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Harris: From a marketer standpoint, how do you suggest reaching the influential brand advocate audience?
Bollenbacher: Marketers looking to provide a branded experience to this audience should develop innovative programs using social media to develop richer, more engaging interactions, and should use search to catalyze those efforts.
For example, Honda used an online game for a branding campaign around the Honda Element that allowed users to interact with the car for 10 to 15 minutes. The game was played millions of times and was ultimately so successful that it expanded to offline and spawned a successful social media campaign around its characters. Search was responsible for driving 40 percent of the traffic to the campaign, proving itself as a viable catalyst to a viral campaign.
Harris: From what you've seen, what types of creative messaging resonates with this type of consumer?
Bollenbacher: Because auto advocates can vary widely depending on the type of vehicles they are passionate about, this isn't an easy question to answer. For instance, advocates in market to buy a Scion are very different than those who want a cross-over luxury vehicle. However, I can say that the one thing they all share is the need to be involved in the process. Finding creative that speaks to their passion, engages them and even asks them to participate will always resonate more than static generic executions.
Harris: Is there a way to turn a vocal opponent of a particular brand into an advocate?
Bollenbacher: Actually, a consumer passionate enough to write negatively about your brand might be easier to convert than someone who doesn't care enough to write about your brand at all.
If an auto maker's strategic goal is to change the hearts and minds of their vocal opponents, they need to take difficult issues head on. Figure out what the main issues are, answer the tough questions and start an open, authentic dialogue. Create landing pages, a microsite, video or some type of social media content that addresses their biggest concerns. These advocates value research, and social media is a big part of their lives. These experiences may possibly engage them and change their minds. This type of authenticity will be rewarded.
Also, advertisers have the opportunity to tap into and amplify the voices of these advocates who are speaking positively about their brand. Consumers trust other consumers, and are often looking for reviews. Advertisers can lead consumers to review sites that cater to honest, transparent conversations around your vehicles.
Harris: The Yahoo survey seems to show that though brand advocates may cast a wider net when researching automotive options, they tend to be more loyal to the brands they ultimately decide on. Can you offer an explanation for this?
Bollenbacher: The mere fact that they tend to cast a wider net while researching a vehicle may be the answer to why they are more loyal. In other words, because they have carefully weighed all of their options, including benefits and drawbacks versus competitive brands, at the end they feel more confident in their purchase decisions.
An advocate's overwhelming desire to build an informed opinion, share their expertise and talk about their favorite brands is one of the reasons that they invest time into the research process.
Harris: Traditional word-of-mouth advocacy relies on consumers knowing and trusting the people they turn to for product opinions. But this is usually not the case online, where consumers may know nothing about the bloggers and other product proponents. In your opinion, what is it about online tactics that builds the necessary trust and adds legitimacy to the "tell a friend" process that many people rely on for their purchases-particularly big ticket purchases like autos?
Bollenbacher: While they don't necessarily know the people they are interacting with, they are among a community of like-minded people with whom they've chosen, in some manner, to affiliate with online.
Once consumers find this niche, it's about consensus. If a consumer reads 15 posts on a new make, and nearly all are unhappy because the driver side window sticks, consumers know there could be a real problem with the car.
As a marketer, it may be tempting to edit comments on community forums within sites controlled by your company. It's very important not to do this. For a company to be trusted by its advocates, it must be flexible enough to allow any and all things to be said in review posts. Having some negativity on a site is reflective of the real world and adds to the authenticity and credibility of the dialogue.
Harris: Is there any difference that you've seen in how different demographics (for example, teens; luxury car shoppers; men vs. women; metropolitan vs. urban dwellers) use social media to communicate their brand preferences?
Bollenbacher: It is interesting to note that brand advocates are not that different from non advocates in terms of age, gender, education or income. Advocates are slightly younger -- by four years -- slightly wealthier and more likely to be single. These differences, while statistically significant in the research, are not seen as meaningful to marketers. The main differences between these groups are their attitudes, passion and increased use of social media and search. Although our research can't fully answer your question, it does tell us that attitudes are more important than age or gender in driving differences in online behavior.
Harris: Anything I missed?
Bollenbacher: One of the most interesting things for me is the fact that while social media marketing and sponsored search are inexpensive when compared to other types of marketing, these new tools actually give marketers the ability to reach their most valuable group of all-- advocates. As we all learn more about online marketing, I really personally believe that this will bear itself out and that these tools will become ever more important to automotive marketers' strategies and their successes.
Jodi Harris is managing editor of iMedia Connection's Driving Interactive. Read full bio.
