Understanding Online Communication

by Sarah Beaumont

It's important to understand the market you are trying to reach.

(Image via Flickr, by Luc Legay under CC)

Recently I came across a number of articles based on a study by Jupiter Research suggesting that Social Media websites such as Facebook and MySpace are reshaping the online market as we know it. It may seem like only yesterday that we were marvelling over how email had replaced letter writing, but now it seems that the use of this ‘new’ primary means of communication is already dropping at a steady rate among younger users.

Being aware of developments such as these is vital to client strategy. With 53% of users between 18 to 24 now using Social Media sites as their primary means of personal communication, such sites cannot be ignored when planning any kind of brand communication.

What is really interesting to note is that a recent (June 2008) study by ThirdAge and JWT Boom found that over 53% of Internet users over the age of 40 do no interact via Social Networking sites at all. Furthermore nearly 70% of these people have no interest in writing blogs or participating in general Social Media activities.

So here we are looking at a dilemma for clients and marketing professionals alike. With 53% of younger users using Social Networking sites and 53% of users over 40 not even considering using these channels, marketers have their work cut out for them when targeting their campaigns.

A recent article by Justin Drummond sums this up well. He stated that with all this change in the air, it might be best for marketers who cannot define their target markets to make use of mixed media to ensure that the right audience is being reached and addressed.

My suggestion would be that firstly both clients and agencies need to be very aware of who their primary target market is and what the goals for their website are. Planning is key!

Secondly, there is very rarely a single fix for achieving your objectives. A website can be a phenomenal asset, but there's no use building the ultimate hotel if there are no roads leading to it. Your entire market isn’t going to be found in one location. Rather you have to utilise various tactics to reach the different segments of your target audience, which means tying your various campaigns together – both online and off.

Mixed media is a powerful way to convey your brand’s message and is almost always a step in the right direction. The more you can tailor your individual channels, the more potent your holistic offering will be.

2008/10/08 | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

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Recent Comments

Kat on Engaging as a Company

I agree with you. There are some things that should ideally not be discussed by an employee in the public sphere.
Would a communications policy have stopped the said journo from speaking out? He/she must have known a huge risk was being taken? I suppose it's also an incredibly difficult thing to predict. The lack of control can be alarming.
I'm definitely interested in seeing a more specific list, so if you find it do share.
Thank you for your comments :). Here's hoping there's a good coffee shop close to you..
vincent on Engaging as a Company

I guess the mark of a well crafted brand starts at HR policy for new recruits - ensuring that they fit the brand's/corporate's persona. So in that sense yes you could argue that left to their own devices employees would, regardless of an online communications policy, communicate in a style the sponsor would approve of. Not sure if that's always the case but I'm inclined to agree with this generalization.
I think what is also important is that the individual writing within the bounds of a sponsor's site does so in a restricted locale. You can police your own domain if you're a corporate, you can't necessarily control the individuals mouth outside of it. For instance on twitter, personal blogs and forums. Owing to the nature of niche stardom you could argue that the employee comes to represent the brand, more so than that personifies the brand in organic conversation with consumers and would carry significant weight both within corporate sites and externally. Making some individuals very wary to write for their companies at all.
For instance in our not too distant past a prominent journo got the boot for publishing his gripes with his employers and their professional ability - he was promptly fired...He would no doubt have been policed on a company blog but owing to the fact that he chose to represent the company elsewhere he took his brand and the papers brand with him - dragging both through the mud as traipsed on towards epic-failuredom...
So to come back to a point, there is definitely a sense that the policies as listed above are quite ambiguous. Even you yourself suggest that requisite legalese is absent, and I have to assume that such legalese would include a fairly long list of do's and dont's. I have a list somewhere laying about which dictates in a very bland corporate fashion how to represent the brand in public - if I find it I will share it with you.
Perhaps its worthwhile to enforce points like "don't tell secrets" and my own favourite, "for the love of god don't gripe about the boss who you've publicly named online"...
That's my mental-riff for the day, I'm afraid I veered rather uncharitably off course but such is the nature of thought.
Now if only the company I worked for had some decent coffee!!
Kat on Engaging as a Company

Transparency is a key issue - as is allowing people to carve their own niche.
My thinking is that people engage with a personality - an individual personality - in conversation more than with a collective. It's just easier. A company personality surely reflects the people who work there as well as a crafted (constructed?) image that the stakeholders choose to present. While you want engagement it's not the same as speaking to an individual.
There are definite risks involved - but I would lean towards allowing people to carve a niche.
vincent on Engaging as a Company

Couldn't have said it better. Nice post, it is most certainly something corporates are going to struggle with. How much transparency is too much? Who should be allowed to represent a brand and to what extent should the individual be given the opportunity to carve their own niche rather than extol the virtues of the mother - brand?
Who knows. We shall soon see as this year pans out and we find out how the big media players tackle the rise of the cost effective digital media channel.
Kat on Engaging as a Company

It is a tough issue, and I can understand why you've never published. I would encourage you to do so though - you probably have a feeling for when your writing reflects your voice and when it doesn't - and the rewards are worth it.
Thanks for reading Wendy. :)

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Understanding Online Communication

by Sarah Beaumont

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