More Women Use Social Networks, But Brands Not Benefiting

by Laurie Sullivan , September 2, 2009

Women frequent Facebook, MySpace and Twitter more often these days, compared with one year ago, but brands are not benefiting from the increase in interaction, according to research from Q Interactive and ad:tech Chicago released Wednesday.

The study of more than 1,000 women across age, geography and households during four days in mid-August found that 52% of social networkers have friended or become a fan of at least one brand. But when asked whether social networking sites influence purchases, 75% of women who participated in the study said ads on social networks do not encourage what they buy.

Not yet, anyway, according to Matt Wise, president at Q Interactive, a digital marketing services company. "We see an explosion of social networks' use and interaction by women, but when we started to poll them about their perceptions of brands, we saw a wide disconnect," he says. "Marketers create a disconnect between the brand and the consumer by not having a social component. For example, if you create a catalog that looks like a newsletter, there's no reason to take it online and share it."

Wise calls the "disconnect" a "huge opportunity" for marketers to make improvements in campaigns. Simply put, brands need to catch up to women who have moved online. He adds that marketers need to create a package that women can pass around that allows others to learn from it.

The consumer survey found that about 54% of the women visit social networking sites at least once daily, and 75% of those women admit they are more active on networks now than they were one year ago.

Facebook dominates the segment. About 66.4% say they use Facebook, followed by MySpace at 16.3%, Twitter at 3.1%, and LinkedIn at 1.4%.

The study also reveals that seeing a brand on a social network makes 17% of women feel positive and 19% feel negative about that brand. The other 64% were neutral or didn't care.

Although not covered in the survey, contextual and behavioral targeting in social networks doesn't help brands get closer to women, admits Wise, who says the industry needs to educate consumers about why targeting is "better for them" -- better than an advertiser, he says, waking up in the morning and deciding she's going to blast the same message across millions of people, although she knows more than half don't care about the product or service.

"In a perfect scenario you would create a social piece stretching from the offline to the online world, complete with a portable component for social communities, so it continues to live," he says. "Kraft Foods has a section on the site where they recruit members for a recipe newsletter. But it doesn't stop there. They created a community area where people can share recipes and hints on how to use their products."

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3 comments about "More Women Use Social Networks, But Brands Not Benefiting".

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Brandon Sutton from brandonsutton.com, September 3, 2009 at 9:17 a.m.
First of all, the survey measured the numbers of women who had become a 'fan' or 'friend' of the brands, right? And then 75% of women who participated in the study said ads on social networks do not encourage what they buy. Sounds like they are measuring two different things but implying that they are the same. Ads on social networks and fan/friend pages are TOTALLY different. An engaging fan page can provide significant value to brands who are active and participating in the community, whereas ads can be seen as a distraction. I'd also suggest that 'ads on social networks' is too broad a category. MySpace ads tend to be more in your face and annoying. Facebook ads on the other hand are less obtrusive and typically more engaging.
Either this article doesn't accurately reflect the study or the questions were flawed. Either way, the headline is misleading in my opinion.
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Andrea Learned from Learned On, LLC, September 3, 2009 at 9:27 a.m.

This is classic for initial marketing to women efforts on any front (digital or traditional). Rush to copy a competitor's recent successful tactic, engage at the most superficial level, and hope that "being there" alone will bring women running. In this case, brands simply have to do the homework to make their social network presence relevant to women's lives (and their message worth sharing). In the same way, a lot of brands that decide to focus more on women, in general, often do the first thing they can think of and develop a "women's site"... which means either putting pink all over the place or adding "diet tips" and "mommy tips" to their content. They wonder why they don't succeed. Knowing that social networks exist and can work in reaching women is one thing, but not enough. Dig in, learn more about how the women are using those networks and then get their help in developing your very unique effort.

Paul Martecchini from Connexity, September 4, 2009 at 1:31 p.m.

Great post! I agree with Matt Wise when he says "marketers need to create a package that women can pass around that allows others to learn from it."

This social aspect to brand advertising is what AdNectar (www.adnectar.com) has been incredibly successful with. With Godiva Chocolates, over one million virtual boxes of chocolates were sent as a form of form of personal expression. With Method Products, we were able to lift purchase intent by over 60% (Vizu) when people sent "clean up your act!" greetings.