In a world where social media is paramount, advertising brands need to know how to respond timeously to this ever-changing world. To understand the why and how of consumer social media behaviour, research into this dynamic world becomes key.
Wave 5 provides understanding about the motivations and drives of the modern exhibitionist and how marketers can utilise this knowledge in ongoing interaction between brands and their advocates, who will spread the word, whether good or bad.
The social media tracker has retained the same methodology between Wave 1 and Wave 5, enabling accurate comparison and trending of the data sets. The sample has however increased to 37 600 internet users in 54 countries and takes into account the various social platforms of blogs, video sites, instant messengers and social networks.
"South Africa is one of the few countries that has mostly skipped the deskbound internet era and moved swiftly into the mobile era of social media," says Laiza Zikalala, GM at UM. "Marketers understand the need of interaction between brands and consumers, but why does a person tweet, follow or update a status?
"There is huge demand for more social and interactive relationships with brands. Social networks are becoming powerful hubs of interconnected communities but it is not just people that are connecting in the social media space, brands are embracing these platforms in a big way.
"It is our belief that brands should first concern themselves with why people engage in social media, and their motivations, before they try to understand the platform themselves. People are the network and the platforms, whatever form they may take, are merely the channels through which this network communicates."
Consumers engage socially online to meet certain needs. Promote themselves, share experiences, have fun, explore and sometimes just to wile the time away. Different forms of media platforms fulfil each of these experiences ranging from micro-blogging to video sites. Message boards can be used to seek opinion, change opinions and learn something new, while video sites are used for entertainment.
Content sharing such as photos and video continues to grow but at a slower pace than seen in past Wave research, but with social networking sites incorporating content sharing capability, especially via mobile, means that users are sharing at a much faster pace in real time.
"Over the past 12 months, the research shows a 10% growth in social network managers, 1.5 billion visits to social networks per day, 47% of people joining brand communities and 30% accessing social media via mobile, and these numbers will continue to grow," concludes Zikalala.
Research for Wave 6 is already in field and will be released later this year.
