Does your brand need social media and brand fans?
INTRODUCTION Using social media and creating a regularly updated brand fan page is not necessarily right for all brands. Marketers want to understand in advance whether their investments will be justified. This article helps marketers understand whether fan pages are right for their brand and category.
Brand fans are important because they are generally
Fans and non-fans share of wallet
the most valuable consumers of any brand.
%
Non-Fans
Fans
BrandZ data based on interviews with more than
4
100,000 consumers globally in 2010 – in categories
1
from banks and cars to shampoo and coffee –
62
19
show that bonded consumers are more likely to
67
31
become fans of the brand in social media: liking it on
83
37
100
50
Facebook or following it on Twitter. Incidence of Fans by levels of relationship of the BrandZ brand pyramid %
13.4%
Share of wallet
2.8%
What do these figures mean for marketers like you?
Bonding
11
Advantage
4
Performance
1
Relevance
4
will be able to build a large social media fan base?
Presence
2
This article provides general guidelines on the key
Do you need to make substantial investments in building social media pages and acquiring as many fans as possible? How likely is it that your brand
factors to take into account when answering these questions.
This also means that fans of a brand are more likely
Factors to consider when investing in social media
to be bonded to it. Because these fans are more attitudinally loyal to brands, they also spend more on
Factor 1 Country
them.
On average, fans will spend more than four times as much of their total category budget on their favored brand than non-fans.
Factor 2 Category
Factor 3 Brand Perception
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FACTOR 1: COUNTRY First of all, the number of fans gained by the average brand in different countries varies significantly.
Our unique FanZ score is based on the percentage of relevant category users who are a social media fan or follower of any one brand in that category. For example, if you are choosing which countries to use a fan page to support your multinational brand, we generally see larger relevant fan bases in Korea,
Given current levels of social media usage, fandom conversion is particularly high in Korea, Brazil, and China; while acquiring a fan in Hungary seems to be particularly difficult.
Sweden, USA, and Poland. Currently, in countries like India, Hungary, and Mexico it is comparatively more difficult to acquire a large number of social media fans. Average number of fans within a category, ranked by country
11.9
16.6
11.7
10.2
11.5
9.7
9.3
25
9.3
8.6 8.6 8.4 7.4
0.5
2.8 2.0
Average rate of conversion of social media users into brand fans
20
6.9
5.7 5.6 4.8 4.5
FanZ Score
Korea Sweden USA Poland Brazil Australia Spain China UK Italy Canada Germany Japan Czech Republic France Russia Thailand Mexico Hungary India
FanZ score %
Korea 15 10
Brazil
China
Poland Italy France
5
Hungary
Much of the variation we see in the FanZ score
0
correlates with levels of internet access and social
0
10
20
30
40
50
Social Media Usage
media use in each country. Beyond this, social media users are converted into brand fans more easily in some countries than others. Investments in countries where the conversion is easier will be most efficient.
2
60
70
80
FACTOR 2: CATEGORY The category also matters. The categories with
online arena (in social media, forums, blogs, etc.),
the highest average levels of fandom globally are
and brands naturally want to leverage their own
IT software, IT hardware, diapers, communication
communications through discussion.
providers, mobile phones and cars. In contrast, categories such as motor fuel or Four out of the top six categories are connected with
detergents are much less popular topics for
technology, which is unsurprising since consumers
discussion (whether offline or online). This is clearly
of these categories are likely to use the web more.
a barrier to generating large numbers of fans in these
Brands in technology-related categories have
categories.
embraced social media to engage with their audience and provide consumers with the latest brand
The country and category rankings given previously
information.
can be used by your brand as a general guide to evaluate potential audience scale in social media.
FanZ Score 4-5%
6-7%
8-10%
11-13%
Hair Care
Fast Food
Beers
Insurance
Body Care
Airlines
IT Software & Gaming
Grocery Stores
Banking/ Finance
Apparel (men)
Deodorant
Soft Drinks
Mineral Water
Coffee
Oral Care
Spirits
Motor Fuel
Face Care
Detergents
Credit Card Networks
Ecommerce Apparel (women) Home Entertainment
Harder to builda fan base
However, it is important to always keep local market specifics in mind since the categories with the most fans in a specific country might differ significantly
Diapers Communications Providers
from the global picture.
Mobile Phone
For example, the car category in Poland evokes
Handsets
especially high fandom. Nine car brands appear in
IT Hardware & Peripherals
the top 100 list of Polish sites with the most fans.
Cars
Car Category in Poland FanZ score %
Easier to build a fan base
18
Car Category
It is also unsurprising to see diapers in the top list as this category embraces a very specific type of
Average across all categories
consumer. Parents are very concerned about their
12
children so look for additional information, connection and reassurance through social media, and are
Brand
highly willing to discuss brands. The car category has always been one of the most
Fans
Position
18,801
62
17,150
65
14,346
71
9,944
85
popular subjects for offline discussions in many
8,881
88
countries. With the growth of internet usage, we
6,731
94
have seen a natural transition of discussions to the
6,008
96
5,004
99
4,945
100
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FACTOR 3: BRAND PERCEPTION Brand Value Perception is correlated with fandom.
Brand fandom levels can also vary significantly
Good value brands that are able to justify their
across countries. For example diapers evoke
premium price tend to have the most fans. Since fan
incredibly high fandom in the US relative to the global
pages provide the opportunity to keep in touch with
norm. This is primarily due to the impact of Pampers
brands, it is not surprising that consumers reach out
and Huggies, which have almost 900,000 fans on
more to desirable but attainable brands.
Facebook.
ValueD map showing indexed FanZ scores by segment
Diaper category in the USA FanZ score %
Good Value
11
Average across all countries
126
High Desire
22
USA
41 Poor Value
Justified Premium 222
86 Expensive High Price
Brand Personality Perception is another factor that is also correlated with brand fandom. Brands that have more fans tend to be perceived as particularly Pampers 680,550
creative, trustworthy, and desirable.
Huggies 208,258
If your brand already has this kind of personality you might find it easier to attract fans. Brand Personality (CharacterZ) correlation with FanZ score 0.29
Creative 0.24
Trustworthy Desirable
4
0.23
Wise
0.10
In Control
0.10
CASE STUDIES Let’s now look at several brand pages with high fandom from the perspective of these three factors: country, category and brand perception BlackBerry in Brazil Facebook is clearly the major global social networking platform currently; it can even help brands build fan bases in markets, such as Brazil, where the popularity of the local leading site Orkut outstrips that of Facebook. BlackBerry has built a strong social following in Brazil and has the thirdhighest number of Facebook fans in the country. The country, category and brand type are well suited to social media and this growing brand has taken advantage of this and attracted more than 150,000 fans in Brazil by creating a easy-to-use page with quality content that is regularly updated.
iPhone in USA Apple iPhone is one of the most followed brands in the world. There are hundreds of iPhone-related pages on Facebook and the “Facebook for iPhone” app page has more than 77 million active users a month. The mobile handsets category has a large number of followers and in the key US market, iPhone is characterized as a creative brand, which helps to justify its premium price.
Factor
Apple iPhone
Rating ★★★★★
Country
USA
Category
Mobile phones handsets
★★★★★
Brand Value
Justifying premium
★★★★★
Brand Personality
Creative
★★★★★
Factor
Mango in Spain With more than 2.1 million fans on Facebook, the clothing brand Mango has the second-largest number of fans in Spain. The brand is seen as “good value” and described by consumers as sexy, creative, and desirable. This is reflected in the Mango Facebook page, which provides information about the brand and its objectives, shares photos and videos with fans, informs fans about special events and features an “Emotions Ranking” app which allows women to share their mood and find out how other “Mango women” are feeling.
Factor
Mango
Rating
Country
Spain
★★★★☆
Category
Apparel
★★★★☆
Brand Value
Good value
★★★★☆
Brand Personality
Sexy, Creative, Desirable
★★★★★
BlackBerry
Rating
Country
Brazil
★★★★★
Category
Mobile phone handsets
★★★★★
Brand Value
Expensive
★★★☆☆
Brand Personality
Different, creative
★★★★★
McDonald’s in Hungary Although Facebook offers potential global reach, your brand may need to consider extending beyond this to enjoy global social media success. Brands that want to maximize their global fandom also need to embrace other local social platforms. For example, McDonald’s has an exceptionally strong brand position in Hungary, however, the level of McDonald’s fandom is very low compared to other countries.
Factor
McDonald’s
Country
Hungary
Rating ☆☆☆☆☆
Category
Fast Food
★★★☆☆
Brand Value
Good Value
★★★★☆
Brand Personality
All traits low endorsement
★★★☆☆
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FANZ RANKING - LEARN FROM BRANDS THAT ARE ALREADY SUCCEEDING By covering the same brands and categories in the BrandZ research across more than 20 countries we are able to create a global ranking of the most followed brands in the world.
Top 20 Brand Fandom Ranking FanZ score %
3.8 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.4 3.2 3.1 3.1 3.0 3.0 2.8 2.8 3.6 3.5 2.3 2.2
4.8
1
Fans are very valuable; they have much stronger brand equity than non-fans. For an
average brand, 62 percent of fans believe it has advantages over other brands, versus just 19 percent among non-fans. Fans spend four times
Microsoft, Pampers, Apple, and Apple iPhone are the clear leaders with FanZ scores that significantly outperform both the global average and the rest of the Top 20.
Microsoft Pampers Apple iPhone Nokia McDonald's HP Visa Sony Amazon Heineken Coca-Cola EA Games BMW Dell Nike Starbucks Samsung Acer Toyota
SUMMARY - LESSONS FOR MARKETERS
5.9
8.0
10.5
on the brand they are a fan of compared to nonfans. This is not something we should attribute to the fan page itself; rather this is due to the brand relationship which led someone to become a fan in the first place. The challenge for fan pages is therefore to deepen and sustain the relationship among people who are already very positive about the brand.
2
Levels of fandom vary around the world: there are more social media brand fans
in Korea, Sweden, the USA and Poland, and considering the smaller absolute penetration of social media, a proportionately large number in Brazil and China.
Global average FanZ Score = 1%
3
Some categories tend to generate more brand fans, such as technology and also
other categories that have always experienced more word of mouth communication.
Although IT and telecom brands dominate the list, the Top 20 ranking also contains brands from many other categories including cars, fast food, beer and credit cards.
4
As we would expect, stronger brands generate more fans, but we also found
that the brands which generate the most fans tend to have creative, trustworthy, and desirable personalities. Premium brands that are able to justify their high price may also find it easier to build a large fan base.
RESEARCH DETAILS
FURTHER READING
This report was compiled using 2010 BrandZ data – a
For further insight on how brands can use fan pages
total of over 100,000 consumer interviews and over
to build brand equity, read the Millward Brown
8,000 brand cases. These interviews were carried
Knowledge Point: How Should Your Brand Capitalize
out across more than 20 countries with an average of
on Social Media?
more than 18 categories per country. The FanZ score is based on the percentage of relevant category users who are a social media fan or follower of any one brand in that category. The FanZ question was only asked among social media users (people who participate in any on-line social networking groups - e.g. Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Twitter or other on-line communities, groups or blogs). To enable cross-country comparisons we factored the data based on web penetration across countries. For more information about the study, to find out about the fandom of your brand, or to conduct your own social media project, please contact:
[email protected], Global BrandZ Director, Millward Brown, based in UK
[email protected], Global Brand Director role for Digital, Millward Brown, based in UK
[email protected], Senior Account Researcher, Millward Brown, based in UK
BRANDZ™ is the WPP global brand equity study available to clients and potential clients via WPP owned companies. It is validated against sales and quantifies and diagnoses the strengths and weaknesses of brands.
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