Commentary
Four Out of Ten Canadians Recommend Brands on Social Media
- by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, November 15, 2013
More and more Canadians are using social media to recommend brands to their friends, according to a new survey of 2,858 Canucks conducted by Colloquy, the research arm of LoyaltyOne, which specializes in loyalty and marketing programs, in June of this year; given our strong similarities, it seems safe to assume the existence of a similar trend in the U.S. population.
Colloquy found that the proportion of Canadian respondents who said they use social media to make brand recs rose from 28% in 2011 to 38% in 2013. Meanwhile 55% of the general population believes social networks are an appropriate way for brands to interact with customers -- rising to 74% among young adults ages 18-25.
However, Colloquy also found that the proportion of Canadians who could be described as “word of mouth champions” -- meaning people who are especially loyal to, engaged with, and willing to recommend brands -- actually declined from 31% to 24% over the same period. It’s not quite clear what’s behind this drop-off, but I would speculate that perhaps people are simply becoming less loyal to specific brands, and also more skeptical about the benefits of being a brand enthusiast (after all, if you’re not rewarded for touting a brand to your friends on social media, e.g. with free samples or special offers, then what’s the point?).
Interestingly Canadians don’t seem to be nearly as keen on social media as an e-commerce platform. Back in January of this year, PricewaterhouseCooper’s “2013 Global Multi-Channel Retail Survey” for Canada found that, while 42% of 1,333 Canadians surveyed said they use social media at least once a day, and another 17% use it at least once a week, only about 7% said they use social media to shop.
Erik Sass is editor of Publishers Daily. You can reach Erik at eriksass@gmail.com.
Canadians have always been early adopters of social media; in fact, I think there was a time when there were more Canadian FB users than Americans - in absolute numbers. The reasons for this are easy to explain: a) the vast distances and horribly expensive domestic airfares make 'connection' a challenge b) Canada has enjoyed excellent penetration by broadband companies (cable TV, is a Canadian invention, I believe). I would like to know what we talk about when we are talking about 'recommending' brands. I see that this poll was run by Loyalty.ca - I believe that CDNs are the largest users of loyalty cards in the world - we need to be, consumer goods are absurdly expensive compared to the United States. WalMart and Costco have KO'd many Canadian retailers. I also think that from a marketing perspective, Canadians are far more savvy about brands 'selling' to them. You have to give stuff away if you want to engage in Canada - whether it's points, a discount, or some other incentive (and... contests aren't usually enough). As for using social media to shop -- haha, can you do that? We don't have a NexTag or other deal aggregator like you find in the States - economies of scale and all of that...