There can be little doubt about the importance of social media to brands. The challenge of losing control of the message, and ensuring the right message gets through, is undoubtedly daunting. But the opportunities of creating, and learning from brand ambassadors is truly exciting.
But how can we leverage social media, and how can we encourage consumers to become advocates, or brand ambassadors? One technique which has entered popular language, is building a community. In an ideal world, where time and budget is not a limitation, this is certainly something to be considered.
But in our experience, the ambition of building a semi-permanent, fully functional online community, is simply outside the budget. Easyjet, the Daily Mirror and many others have built very impressive communities, but apart from the huge internal resource required, the external budget could be well in excess of £100,000.
Enter the product test.
Redshift have been involved in many product tests before, including those which have been based on recruiting consumers online. But recently we have also worked on product tests which are more focused on messaging and developing positive communications via social media, than the narrower objectives of assessing market perceptions of a new product. A product test is clearly not the same as an online community, but it is something which can be reoriented for the purposes of social media communications, and creating brand ambassadors with longer term value.
Practical elements of a product test
In our recent product tests we recruited members of our panel to participate in a product test, in return for various incentives, including the benefit of the product. Part of the recruitment can involve a questionnaire, both at the beginning to gauge suitability of product trialists, and at later stages to gather targeted feedback. The final goal was to identify those consumers with the most positive view of the brand, and on various criteria fit the profile of ideal brand ambassadors. They were then encouraged to engage with various social media (facebook, blogs, etc) to talk about the brand, and their positive experiences. Of course, consumer interest with the brand needs to be genuine, inorder for the subsequent social media engagement to be seen as credible.
Outcomes – Evangelising the brand
Nurturing brand ambassadors, who evangelise about the brand, is a key outcome of this type of product test. From a practical point of view, the product test captures very specific information about consumer perceptions of the brand, and what separates the passive consumer from the advocate.
How can Redshift help?
Apart from our experience of designing and managing surveys, including product tests, Redshift have the advantage of its online access panel, from which product trials can be run. We profile thousands of consumers, including income, gender, region, but also interests and shopping behaviour.