

The engagement technique is described as:

• Threads were created as questions so as to elicit a response
• Forum entries were written in a conversational manner. Not all entries contained brand messages
• Replies to comments from readers were followed up and brand messages were included when appropriate
• The brand message was included at least once in all conversations
  

Results:

During the first 4 weeks of pure broadcast the view rate remained low in relation to total number of posts. What is most telling is that during this period there were no comments left on any of the forum entries despite the approximately 5000 views.

Engagement was introduced in week 5, however with week 6 being a temporary suspension of the campaign the effects were not reported until week 7. There we can see a significant effect. The view rate shot up to almost 3 times previous counts without increasing the number of weekly entries. But the most significant finding is the comments. Comments, which were absent from the broadcast phase now represented almost 10% of the view rate.


















Whereas it is too soon to make judgments about the effectiveness of engagement over broadcast based on this limited case study, it is clear that there is a definite change in behavior which can be seen in both increase in views and more importantly comments.

Much success,

Doug

Burst: Changing Communication Forever

Information bombardment! If information was water we'd all be taking a shower under Niagara Falls every day! If we read, watched and listened to everything that passed in front of us in a day it would probably take a full year just to get through it. The result is consumers filter what comes in and are selective of how they get it? What can business do? Start by understanding the problem and then do something different: Burst!




Handling information

-- Selection what you take in: 30 people talking in a room and you can't hear a thing, but someone says your name and your ears prick up
-- Medium of choice: We all have our favourite ways of getting information, from water cooler gossip to podcasts

Selection

Tools with which we receive information continue to improve and consumers naturally find ways to manage this information. From simple spam filters on mail programs to personalalised aggregated feeds, the modern consumer is finding ways to process information so that only relevant, high quality and desirable content reaches them. Delivering interesting content creates a loyal audience. Spam gets dumped.

Medium

Different people process information differently. Some people are visual, others are better listeners and some just need to do things themselves. There are many factors at play into why different people receive, manage and take in information differently. Such things as biology, education, availability, economics and culture all play a role in this, but the truth is this will not change. Deliver content in a way that consumers prefer and they will keep coming back.

Solution

Selection and Medium where the motivation for Prosperity Research Ltd to create a new process/product; the Burst. We understand that people will naturally select information that is relevant to them and they will choose to receive it in a manner that is convenient. Therefore, the most effective communication strategy fully optimises a message across a range of communication mediums and ensures the message engages, enhances and entertains your consumer.

The Burst

Prosperity Research Ltd. has gone beyond marginally effective banner advertisement and paid placement with a proven way to effectively and honestly present content in the Social Network spaces controlled by consumers. By creating a concise message in video, blog, forum, bookmarking and other formats that creates a reticulated multi-channel release of information tailored to a wide range of consumer preferences we can maximise consumer response and satisfaction.

Prosperity Research Ltd.specialises in content created for the consumer controlled Social Network space which requires treatment different from other communication mediums and each online channel has its own special requirements. Recommended:

-- Keep it short
-- Keep it relevant
-- No advertising
-- Make it easy to find
-- Keep it honest
-- Be polite
-- Less is more


The end game we are all playing is to get our message seen by consumers and have that translate into revenue. It is the old adage made anew; give the customer what they want!