Social networks equals consumer empowerment?

Written by ​ Masters Student at Lund University

The Internet is a powerful marketing channel through which companies bombard us with their advertisements. On almost every web page we visit, somebody is trying to convince us into buying something. Although advertisement on the Internet is getting increasingly sophisticated, the Internet has made it possible for consumers to view advertisements from a more critical point of view. Through a simple search on Google, it is possible to take advantage of other peoples’ experiences with specific products, services and companies. In a matter of seconds, it is possible to scrutinize an offer with the help of impartial reviews that can be found all over the Internet. In an environment where anyone can to remain anonymous, it’s easy to speak your mind. Would you buy a product or service that has been condemned by several independent sources?

In this paper, I will continue to examine the topic “Marketing online - what is new and what is the same?” and more specific the following question:

How has social networks affected consumer power?

Theory

New Media & Branding

The media landscape has changed during the 21st century and today, there are so many channels where marketers can market and communicate about their brand. Thus, at the same time as the new media landscape opens up for opportunities it also brings a lot of challenges. One challenge is to successfully send a consistent message about a brand to the consumers through all the different channels. What is the brand image, values etc? (Winer, 2009)

The new media has two main characteristics, that it is digital and that it is interactive (Winer, 2009). One of these interactive media channels is online communities/ social networks and the biggest one is Facebook. (News.discovery.com, 2013-02-20) The Internet usage has developed a lot and today consumers exploit the web to interact, share, discuss and generate information and experiences. (Kietzmann, H. Jan, et. al. 2011) Consumers have different motives for being active at online communities. (Varadarajan & Yadav, 2009) According to Hanna et, al. (2011) social media such as Facebook and Youtube has converted internet to a platform for influence and not just a place to gather information. 

Social networks (Online communities) ratings and Trust

Control and the loss of it

In traditional media such as TV, radio commercials and ads in magazines the communication is just one way. In these cases the brand is the sender of the message and the consumer is the receiver. This is a clear contrast to social media and online communities where the consumers can speak their minds freely. What people say and write about a brand in these digital channels are out of the marketers’ control. (Winer, 2009) The lack of control is both in regard of what is said in the online conversations and the brand message that is delivered. (Winer, 2009)

Communicating and sharing opinions

According to Wind (2008) consumers has become “co-creators” and “co-marketers” as new media and the interactivity has given the consumers more power and it is common that internet users spread the word of their experiences through ratings and recommendation communities (Winer, 2009) Consumers are now participants in the branding as they a part from being able to communicate with other consumers, also are empowered to have a direct interaction with the brand. (Christodoulides, 2009) Furthermore, Winer (2009) says that people on internet are both information users and searchers and that consumers takes earlier reviews into account when evaluating the quality of a product/ service/ brand. This is supported by Varadarajan & Yadav (2009), they argue that consumers prefer to gain information about a product from online communities where other consumers have posted their thoughts and opinions rather than from the business/brands own page with information.

When people have an opinion about a company or brand they are now in a position to share and communicate that opinion with others. However, for a consumer to do that in a social network like Facebook it requires that they have a brand awareness and engagement for that brand or product, whether it is positive or negative. (Hoffman & Fodor, 2010) So, opinions and recommendations flourish on online communities, thus, whether or not other consumers rely on those depends on the shopping goal, if it is utilitarian or hedonic. (Varadarajan & Yadav, 2009)  Varadarajan & Yadav (2009) suggests that it´s only when the shopping goal is utilitarian that the recommenders expertise makes a difference while Brown et, al. (2007) mean that many consumers see these as highly credible. According to Varadarajan & Yadav (2009) ”week” brands in terms of brand image are extra fragile when something negative is written about them that then circulate on an online community.

Word of Mouth (WOM) in online communities has an impact on discernment of a product, creation of attitudes towards a brand or a company and making decisions in a higher extent than marketing efforts. (Brown et, al. 2007) As a consumer is the process of sharing your opinions to a global market not so complicated when doing it though social networks, such as a brands Facebook page. It is fast, easy and you don’t need to talk to anyone. However, this quick and easy to write opinion can have a big impact for other consumers evaluations of that brand (Van Noort & Willemsen, 2012) as “branding is about perception (impression) management” (Taranovskaya, Veronika 2013-02-) A brands reputation will be harmed if there is a stream of negative comments. Spreading negative comments can also be called “NWOM” (negative word of mouth). (Van Noort & Willemsen, 2012)

What is said in social media can influence sales, a brand reputation and ultimately whether a company will continue to exist or not. (Kietzmann, H. Jan, et. al. 2011) This is supported by Armelini & Villanueva (2011) that explains that Word of Mouth (WOM) that comes from satisfied customers or consumers that is positive to the brand, strengthens the brands reputation and value while Negative Word of Mouth (NWOM) has the opposite affect on brand reputation, value and sales.

Case

The Airplane ticket

Two months ago a man, a man we can call “Brian” bought a plane ticket to Las Vegas for about 17 ​​000 SEK from an airline we can call “Air”. A few weeks later, he found a much cheaper ticket with a shorter flight time from another airline. Now Brian changed his mind and wanted to return the expensive ticket. Thus, as Brian hadn’t bought a supplement, he had no right to cancel the purchase of the expensive ticket in order to buy the cheap flight ticket from the other airline. As Brian works as a vice customer service manager, he has good knowledge of what a companies weak spots are when it comes to unsatisfied customers, so he knew exactly what to do. He started by calling and sending emails to "Air" with the purpose of canceling the purchase, even though he already knew that his efforts would be without any success. As he had predicted, it didn’t work and “Airs” customer service referred to their refund policy. Thus, Brian had no intention of calling it a day, so he wrote a long complaint comment on "Air's" Facebook page. Then he asked his colleagues and friends to “like” and comment on the post and soon the post had about 60 likes and 40 comments. As a result, the post started to reach others and people who didn’t belong to his circle of friends had begun to take an interest in his case. One day later Brian got an email. “Air” had agreed to cancel the purchase and give him the money back. Brian was satisfied and his plan had worked and he bought the cheaper ticket. As a thank you to “Air”, he wrote a new comment on their Facebook page and this time the comment was of positive character where he thanked “Air” for outstanding treatment and professionalism. (Bergkvist, M. 2013-02-10)

This is a true example that illustrates the leverage a single customer can get with help of social media.

Discussion

The “Air” case is an example of the empowerment of consumers and the fact that social networks are an influential platform. Thus, the interactivity that a social network like Facebook give rise to is also a way to abuse the empowerment consumers are given. In the Air case, the shared opinion was spread fast and there were a NWOM that could affect other consumer’s brand perceptions. Furthermore, because the platform is so interactive, one unsatisfied consumer can get his circle of friends to join the NWOM in order to create and a negative message about a brand. This message is out of the marketers control and if it is like Brown et, al. says, other consumer will believe this to be credible as it got many comments and likes fast. This would then harm the “Airs” reputation and value. Brian tried to be a co-creator, as Christipolis (2009) says and managed to change the company’s  policy by spreading and sharing information to other information users and searchers. When something negative happens  consumers are quick to spread the word, while when something positive happens not as much is being said. As Kietzmann, H. Jan, et. al. 2011, Armelini & Villanueva (2011) and Van Noort & Willemsen, (2012) argues, the impact of what is said in social networks has an influence on other consumers as they find previous customers reviews more trusthworthy, since they are an independent third party and  something that the company has no control over. In an attempt not to harm the brands reputation as in the “Air” case, companies management team are to act fast, maybe loose sales and a few customers in the short run in order to survive in the long run, otherwise their future might be at risk. 

Conclusion

Social networks have had a clear affect on consumer power. Today consumers are empowered even to the extent that it has become increasingly easy for consumers to abuse the power that social media provides. Consumers today have the possibility to hiss or dismiss a brand. With time consumers will get more conscious of ways to get their will indulged. Can one say that brands risk their future on the market if the companies don’t act according to the consumer’s wishes? Furthermore, can one say that brand isn’t what a company tell their customers; it is what the customers tell their friends?

References

Bergkvist, Markus. 2013-02-10

Armelini, G & Villanueva, J. (2011) The Power of Word of Mouth Adding Social Media to the Marketing Mix, IESEinsight, Issue 9, Second Quarter,

Brown, Jo, Broderick, J. Amanda & Lee, Nick (2007) ”Word of mouth communication within online communities: Conceptualizing the online social network” Journal of Interactive Marketing, Summer2007, Vol.21, Issue 3, pages:2-20

Christodoulides, George (2009) Branding in the post-internet era, Marketing Theory, Mar2009, Vol. 9, Issue 1, pages: 141-144

Hanna, Richard, Rohm, Andrew & Crittenden, L. Victoria (2011) We´re all connected: The power of the social media ecosystem, Business Horizons no. 54, pages: 265-273

Hoffman, L, Donna & Fodor, Marek, (2010) Can You Measure the ROI of Your Social Media Marketing, MITSloan Management Review, Fall 2010 Vol. 52 No. 1

Kietzmann, H. Jan, Hermkens, Kristopher, McCarthy, P. Ian, Silvestre, S. Bruno (2011) Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media, Business Horizons, No. 54, pages: 241-225 

News.discovery.com ”Top 10 Social Networking Sites” (2013-02-20)

http://news.discovery.com/tech/apps/top-ten-social-networking-sites.htm

Van Noort, Guda & Willemsen, M. Lotte, (2012) Online Damage Control: The Effects of Proactive Versus Reactive Webcare Interventions in Consumer-generated and Brand-generated Platforms. Journal of Interactive Marketing, Aug 2012, Vol 26 Issue 3, pages: 131-140

Varadarajan, Rajan & Yadav, S. Manjit, (2009) Marketing Strategy in an Internet-Enabled Environment: A Retrospective on the First Ten Years of JIM and a Prospective on the Next Ten Years, Journal of Interactive Marketing, No. 23 pages: 11-22

Winer, S. Russel (2009) New Communications Approaches in Marketing: Issues and Research Directions, Journal of Interactive Marketing No. 23 pages: 108-117

Wind, Jerry, Yoram, (2008) A Plan to Invent the Marketing We Need Today, MITSloan Management Review, Summer 2008, Vol. 49 No.4

Employer Branding Online – A War for Talent

Written by Masters Student at Lund University

What is it?

Employer branding is a strategic concept from the field of marketing – especially brand management – which is used to position a company as an attractive employer and stand out from the competition. It labels or ‘brands’ a company’s reputation as an employer (Barrow & Mosley, 2005). The term appeared the first time in the Journal of Brand Management in 1996 when Tim Ambler (Grand Metropolitan Senior Fellow at the London Business School) and Simon Barrow (Chairman of the management communication consultants People in Business) wrote their research paper “The employer brand” “to tests the application of brand management techniques to human resource management” (Ambler & Barrow, 1996:185). According to the later (1996), employer branding is “the package of functional, economic and psychological benefits provided by employment, and identified with the employing company” (Ambler & Barrow, 1996:187). In the paper they state that an employer brand is similar to a traditional brand and needs both personality and positioning. The conclusion of their research was, that companies with explicit employer branding strategies recruit future talents both more easily and in a higher quantity. Mosley & Barrow (2005:I) also confirm it, stating „skilled, motivated employees are as vital to their commercial success as profitable customers and apply the principles of branding to their own organization“.

The goal of employer branding is to create loyal employees that represent, together with the employer brand, the core values of the company (Moroko & Uncles, 2009). This will “attract the best people (…) helping the organisation to achieve its business goals” (Moroko & Uncles, 2009). Hence, the companies try to bond qualified and committed employees, through high identification and an emotional engagement, to stay with the company long-term (own translation from German) (Haldemann & Elbel, 2010). A survey conducted by Universum Communications with HR-, (Employer) Branding-, PR- and Marketing Managern from 875 companies worldwide revealed that 69% of the companies aim is to secure long-term recruitment needs (Universum Communications, 2009).

Why is it important?

The first reason why employer branding becomes more and more important is the worldwide comparability. Neutral (2012) claims, that “computerisation, Internet and social media have created global comparability”. The latter and the change from a mass market to a market of brands, made qualification and knowledge decisive production factors.

Moreover there are a lot of pressures in the economic world that currently generate a high interest in employer branding and draw a lot of attention to the topic. Moroko and Uncles (2010:1) found employer branding to be a critical management tool. They argue that the emergence of new economic powers like Brazil, China and India combined with the aging work forces in the European Union, United States and Japan “have increased the competition for skilled workers”. In addition to that and even more recently, the current economic slowdown as well as cost pressure and the demand for increasing productivity has made it a decisive factor to get the most talented people in the right jobs (Moroko & Uncles, 2010). Hence, the ‘human capital’ is a highly important factor and the undertaking of excellent work capital in terms of talented employees with a low labour turnover rate is crucial for a successful business (LimeSoda, 2013).

In addition to that the Employer Brand International’s (EBI) 2012/2013 Global Research study established from a world wide survey, that „39% of companies plan to increase their investment in employer branding initiatives in 2013“ (Minchington, 2013).

Why use it in Social Media?

In the global ‘War for Talent’ social media is the fishhook to attract the ideal employee. Sadly this instrument is mainly used for marketing purposes, rather than for important employer branding, which too often omitted But, Social Media or the so-called collaborative/participatory web2.0 gives not only customers and consumers new possibilities; the new multimedia channels offer a whole new range both for the people and company side. According the MindJumpers (2012) the behaviour of consumers and employees has changed with the new marketing tools. Everything is more interactive and the communication went from a traditional push messages monolog to a dialog with the tendency to “rely and trust peer recommendations” (Mindjumpers, 2012).

„In the age of social media and with sites like Glassdoor out there, ensuring brand authenticity is all the more critical. Candidates and employees no longer tell one friend about their recruitment experience with Company X; they broadcast it to everyone they know instantaneously.“ (Paul Maxim, Global Resourcing Director at Unilever)

Hence, companies need to build an employer brand online to be up to date and able to recruit the best talents for the fitting jobs. The use of Social Media tools offers new potentials that will be beneficial for employer & employees as well as candidates. And even though employer branding is a growing trend that some researchers already call a war for talents (Neutral, 2012) or bid for desirable workers (Moroko & Uncles, 2012) most of the companies don’t use it to its full potential. Lundquist founds that currently only 30% of the Europe’s top employers us Social Media to reach candidates.

According to Pring (2012) more then six out of ten adults (62%) of the Internet users worldwide use social media. They spend an average of 32 hours online per month. Pring (2012) claims further that social networking is the most popular online activity users spent more then 22% of their online time on social sites like facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter. Hence companies should promote themselves where the candidates of the future spend most of their time: online. Unfortunately employers are failing at the moment to pick up ambitious and sufficient future talents from because they don’t use it enough (Haufe, 2012). Furthermore Lundquist (2012) holds the view that it is important to present both the company’s traditional- and employer brand in social media. The use of digital tools (corporate websites, networks) will boost the reputation of a brand in the online world as well as in the marketplace for talent.

In addition to that current employees are crucial for the credibility of a company’s marketing message. With the use of Social Media their influence will increase even more. A survey from the employer-branding specialist Core Worker (2012) revealed that 59 % of potential applicants find information and posts from employees more credible than company posts. In addition tot hat 70% say that a positive comment from an employee encourages them to send an application. Hence leveraging employees as ambassadors creates – in the eyes of candidates – credibility, transparency and gives them the possibility to meet the company at eye-to-eye level as well as gather valuable insights about the organisations values and vacancies (MindJumpers, 2012). Through connecting and engaging employees and candidates it provides an opportunity to present one’s company in a more transparent and credible. The same assumption shares Unilever’s Global Resourcing Director stating:

„Lastly, more than 30,000 Unilever employees have LinkedIn profiles. There is so much potential and we’ve only just started to mine that data to better target talent, and engage with relevant communities and groups.“ (Paul Maxim)

As mentioned before, the highly qualified motivated key labour forces are all active participants in the social web. According to Neutral (2012) this means they meet each other on „equal footings“ and „established authorities lose their monopoly on credibility through the growing level of networking and verifiability of information. They have to convince“.

Dos & Don’ts within the online ‘War for Talents’

The following table of Do’s and Don’ts is developed on basis of Lundquist (2012), Neutral (2012) and Srinivasan (2012).

​A successful case:

On basis of the ‘Do’s and Don’ts table as well as several determined criteria (see table below), a successful case of employer branding in social media was identified. The criteria to determine a ‘successful’ were divided into three sections: organisation, application process and user experience.

A successful use of social media is reflected in the case of BAYER’s employer brand. They try to recruit qualified labour, especially graduates and young professionals by communicating through social media using their employees as ambassadors. The implementation included a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a company blog, a Kununu profile, a YouTube channel as well as a LinkedIn and Xing group. All of the mentioned social media tools are linked to each other and updated daily. The interactivity between candidates and employees is high especially on the networks Facebook and Twitter.

Figure 1: Facebook page of BAYER careers (Germany)

For the section organisation the company does a great job on all channels, BAYER has a good company description and also deals with responsibility they have against the general good. Both application process and technical issues meet all the requirements. The application process from any social media tool to the actual job site is easy and quick. Last but not least the technical issues have a high standard as well. All channels work and there were no problems with navigation or uploading files.

So what?

Companies, the ‘War for Talent’ is on! Global players are on an online crusade for highly motivated and qualified future talents. Getting the most talented people in the right position is crucial for a successful business. The future belongs to those who prepare it for today.

Have you already integrated Social Media into your employer branding strategy? What are your experiences?

References

Ambler, T. & Barrow, S. (1996): The Employer Brand, Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 185

Barrow, S. & Mosley, R. (2005): The Employer Brand, Bringing the Best of Brand Management to People at Work, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.

Bruce T. (2007): "Finding roles for social-media tools in HR", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 6 Iss: 2 pp. 3 -3

CoreWorkers. (2012): Survey Results. Available at: http://coreworkers.dk/employer%20branding%20og%20rekruttering%20via%20sociale%20medier.pdf [Accessed on 12 February 2013]

Haldemann, A. & Elbel, M. (2009): Marke such Mitarbeitende: Im Rennen um die Richtigen überzeugen. Available at: http://www.metadesign.com/sites/default/files/assets/000/000/008/428/MetaDesign_White_Paper_Employer_Branding.pdf [Accessed 14 February 2013]

Haufe. (2012): Social Media und Employer Branding - So baut man im Netz die Arbeitgebermarke auf. Available at: http://www.haufe.de/personal/hr-management/social-media-so-baut-man-im-netz-die-arbeitgebermarke-auf_80_127562.html [Accessed on 15 February 2013]

LimeSoda. (2013): Employer Branding: Social-Media-Marketing. Available at: http://www.limesoda.com/loesungen/social-media/employer-branding/ [Accessed 13 February 2013]

Lundquist. (2013): Lundquist Employer Branding Online Awards Europe 2012 2nd Edition. Available at: http://www.lundquist.it/media/files/Lundquist_Employer_Branding_Online_Awards_Europe_2012_17_January_2013_1358417087.pdf [Accessed on 18 February 2013]

Minchington, B. (2013): Employer Brand: It’s what you measure that counts. Available at: http://www.exaqueo.com/2013/02/employer-brand-its-what-you-measure-that-counts/

[Accessed on 18 February ]

MindJumpers. (2012): How to use Social Media for employer brading and online recruitment. Available online: http://www.mindjumpers.com/blog/2012/07/social-media-recruitment/ [Accessed 13 February 2013]

Moroko L., & Uncles, D. (2009):  Corporate Image as Recruiting Tool – WSJ.com. Available at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123740504559375085.html# [Accessed 14 February 2013]

Neutral GmbH. (2012): Employer Branding in Social Media. Available at: http://www.netural.com/en/news/employer-branding-in-social-media/

[Accessed on 19 February 2013]

Pring, C. (2012): 99 New Social Media Stats 2012. Available at: http://thesocialskinny.com/99-new-social-media-stats-for-2012/

[Accessed on 18 February 2013]

Srinivasan, L. (2012): Secrest of Employer Branding Leaders: Unilever. Available at: http://talent.linkedin.com/blog/index.php/2012/08/employer-branding-unilever/ [Accessed on 18 February 2013]

Universum Communication. (2009): Recruiting ist das wichtigste Employer Branding Ziel. Available at: http://www.employerbrandingtoday.com/de/2009/03/09/recruiting-ist-das-wichtigste-employer-branding-ziel/ [Accessed on 15 February 2013]