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IDENTIFYING KEY STRATEGIES FOR FMCG

BRANDS TO INFLUENCE CONSUMERS THROUGH


SOCIAL MEDIA

Dissertation submitted for the degree of

MSc International Marketing

Newcastle University Business School.

By

Prachi Rajiv Salvi

Supervisor: Dr. Joanna Berry

September, 2011
Dissertation submission - September 2011
Student Name: Prachi Rajiv Salvi
Student Number: 109142432
Word Count: 11503

Dissertation Title

IDENTIFYING KEY STRATEGIES FOR FMCG BRANDS TO


INFLUENCE CONSUMERS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

Declaration: No portion of the work referred to in this dissertation has been


submitted in support of an application for any other degree or qualification form
this or any other university or institute of learning.

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IDENTIFYING KEY STRATEGIES FOR
FMCG BRANDS TO INFLUENCE
CONSUMERS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

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ABSTRACT

Social media has revolutionized the way people seek information, share their
experiences and communicate with each other, in the recent times. It has made a
massive impact on the lives of people by keeping them enthralled, engrossed and
engaged. For marketers, however it has opened an exceptionally diverse and a
uniquely new channel to promote their brands. Social media, not only presents new
prospects for the marketers to engage and influence the consumers but it also
possesses new challenges to effectively utilize this medium.

The objective of this research study was to specifically look at how FMCG (Fast
Moving Consumer Goods) brand marketers, can make use of social media to
influence consumers. A qualitative research methodology was adopted which
consisted of six semi-structured interviews with social media professionals.
The topics covered in the interview ranged from knowing how different the social
media channel is from other marketing mediums, understanding the utilization of
different tools within social media, challenges faced by FMCG brands in particular,
how best to utilize the medium for influencing consumers. The theoretical
framework for the research study included review of literature on consumer
behaviour and word of mouth.Drawing upon the findings from the interviews, this
research study presents ten key strategies that can help FMCG brand marketers to
effectively use social media platform, to influence consumers:

1. Humanize your brand


2. Message is the key
3. Listen and monitor
4. Know the social media tools
5. Interact and engage
6. Connect to consumer emotionally
7. Identify and utilize influencers
8. Build consumer response platform
9. Plan for long term
10. Adapt and Experiment

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to take this opportunity to thank several people whose contribution has

been invaluable towards this dissertation.

First and foremost, I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor Dr. Joanna Berry,

for her insights and guidance throughout this project. It has been an exciting and

inspiring experience, working on this dissertation under her supervision.

I would like to thank all the interviewees, for providing their valuable time and

insight that made this dissertation fruitful.

I would also like to thank my social peers my friends, who have been sounding-

board for my ideas and been a great support.

Last but not the least; I am truly grateful to my parents and my sister who have

supported me, in everything that I do.

A warm thank you to all.

Prachi Rajiv Salvi


Newcastle upon Tyne, September 2011

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List of Figures

Figure 1: Consumer Decision Process model ............................................................ 19


Figure 2: Continuum of consumer buying decisions ................................................. 23
Figure 3:The Consumer Decision Journey ................................................................ 25
Figure 4: The Traditional funnel ............................................................................. 27
Figure 5: Factors influencing the Consumer Decision-Making Process ................... 31

List of Tables

Table 1: Methods for contacting potential candidates ............................................... 38


Table 2: Details of final interviewees ........................................................................ 39

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract.................................................................................................................................. 3
Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. 5
List of Figures .............................................................................................................. 6
List of Tables ................................................................................................................ 6

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 9


1.1 Social Media ...................................................................................................... 9
1.2 What does social media mean to the marketers? ........................................ 10
1.3 Fast Moving Consumer Goods ...................................................................... 11
1.4 Social media marketing for FMCG brands.................................................. 12
1.5 Research aim and objective ........................................................................... 14

CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................. 16


2.1 Introduction...................................................................................................... 16
2.2 Consumer Behaviour ...................................................................................... 17
2.3 Consumer Decision Process .......................................................................... 18
2.4 The new Consumer Decision Journey .......................................................... 24
2.5 Word of Mouth Communication ................................................................... 28
2.6 Word of Mouse................................................................................................ 29
2.7 Social media : Its significance in influencing consumers ........................ 30

CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................. 33


3.1 Choice of Approach: Qualitative over Quantitative ................................... 33
3.2 Primary Research method .............................................................................. 34
3.3 Secondary Research ........................................................................................ 35
3.4 The Interviewees ............................................................................................. 36
3.5 Access to Interviewees ................................................................................... 37
3.6 Type of Interview ............................................................................................ 39
3.7 Interview Questions ........................................................................................ 40
3.8 Method of Analysing the Interviews ............................................................ 41

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CHAPTER 4. ANALYSIS OF INTERVIEWS ...................................................... 42
4.1 Introduction...................................................................................................... 42
4.2 Do FMCG brand marketers face any specific challenges to use social
media? ...................................................................................................................... 42
4.3 How different is social media compared to other marketing channels? .. 44
4.4 How important it is to understand different tools within social media? .. 46
4.5 Can social media serve other purpose besides marketing in case of
FMCG brands? ........................................................................................................ 47
4.6 Which aspect of social media should be utilized by FMCG brands? ...... 48
4.7 What impact can social media have in influencing consumers in their
decision making journey? ...................................................................................... 49
4.8 Role of Influencers on social media in impacting consumers................ 50

CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION ................................................................................ 51


5.1 Findings and Discussion ................................................................................ 51
5.2 The Key Strategies .......................................................................................... 52
5.3 Limitations ....................................................................................................... 54
5.4 Implications for future research .................................................................... 54

REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 55
APPENDIX A ........................................................................................................... 61
APPENDIX B ............................................................................................................ 68
APPENDIX C ........................................................................................................... 74

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CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

Social media has created a buzz for every marketer today, who wishes to reach its

consumer through this new channel. Due to its growing popularity and its sheer

outreach, social media pose an opportunity and also a challenge for marketer, to

effectively utilize this channel. Although this is the situation for marketers across all

sectors, this research looks specifically at FMCG sector. This chapter will provide an

insight into what is social media all about and why is it important for FMCG

marketers to understand this channel.

1.1 Social media

Social media has been defined in several different ways by academics as well as

practitioners in this field, so as of yet there is no single, generally accepted,

definition. Social Media has been defined as a group of Internet-based applications

that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and that

allow the creation of exchange of User Generated Content. (Kaplan and Haenlein,

2010). Blackshaw and Nazzaro (2004) describes social media as a variety of new

sources of online information that are created, initiated, circulated and used by

consumers intent on educating each other about products, brands, services,

personalities, and issues. Social Media can be described as an online platform for

people to discover, read, share information and content, which helps in transforming

a monologue to dialogue. In the words of Solis (2010) it is the shift from a

broadcast mechanism, one-to-many, to a many-to-many model, rooted in

conversations between authors, people, and peers. Social media is thus a tag that is

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attached to all the online resources that people use for communication, networking,

broadcasting, interacting, and sharing of information.

Social media consists of various online resources. Constantinides and Fountain

(2008) classified it into five categories based on its application type; 1) Blogs are

online journals for posting ideas and/or opinions, 2) Social networks allow sharing of

personal content and information sites for e.g. Facebook, Orkut, MySpace, 3)

Content communities act as information sharing portals, video and photo sharing

websites e.g. You tube, Flickr, 4) Forum/Bulletin boards are the websites that allow

exchange of ideas with people with common interests, basically they allow online

word-of-mouth communication for e.g. Quora. 5) Content Aggregators are the

websites which allow users to access the information they seek, in a customised way

e.g. Google, Yahoo.

1.2 What does social media mean to the marketers?

There are more than 750 million users on social networking site Facebook, and

there are over 900 million objects (pages, groups, events) that people interact with on

it (Facebook, 2011), 2/3 of the global internet population visits social networks

(Neilson, 2009). Over 15.5 million blogs are tracked by Technorati, a specialist blog

search engine. There are 100 million videos a day being watched on video sharing

website, YouTube (Futurebuzz, 2009), there are more than 1 billion tweets per month

(Pingdom,2010).These statistical figures show how massively impacting this

medium has been for people, the consumers and hence of importance to the

marketers.

Social media has amplified the power of consumer-to-consumer conversations in the

marketplace by enabling one person to communicate with literally hundreds or

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thousands of other consumers quickly with relatively little effort (Mangold and

Faulds, 2009). Consumers now turn more frequently to various social media portals

to conduct their information searches and to make purchasing decisions. (Vollmer

and Precourt, 2008).Today consumers are willing to spend more time with a brand

online than they are offline (Druery,2008).Consumers have more trust on social

media as a source of information regarding products and services than the corporate

means of marketing communications, which is conveyed through traditional

media.(Foux,2006). The marketers therefore cannot overlook this phenomenon of

social media because it has rapidly become the de facto modus operandi for

consumers who are disseminating information on products and services. (Mangold

and Faulds, 2009).

Social Media thus provides a new channel for marketers, allowing them to interact

with their target audience to learn about and from them for minimal cost, and in less

time (Constantinides and Fountain, 2008). It provides the marketers an opportunity to

influence consumers while they make their purchase decisions.

1.3 Fast Moving Consumer Goods

The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) are the everyday products that consumer

purchases on daily basis. These products are can be categorized into several different

types e.g. food, beverages, household items, cosmetics & toiletries etc. These are

primarily low cost and low involvement (little effort to choose items) but they have

greater amount of purchase intentions by consumers.

The reason to choose FMCG sector for the research study is the fact that it is an

interesting, challenging and rapidly growing sector for marketer. As there is high level

of competition involved amongst the FMCG companies, not just to compete with

competitors products but also to compete internally. A mere glance at a shelf of


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supermarket store tells us that, todays consumers have greater choices to make even

for a basic product such as toothpaste. It presents a challenge for a marketer to make

their brand stand out not just on that shelf, but also in the minds of consumers while

they make their decision of choosing a product.

Also, the purchase decisions made for FMCG (low involvement) products are not

considered extremely important by consumers, as they have perceived lower risks.

Hence the information search about such products is likely to be minimal. As a result,

decisions to purchase products such as bread or cereals are made either impulsively or

on the basis of the brand familiarity, or as a result of comparisons of the brands on the

shelf in the store. Since these decisions are regularly taken and relatively inexpensive,

they exert a much smaller influence on the mind of a consumer. (Glowa, 2001). Thus

for a brand marketer its a challenge to market FMCG products, essentially because

consumers spend little time in making a choice between these products.

Another reason to look specifically at this sector is the fact that there is relatively less

academic literature or research done for marketing FMCG products through social

media and the information available about social media marketing by the practitioners

is more generalized and not specific to FMCG industry. So by identifying the paucity

of information available for FMCG sector, it seemed to be an interesting sector to

investigate.

1.4 Social media marketing for FMCG brands

What binds social media and FMCG brands together is the fact that audience for both

is universal. Social media is a platform meant for everyone to use it freely and FMCG

products are used and consumed by everyone daily. Current debates and discussions

suggests that FMCG companies havent yet significantly utilized this medium for
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reaching their consumers and its challenging for marketers/brand managers of FMCG

companies especially to create and maintain relationships with their loyal customer

base. (Gordon, Morgan, 2010). Social media is said to have dramatic influences at

every stage of the consumer decision-making process including information

acquisition, brand awareness, purchase behaviour, and post-purchase communication

and evaluation, as well as in influencing general opinions and attitude of consumer

(Mangold and Faulds, 2009).

In spite of this, there has been no such empirical research specifically carried out for

FMCG brands that explores the relationship between social media marketing and its

impact on the influencing the decision making process of consumer. There has been

no perfect formula or a right strategy that has been identified or that can be

implemented by the FMCG marketers to use social media to influence consumers.

Social media can be said to be a new and evolving field. Also as the FMCG sector

has to constantly churn out new products to satisfy the consumer needs and wants, so

it also keeps evolving. But as Druery (2008) mentions that as the marketing channels

are also increasingly evolving, social media has the ability to provide brands with

one of the most personal, trusted and direct points of access to these consumers. As

Ahonen and Moore (2005) puts it marketing is no longer about changing peoples

mind, people do not like to be told what to do, what to think, what to buy, marketing

needs to influence people at attitudinal level. Social media can offer FMCG brand

marketers this direct point of contact with its consumers to influence them. Social

media has the ability to magnify the impact of consumer-to-consumer conversations,

in the marketplace, but the strategies for influencing those conversations are yet to be

articulated. (Mangold and Faulds, 2009).

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1.5 Research aim and objective

This research study was thus driven with the proposition to identify key strategies

which can help answer the research question of how FMCG brands (marketers) can

make use of social media for influencing consumers. For the purpose of this research

study primary data was collected, by interviewing industry experts and the answers

to the following questions were captured to help answer the central research

question.

Are there any specific challenges for FMCG brands in creating social space

compared to other product brands?

How different is social media as a marketing channel, compared to other

traditional marketing communications mediums?

How important it is for the marketers to understand the use of different tools

within social media (e.g. facebook, twitter, blogs etc.), while building social

media plan for a FMCG brand?

Can social media serve some other purpose, besides just being used as marketing

tool, especially in context of FMCG brands?

Are there any guidelines/ rules or key elements that one follows or takes into

consideration for developing social media strategy for brand?

What aspect of the social media do you think FMCG brands should take into

account while setting a platform?

How can social media be helpful in influencing consumers in their decision

making journey?

Do influencers play major role in successful social media strategy?

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The theoretical framework for this research study rests on the literature review of

consumer behaviour and word of mouth which is discussed in the next chapter. The

research process and methodology used, to conduct primary research is discussed in

chapter three. This is followed by the synthesis of the interviews and its findings,

which is provided in chapter four and the concluding part provides the key strategies

drawn from the analysis of these interviews.

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CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

Social media being new marketing communication channel, the academic peer-

reviewed literature available in this field is very less. Despite the phenomenal use of

this media by consumers today, academic research is limited on the use of social

media for commercial and marketing purposes. Mostly, the academic research

struggles to keep pace with it, due to rapid evolution in the field. The available

academic literature found , mainly focussed on using different aspects of social

media such as social interaction via social media (Fischer and Reuber 2010),

promotional use of social media (Mangold and Faulds 2009),marketing in virtual

communities (Valck,Bruggen,Wierenga,2009),word of mouth marketing in online

communities (Kozinets et al. 2010). Hence there was also a need to look at research

done by practitioners in this field. In the recent times there has been significant

amount of research done by the practitioners and also by well-known market

research companies such as Forresters report (Haven,2007), Mckinsey& Co

(Edelman,2010) and Neilson (2009) etc, in the area of social media marketing.

However, even after considering both the academic and practioners literature, there

was none found, that specifically looked at understanding how FMCG brand

marketers can make use of social media to influence consumers.

Hence for the purpose of this research study, there were two key literature streams

that were identified and reviewed. These lay a theoretical foundation for this

research. The two literature streams are:

Consumer behaviour This part of literature review will highlight consumer

decision making process. It will analyse two different models of consumers decision

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making journey. It will also identify the various touch points in these models, for its

marketing implications.

Word of mouth - This part of literature review will closely look at the scope and

significance of Word of mouth (WoM) and Electronic word of mouth

(E-WoM) in influencing consumers in their decision making process. It will also

look at how it has been instrumental in influencing the consumers at the various

touch points of their decision making journey.

By drawing upon these theories, the literature then explores the role and significance

of social media in influencing the consumers.

2.2 Consumer behaviour

Wilkie (1994, pg14) defines consumer behaviour as the mental, emotional and

physical activities that people engage in when selecting, purchasing, using and

disposing of products and services so as to satisfy needs and desires, Engel et all

(2006,pg 4) defines it as activities people undertake when obtaining, consuming

and disposing of products and services. The framework for understanding this

behaviour by consumers as sequence of activities, stages is known as the decision

making process (Wilkie,1994). The consumer decision process can be explained as

roadmap of consumers minds that marketers and managers can use to help guide

product mix, communications and sales strategies (Engel et all ,2006).So in the

context of marketing, understanding consumer behaviour and the impact, marketing

activities have to influence this behaviour can be learnt by knowing how a consumer

forms decisions. (Evans, Jamal, Foxall, 2009).

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There have been several consumer decision making models proposed by academics

in the early 1960s and 1970s, such as Howard who developed the first decision

making model in 1963. (Howard,1969), then Nicosia model (1966) another by

Mowen and Minor (2006).These traditional old models reflect consumer decision

making process as just a flow of activities. Hence the review of these models was

found to be beyond the scope of this literature. A more specific and simplified

approach is taken to evaluate the work in the area of consumer decision process, by

blending the review of the work done by academics and practitioners, as it found to

be most relevant to this research.

The recent work by Engel, Miniard, Blackwell (2006) presents a different model of

consumer decision making journey. It is called as Consumer Decision Process

(CPD) model. Also, a more current work in this field by Edelman (2010) presents a

new model called as Consumer Decision Journey (CDJ) which is based on market

research report by Mckinsey&Co. Both these models provide marketers an in-depth

insight or rather a roadmap of consumers mind, which can help them formulate

marketing strategies to influence the consumer. Hence, the review of these models is

considered for the purpose of this literature review.

2.3 Consumer Decision Process

The consumer decision process (CDP) model by Engel, Miniard, Blackwell (2006) is

reviewed for the purpose of this research, which provides an insight into how

individuals sort the influences and facts to make everyday purchase decisions. The

CDP model consists of seven stages that typically a consumer goes through while

making decisions. They are 1) Need recognition, (2) Search for information, (3) Pre-

Purchase evaluation of alternatives, (4) Purchase, (5) Consumption, 6) Post-purchase

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evaluation,7) Divestment. These decisions are further influenced by two other factors

namely environmental influences and individual differences. The diagrammatic

representation of this approach is presented below in figure 1.

Figure 1: Consumer Decision Process model [Source: Engel, Miniard, Blackwell,


2006, pg. no 82]

It is essential to understand Engel et alls proposed stages of the consumer decision

making journey in order to identify important touch points, which has implications

for the marketers to influence the consumer.

Need recognition: It represents the beginning of a decision process, it is also called

as problem recognition, it is when the consumer senses the need and becomes

motivated to solve the problem that has been recognized. The need recognition

occurs when the consumer perceives a gap or difference between his/her current state

19
and desired state. These needs and buying habits keeps on changing, as consumers

move through different stages in life.

Considering this stage, a marketer cant really create a need but probably present a

product that can meet unperceived needs that are not considered by consumers.

Search for information: After the consumer recognizes need or identifies a problem

he/she is motivated to search for information or solution to satisfy this need. The

search for information can be internal that is by retrieving information from their

memory, this can be based on situations or experiences faced by consumer

previously or absorbed through advertisement or marketing channel. (Hawkins et all,

2001 pg. 26). If they are unable to seek the necessary information then they resort to

external search.

The external search is done by gathering information through friends, peers, word of

mouth suggestions; searching information on internet etc.The depth of information

search depends on the nature of problem, while complex problems may require

extensive search and simple problems may rely on an internal search of previous

behaviour. (Wilkie, 1994)

However this stage in the consumer decision making process can be of importance to

marketers, because as shown in figure 1, the Information is said to pass through five

stages of processing before consumer use it as valid and retains it in his/her memory,

which are: exposure, attention, comprehension, acceptance and retention. The source

for the exposure to this information can be marketer dominated such as websites,

advertisements, point of sales material etc or it can non-marketer dominated which

includes peers, word of mouth, community forum on internet. (Engel et all, 2006, pg.

77)

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Hence this stage can be an important touch point where marketers can potentially

influence consumer in choosing their brand/product over other competitors. A

marketer can utilize the marketer-dominated area by seeking the attention of the

consumer, then providing consumer with the right information while they search for

it and thus satisfying the unmet need of consumer and creating a long term fan of

the brand/product. (Engel et all, 2006, pg. 81)

Pre-Purchase evaluation of alternatives: In this stage consumers evaluate and

compare different products/brands which suit best in fulfilling their needs. They

narrow down alternatives that can satisfy them, before resolving to choose one of

them. The evaluation of alternatives however can also be influenced by external

factors as well. For a brand/ product to be made distinct in this consideration set, so it

is filtered down and purchased by a consumer is a challenge for marketers. The

possibility to overcome this challenge through marketing activities is discussed in the

latter part of this research study.

Purchase: After narrowing down the product, the next stage is of purchasing the

product. Ideally, the product that reaches this stage is considered most satisfactory by

the consumer (Ennew, 1993).

Consumption: After the purchase of the product, at this stage the consumers use the

product.

Post-consumption evaluation: The process doesnt end at consuming the product; it

is followed by a post consumption evaluation stage, which acts as feedback. If the

product manages to completely satisfy the needs, then the consumer may intend to

re-purchase the product, but if dissatisfied then consumer would remove the product

out of his/her consideration set in future. The outcome at the post consumption

evaluation stage is of significance for marketers for monitoring usage of the

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product/brand. It can help in identifying if product needs modification or complete

change. (Glowa, 2001)

Divestment: This is the final stage of consumer decision making process, where after

having consumed the product, it is now disposed or divested. This stage is important

for marketers to understand whether the divestment has left consumer satisfied or

unsatisfied.

At every stage of this process there are two main influencing factors mentioned in

CDP model, they are an individual difference which consists of individuals

personality trait, motivation, perception, and learning. The other factor is

environmental influence, which is an important factor to look at for this research

study. This consists of various external sources that act as influencers such as culture,

social class, family, peers. All these groups have the potential to act as facilitator for

a consumer to make purchase decision. However, which group can have most

influencing power, is for an individual to decide. In this aspect, the literature review

later discusses the influencing power of social media in consumer decision making

journey. (pg.31)

The CDP model has its strengths and limitations, firstly it provides a clear depiction

of consumer decision making process and includes seven stages which have been

evolved from old five stage model .It is one of the easy to understand and simplified

models. (Evans, Jamal, Foxall 2009) But, according to Erasmus, (2001) it is still

difficult to determine whether the model can provide an accurate representation of

behaviour, and if it can have predictive value. Also one of the obvious criticisms for

CDP model would be that, consumers would not necessarily go through such a long

process for making purchase decisions for every single product. The extent to which

these stages would be considered varies from consumer to consumer and also from
22
the products or service that he/she intends to purchase. Some decisions are simple,

some can be complex.

Consumer decisions can therefore be classified into broadly three categories; routine

response behaviour, limited decision-making and extensive decision-making.

(Howard and Sheth, 1977).Lamb et all (2006) suggests that these three categories can

be described on the basis of five factors: level of consumer involvement, length of

time taken to make decision, cost of good or service, the degree of the information

search and the number of alternatives considered. The illustrated table in figure 2

below provides a better perspective.

Figure 2: Continuum of consumer buying decisions [Source: Lamb et all, 2006, pg.
147]

The routine response behaviour by consumers occurs during the purchase of low-

cost, frequently purchased goods which take relatively less time in making buying

decisions. Since this research revolves around FMCG brands which are low

involvement goods, a consumers purchase decision based on this behaviour, is only

taken into consideration.

Consumers engaged in routine response behaviour spend less time in searching the

information about the product and evaluating alternatives before purchasing. In this

case the information search is internal based on previous knowledge of the brand or

23
product and has very little scope for external influences. Consumers also do not

experience ardent need recognition until they are allured by either advertisement or

recommendation by friend. In routine response behaviour consumers buy the product

first and then evaluate. (Lamb et all, 2006). For instance a person, who has

previously consumed orange juice of Tropicana brand and was satisfied with its taste,

would repurchase the product say apple juice of same the brand, rather than spending

time evaluating other alternatives. Considering this behaviour from a marketers

perspective, this means that it would take more efforts and longer time investment in

advertising or presenting a product or a brand in case of low involvement goods

where consumers engage in routine response behaviour.

However with the advent of internet and development of new marketing

communication channels, there is a change in this consumer decision making

process. Consumers these days use different interactive tools to derive information or

content from digital channels and they manage to filter the hype created by

advertisers while making purchase decisions (Ahonen and Moore, 2005). Consumers

are turning to the internet for knowing product reviews and information while

making their buying decisions (Kozinets, 2002). These factors are considered in the

new consumer decision journey proposed by Edelman (2010) and thus it is important

to look at the new altered consumer decision making process.

2.4 The new Consumer Decision Journey

In contrast to the traditional consumer decision making process, Edelman (2010)

introduced a nuanced view of consumer decision making model. The basic premise

of this new consumer decision journey may not seem radical; however its

implications for marketing can be seen to be profound. Based on market research


24
conducted by Mckinsey & Co to study the purchase decisions of nearly 20,000

consumers across five industries-automobiles,


automobiles, skin care, insurance, consumer

electronics, and mobile telecom across three continents, Edelman (2010) developed a

model of how consumers engage with brands; it is called as Consumer Decision

Journey. It was revealed through their research that todays consumers take a much

more
more iterative and less reductive journey
journey (Edelman, 2010) of only four stages, the

figure 3 below gives diagrammatic representation.

Figure 3:The
:The Consumer Decision Journey [Source: Mckinsey Quarterly,
Quarterly 2009]

The following are the 4 key stages that are undertaken by consumer:

Consider: The journey begins at Consider stage where consumer builds the decision

of products and brands based on visual cues i.e. exposure to ads, store display. The

consumer takes into account a set of products that he/she considers will satisfy their

need.

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Evaluate: At the evaluate stage the initial consideration made by consumers expands

in trying to gain more knowledge about product i.e. seek review from peer, retailers,

reviewer etc and compare it with other competitor products and choose or narrow

down to a single product.

Buy: At this stage consumer can be persuaded or dissuaded based on the product

pricing, packaging, and availability to buy the product.

Enjoy, Advocate, and Bond: The most important stage wherein the consumer shares a

deeper connection with the product. If the consumer is pleased with the product they

will advocate, broadcast it thus the brand has got loyal customer but if the consumer

is not pleased with the product they will sever ties with it.

Traditional means of marketing have always targeted these moments, or touch points,

when consumers are open to influence while they undertake this decision making

journey. These touch points have been understood through the metaphor of a

funnel wherein consumers starts with wide range of brands and narrow down the

choices as they move through the funnel, and at the end they emerge with the one

brand they chose to purchase and if satisfied then they become a loyal fan of brand.

The figure 4 below shows the traditional linear funnel approach assumed by the

marketers.

26
Figure 4:: The Traditional
T funnel [Source: Mckinsey Quarterly,
Quarterly 2009]

But, according to Edelman et all, this Funnel concept today fails to capture these

touch points due to emergence of well-informed


well informed consumer and explosion of digital

communication channels .Todays consumer


consumer takes a more complex non-linear
non

decisionn making journey ( fig 3). Understanding


Underst of this new consumer decision

journey is thus of importance to marketers as these four stages can act as crucial

touch points where consumers can be influenced.

One of the only observed limitations of this model is that it omits the two influencing

factors (environmental and personal differences) which are mentioned in the CPD

model discussed. It however represents the decision process of consumer today,

whose purchase intentions are influenced by interactions within digital environment

by means of word of mouth.

After having understood the different stages of consumer decision making process

and various touch points in the journey where consumers are open to influence.
influence It is

imperative for marketers to understand what factor can greatly influence consumers.
co

The second half of the literature review will thus focus on word of mouth

communication which can be an influential factor at these touch points of consumer

decision making journey.


27
2.5 Word of mouth communication

Word of mouth communication (henceforth, WoM) traditionally has been defined as

oral person-to-person communication between a receiver and a communicator

whom the receiver perceives as non-commercial, regarding a brand, product or

service.(Ardnt,1967). Engel et all (2006) defined it as informal transmission of

ideas, comments, opinions, and information between two or more individuals, both of

whom are not marketers. However, due to emergence of new communication

channels, WoM can have several definitions. As Buttle (1998) mentions that WoM

need not be necessarily about product or brand and neither it has to be face-to-face or

direct, for instance virtual or electronic WoM. A more simple definition is the act

of consumers providing information to consumers (Word of mouth marketing

association, 2010), by this definition the transmission of information is neither

restricted to the content nor is it limited to face-to face situations.

There has been considerable number of studies proving that WoM aids in influencing

consumer in their decision-making process and that the influence is strong when a

consumer is considering the purchase of a new product or service. There are

however, many factors that affect consumers decision process, but it appears that

WoM is perceived to be the most trustworthy source of information and thus making

it an influential factor. It has been demonstrated that while consumers searched for

information for purchasing new household items WoM recommendation was the

most important influencing factor. ( Katz and Lazarsfeld 1955, Blackwell et all,

1969, Herr et all 1991 ).Arndt (1967) work also uncovered that WoM is most

influential at searching for information and evaluation of alternative stages of the

decision making process.

28
WoM is said to be seven times more effective than newspaper and magazine

advertising, twice more effective than radio advertising and four times more effective

than personal selling (Katz & Lazarsfeld ,1955).These statistical findings may be

considered outdated, but the power of word of mouth cannot be underestimated.

Dichter (1968) says that the glossy magazine page or television screen can never

replace the value and the influence of a personal recommendation. In support of

this statement Herr et all (1991) mentions that more importance is placed on WoM

when compared with printed communication thus emphasizing the strength of WoM.

Consumers tend to rely on personal or informal communication sources such as

friends, family, peers etc., when making purchase decisions as opposed to

commercial or marketing communication sources such as advertisements. (Bansal

and Voyer,2000).

In the recent times however due to the rise of new digital communication channels

and technologies such as social media, consumers interact through these channels to

share their knowledge, experiences and opinions. This has led to emergence of a new

type of word of mouth communication, called as electronic word of mouth (E-WoM)

also referred as word of mouse. (Hennig-Thurau et all,2004)

2.6 Word of mouse

The E-WoM or word of mouse defined by Hennig-Thurau et all (2004) states that it

is positive or negative statement made by potential, actual, or former customers

about a product or company, which is made available to a multitude of people and

institutions via the Internet. E-WoM can be said to be the counterpart of WoM in

the cyber space, its diffusion can take place through online discussion forums,

through virtual communities, personal e-mails etc. Godes and Mayzlin (2004) in

29
their work show that E-WoM has the potential to overcome the limitations of WoM.

The online conversations that happen within the communities or forums provide

consumers the possibility to acquire information from other consumers when

considering set of products or brands to be purchased.( Park and Kim,2008) Thus E-

WoM can be said to influence the pre-purchase or evaluation of alternative stage of

consumer decision making process. This consumer generated online content is the

new way of presenting information from a perspective of a consumer, who have

purchased and used the product. Ever more so with the advent of social media, E-

WoM has become more pervasive and more powerful in influencing the consumers

decision-making process. (Valck, Bruggen, Wierenga, 2009)

2.7 Social media : Its significance in influencing consumers

As discussed earlier in this chapter and having understood the consumer decision

making journey and the impact word of mouth can have in influencing the

consumers. The literature review now looks at how social media can be an important

factor that can influence consumer in their purchase decisions.

Constantinides and Fountain (2008) in their work, presented a new altered version of

Kotlers (1996) original Stimuli and Response model. This changed version was

proposed to incorporate social media as one of the influencing factor in consumer

decision making process. The figure no.5, illustrates the factors influencing the

consumer decision making process.

30
Figure 5: Factors influencing the Consumer Decision-Making Process [Source:
Constantinides and Fountain, 2008]

According to Constantinides and Fountain (2008), due to the rise in digitally-focused

marketing environment, there has been an addition of two new influencing factors in

consumer decision making journey. The first is the (C) Online controllable marketing mix

which represents the digital marketing activities controlled by companies/marketers. The

second important addition is the (D) Online uncontrollable marketing mix which is the

social media experiences.

As demonstrated through this model, it is evident that today consumers no longer solely

rely on (A) traditional marketing channels for gaining information about new products.

The consumers preferences and decisions are increasingly influenced by social media

(online uncontrollable mix). The customer feedback cycle illustrated in this model acts as

a purchase validation tool. Wherein social media connects back the consumers feedback

during the post-purchase evaluation stage ( pg. no.19 ). Evans (2008) highlights the role

of social feedback cycle which sets in motion when consumer voices opinion about post

purchase evaluation of brand. This opinion drives the word -of-mouth or rather word-of-

31
mouse through social media. This opinion then feeds back into the cycle and becomes an

influencing factor for another consumer during the consideration stage of its decision

making journey. Thus one consumer acts as an influencer for other. These social media

influencers can be said to be the endorsers who shape other consumers attitudes by the

use of social media.( Freberg et all,2011).

Social media can thus act as an effective medium in diffusion word of mouth and

subsequently influence consumer decision making journey. As Ahonen and Moore (2005)

in their book Communities Dominate Brands also points out that the word of mouse has

become significant market force that influences consumer decision making journey.

Social media can thus seem to provide a common platform to the (FMCG brand)

marketers to connect with its consumers at the touch points of their decision making

journey. As these touch points have become digital, the marketers have the opportunity to

collect and use customer information to understand the consumers and influence them

through social media.

So as Ahonen and Moore (2005) mentions, for the brand marketers to convince such

digitally connected consumers, the only way is to join them, share their interests, engage

with them and activate them and thus influence them. This study therefore researches as

to how the FMCG brand marketers specifically, can influence this digitally connected

consumer through social media.

The following chapter will thus provide an insight as to how the research study was

carried out to identify key strategies which can be of help to FMCG brands (marketers) to

make use of social media to influence the consumers.

32
CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter explains the research methodology used in answering the central

research question. It will further discuss which type of research approach was

considered suitable, how primary data was collected, which different tools were

utilized for data collection and why they were used and how they were used.

3.1 Choice of Approach: Qualitative over Quantitative

There are broadly two types of research methods for data collection and analysis,

quantitative and qualitative. In researching the question of how FMCG brands can

make use of social media to influence the consumers, both these methods were

considered and weighed for its relevance and importance for finding answer to the

research question.

Qualitative research can be defined as "any kind of research that produces findings

not arrived at by means of statistical procedures" (Glasser and Strauss, 1967, p. 17).

It is the kind of research that provides findings arrived from real-world settings

where the researcher does not attempt to manipulate the phenomenon of interest and

let it unfold naturally" (Patton, 2002, p. 39).As Hewitt and Taylor (2001) puts it the

qualitative research better reflects the quality of the lived experience of individuals,

which cannot be reduced to numerical values using statistical analysis.

In contrast, quantitative research attempts to fragment the findings into measurable

or statistical figures (Winter, 2000). In this methodology the research involves the

"use of standardised measures so that the varying perspectives and experiences of

people can be fit into a limited number of predetermined response categories to

33
which number are assigned" (Patton, 2002, p.14). A quantitative research approach

analyses the relationship between variables that creates a static view of social life

independent of peoples lives.( Bryman and Bell,2007 pg. no 425).

After comparing both these methods, for the purpose of this research study however

qualitative methodology was found to be most relevant as that enabled to capture the

ambiguity of the subject area rather than quantitative analysis.

Due to the subjective nature of the research area as well as the research question, a

qualitative research methodology analysing primary data was found appropriate.

Since the outcome of research aimed to identify key strategies which would help

answer the research question, the qualitative research approach was chosen to help

understand the dynamism of subject better.

3.2 Primary Research Method

The qualitative semi-structured type of interviewing process fitted well into the

research design. As this method, provides greater emphasis on generality in

formulation of interviewees own perspectives and experiences.(Bryman and

Bell,2007).

The semi-structured interview process also allows the interviewer to probe the

interviewee to elaborate on certain questions to gain detailed insight. It gives

flexibility in terms of directing the interview towards achieving greater insight from

the interviewee. (Bryman and Bell,2007,pg 475). This method also provides the

interviewee more leeway to answer the question. The interviewer possess a set of

interview guidelines which provides necessary control to steer the interview from

going off the tangent thus enabling the interviewer to cover specific topics that are

required to deduce the findings. The advantage of using this method is that it
34
provides high validity, as the interviewee can talk about something in detail and

depth. The problem of pre-judgement for the researcher is also resolved as

interviewer cannot pre-judge what information is important and what is not and also

such interviews can be recorded easily. (Harrell and Mellisa, 2009)

Moreover since generating key themes from the interviews was important for this

research study, asking different interviewees similar set of questions helped to

maintain the consistency across all the interviews thus capturing the nuances of the

research subject.

3.3 Secondary Research

The academic literature available in the field of social media was found to be very

niche. However, academic literature in the area of consumer behaviour and word of

mouth marketing was looked into. Due to the nature of the subject, the research

process also consisted of wide reading from books, white papers, articles, blogs,

discussion forums and content published by the practioners in area of social media.

These resources helped in fleshing some of the interview questions.

During the time of research, there also happened to be an event called Internet

World, 2011 which was Europes leading event for digital marketing. It consisted of

several workshops, keynote presentations by the industry experts from Facebook,

Google, and LinkedIn etc which helped in gaining insight into the latest and the

upcoming developments in field of social media.

35
3.4 The Interviewees

The purpose of the research study was being able to generate key strategies, to help

marketers to establish a social media strategy for their brand, interviewing

practitioners in area of social media was found to be essential. The practitioners in

field of social media can mainly be identified as the ones working for advertising,

digital marketing communications agencies or brand consultants. The reason to

include only social media practitioners in the study sample was the fact these

professionals are the ones who directly work with the brand on social media

platform. Gaining their insights was crucial, as these people are constantly updated

on the latest tools and techniques in field of digital/social media marketing. Another

reason to choose social media practioners was to get an individual viewpoint to

complement the theoretical foundation of the research study.

One of the challenges with this type of study sample that was thought of initially was

the fact that since they are social media practioners, they might not divulge lot of

details in regards to particular questions or agree for in-depth interview as their ideas

and opinions have value, a price. However, the candidates who did agree for an

interview were liberal in explaining and answering the questions in detail, even while

re-questioning a few for in-depth insight. For the purpose of this study, the criterion

for selecting the potential candidate was only bound to their profession and not to

their geographical location.

36
3.5 Access to Interviewees

There were different methods used to identify potential candidates for the study. As

the study sample consisted of social media practioners, using social media platform

itself to identify potential interview candidates was found to be advantageous.

LinkedIn is platform for professional networking, where each profile of the person

provides background information about him/her. It provides the details regarding

designation, job description, previous job experience, company, field of work etc.

This platform thus helped in identifying the potential candidates as it provided a pre-

filtered sample i.e. social media practioners.

One of the challenges also faced in using this platform was, gaining access to these

identified candidates. As linked in doesnt allow user to directly send message unless

paid for it, otherwise one has to be a part of group which is mutual between the user

and candidate. The compulsion for joining the group actually proved to be of an

advantage, because it led to a pool of other potential candidates. Having done so,

potential candidates were contacted via linkedin message.

LinkedIn platform also allows members of the group to start a discussion within the

group. This function was found to be of great use, to get insight from the industry

professionals. For this study a discussion was started on one of the groups UK

Marketing lounge and one the interview question was used as a topic for discussion.

Several interesting insights were captured through this discussion. This data however

wasnt used for this research study. (Appendix C)

The other social media platform used was Quora, its a platform that aggregates

conversations and discussions regarding various topics and also allows users to

collaborate on them. This platform also provides a profile of every individual and
37
also gives the details of the conversational topics initiated by them. This platform

however allows the user to directly contact other people.

Another popular social media website called Mashables is widely followed by

industry professionals, it is best known for providing the latest information and most

of the content writers on the website are industry experts. This was also one of the

sources of identifying interview candidates.

One of the advantages of using social media platform itself, for identifying and

contacting industry experts was its sheer global outreach. However, during the

process of research, gaining access to the study sample also posed a big challenge.

The following table provides a better perspective.

Table 1: Methods for contacting potential candidates


Method Total Contacts Responses Interview Conducted

Direct Email 22 5 3

LinkedIn 26 4 2

Other (blogs, Quora, websites) 20 2 1

Total 68 11 6

After contacting 68 potential candidates through direct email, LinkedIn messages,

and using other resources like blogs, websites etc, 11 responded positively and

agreed for an interview. But only 6 interviews were conducted for this research

study. Some of the candidates who agreed for the interview, backed out as they

couldnt provide time during the period of research. The following table provides the

final list of interviewees.

38
Table 2: Details of final interviewees
Name Designation Organization State/ Country

Ben Grossman Communication Oxford New Jersey, USA

Strategist communication

Guy Bevan Planning Director Publicis Modem Northampton, UK

Dinesh Global Country Head Global HealthPR Mumbai, India

Chindarkar

Tara Coomans Social media Strategist Akamai marketing Hawaiian islands,

USA

Anonymous Social media Not disclosed Mumbai, India

Consultant

Anonymous Digital marketer Not disclosed London, UK

3.6 Type of Interview

Once the interviewees were identified, they were offered a choice for the type of

interview. Due to the geographical distance however, personal in-depth interview

was not feasible. Hence, they were given an option of email interview, interview

through instant messaging or video interview. They were also given the option of

anonymity.

Out of the 6 interviews, only one person agreed for video interview. For this purpose

again, the use of social media tool proved useful. The latest interactive online

communication platform launched by Google called as Google+, has the facility of

video conference, instant chat , video share all built in one. This medium was used

conduct the video interview. It was possible to gain better in-depth insight through

video interviewing.

39
The remaining five candidates agreed for an email interview. Out of the five, two

candidates choose anonymity. In case of the email interviews, every question needed

a bit more of explanation, probing wasnt a possibility this possessed a challenge.

However the interviewees were open to follow up questions and for the explanation

of some of their responses.

3.7 Interview Questions

A set of interview questions was prepared generated during the initial reading of

literature and from wide reading from books, white papers, blogs, magazines etc. It

was important to ask same questions to all the interviewees as the method of analysis

was to constantly compare the answers given by each interviewee The following

questions were asked to interviewees.

Are there any specific challenges for FMCG brands in creating social space

compared to other product brands?

How different is Social media as a marketing channel, compared to other

traditional marketing communications mediums?

How important it is for the marketers to understand the use of different tools

within social media (e.g. facebook, twitter, and blogs), while building Social

Media plan for a FMCG brand?

Can social media serve some other purpose, besides just being used as

marketing tool, especially in context of FMCG brands?

Are there any guidelines/ rules or key elements that one follows or takes into

consideration for developing social media strategy for brand?

What aspect of the social media do you think FMCG brands should take into

account while setting a platform?

40
How can social media be helpful in influencing consumers in their decision

making journey?

Do Influencers play major role in successful social media strategy?

3.8 Method of Analysing the Interviews

The method best suited for analysis of interview data was using Constant comparison

analysis. Analysing the transcripts from the interviews becomes easy by means of

constant comparisons as this method helps in forming categories or key themes.

(Hewitt and Taylor, 2001).

Each of interview transcripts can be broken down into data bits and emerging

themes, ideas, keynotes and can be compared and contrasted. As Tesch (1990) puts it

the goal is to discern conceptual similarities, to refine the discriminative power of

categories, and to discover patterns.

The responses gathered from all the interviewees were broken down and were

grouped together in one document; this was done for each of the questions

separately. This method provided a better feasibility for a quick look at the responses

to examine if there were any recurring themes that emerged. The response of first

interviewee was compared to the second and so on and so forth and a code was

assigned to specific ideas, topics and issues that evolved. By doing this a common

line of thought and ideas emerged and they were put into categories.

The detailed analysis of the interviews is discussed in the next chapter.

41
CHAPTER 4. ANALYSIS OF INTERVIEWS

4.1 Introduction

As mentioned in the previous chapter, six in-depth interviews were conducted as a

part of primary research that were important in helping to understand how FMCG

marketers can influence consumers through social media. They also helped in

identifying key strategies which FMCG brand marketers can make use of while

creating a social media platform for their brand.

This chapter will further discuss the result and findings from analysing these

interviews and will draw out some of the key themes that emerge by using the

constant comparison method of analysis. The interview analysis is done by

comparing the answer by each interviewee to each of the question that was asked,

for better understanding.

4.2 Do FMCG brand marketers face any specific challenges to use social
media?

At the start of the interview, each of the interviewee was asked if they think that the

FMCG sector faces any specific challenges in using social media. This question was

put forth to gauge the effectiveness of this media for marketing FMCG brands.

There was common consensus that there are specific challenges in marketing FMCG

brands through social media. The specific challenge was the fact that FMCG

products are low engagement products means that marketing them in social space is a

challenge. As Ben Grossman (Appendix A) said

42
The obvious challenge is that, because these are often low-risk investments,

consumers often go through a significantly shorter active evaluation cycle prior to

buying the products.

Also in social media context building brand recall for FMCG brand pose challenge

that was identified. As the product purchase doesnt happen in social media space but

at supermarket store, where there are several different brands lined up on single

shelf.

it is a bit of challenge for FMCG to build a top of the mind recall of the brand with

social media, nobody is necessarily going to buy something because they liked page

of it on Facebook Dinesh Chindarkar (Appendix B)

the problem FMCG brands face is the fact that few people really identify with these

types of brands as part of who they are. I mean, who really identifies with their

toilet paper brand? Tara Coomans

However, Ben Grossman was of the opinion that inspite of the challenges FMCG

brands also have an advantage of utilizing social media platform

the fact that FMCG brands are generally purchased continually and without much

thought also yields a major advantage to FMCG brands in other forms of social

media

In understanding the effectiveness of the social media for FMCG brands, it was

found that since these are low involvement products, high level of engagement with

43
the consumers on social media is important for influencing consumers buying

decisions. As Tara Coomans suggests

FMCG brand like toilet papers who creates a community based on whats

important to Moms, without actually directly advertising their product, but rather

providing a platform for mothers to connect and being part of delivering solutions

to parenting challenges.

And this comment by Ben Grossman can be found to support the same rationale,

though social media might not help consumers make the first purchase decision, it

is what keeps them making a specific decision over and over, because it helps form

relationships with consumers

To draw a conclusion from these responses it can be said that for FMCG brands

especially, connecting emotionally with consumers, building relationships with them

and developing community of followers on social media platform are more important

than merely advertising or promoting a brand.

4.3 How different is social media compared to other marketing channels?

Based on the views, social media when compared to traditional marketing channels is

different in several aspects. In traditional channels such as print media, television etc

where marketer sends out message say in the form of advertisement and the

consumer receives it, it act as one way messaging channel, where marketer has

balance of power. Social media on other hand acts as two-way communication

medium. As one of the interviewee (anonymous) puts it

44
Communication requires listening, question asking, engaging. One-way messaging

doesnt require any of these things. Social media is about conversation

It (social media) doesnt create an intrusion for consumers as the traditional

mediums would do, thats biggest difference- Dinesh Chindarkar

It can be said that social media cannot be used the way traditional media is used. It

can be useful in conversing or having a dialogue with consumers and not bombarding

them with marketing messages. As one of interviewee said

it can never be used in the same way as traditional media where it is always a one

way conversation with a brand pushing a product in your general direction to see if

you like it

social media is dynamic ,brands who embrace this inherent element of social media

often end up learning things about their consumers Tara Coomans

It was observed that the responses had a slight trend towards identifying social media

as being better and more effective communication medium than a marketing channel.

In comparison, the balance of power seems to lie with consumers when it comes to

social media, hence understanding consumers and their needs and wants is essential

than just advertising the brand.

45
4.4 How important it is to understand different tools within social media?

Social media tools mentioned here basically consist of various web based

applications which have been mentioned in the introduction( pg. no 10) , each of tool

serve a purpose based on its application type for eg Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,

Blogs etc. It was thus essential to ask the practitioners their take on how important it

is for brand marketers to understand different features and uses of these tools. Each

of the interviewee was of the opinion that it is extremely important for marketers to

recognize and understand various tools, applications within social media.

Each platform has a distinct and yet nuanced culture and expectations. Marketers

MUST understand these micro-cultures before they jump in- Tara Coomans

They were also of the opinion that, it is not just about knowing different tools but

also understanding the significance; these tools can have in shaping the brand in

social space and thus indirectly impacting consumers as well. Guy Bevan said

it is important for marketers to understand which tool can be work well with the

kind of message it has to send out, if there isnt much to talk about, twitter feed is not

going to be of any help

It can therefore be concluded, in the words of Ben Grossman it is extraordinarily

important for marketers to have an extraordinarily thorough understanding of social

media principles to build a social space for an FMCG brand to drive the right type

of customer towards the brand in that space.

46
4.5 Can social media serve other purpose besides marketing in case of FMCG

brands?

Social media platform is known to marketers as new marketing communication

channel. Considering this research study involves FMCG sector, it was felt important

to ask whether social media can serve some other purpose besides just being a

marketing medium.

It was surprising to find out that, most of the interviewees did not consider the use of

social media as an effective marketing communication channel in context of FMCG

sector. Dinesh Chindarkar strongly stressed on this point by saying

social media as marketing channel ranks 3rd, first would be its a market research

tool, getting consumer insight is at its best through social media.second would

be as a listening medium.. listening to what consumers are saying and then as

marketing channel.

It was observed that in case of FMCG sector, social media can be best used as market

research medium to draw consumer insights about the brands and products. As Guy

Bevan puts it it can probably be used to measure sentiment to a brand.

It can be deduced that, it is best suited for FMCG brands to create a social media

platform to monitor and listen to the consumers and their needs and wants.

47
4.6 Which aspect of social media should be utilized by FMCG brands?

As it has been discussed in the introduction, social media can be utilized in different

ways for different purpose, this question was put forth especially to understand what

aspect of social media should the marketers utilize for FMCG brands, how it can be

best influential. However, there was initial discrepancy in understanding the

question, so it was elucidated further by asking them whether social media platform

of an FMCG brand should be utilized for advertising or as interactive platform or act

as customer response centre etc.

From the responses it seemed that, to use any aspect of social media varies from

brand to brand, depending on what objective brand wants to achieve by its presence

on social media. There isnt any one size fits all method that can be influential.

Given that, one point was particularly highlighted was, social media is best utilized

to engage with consumers. In the words of Ben Grossman

No matter what a brand really wants to accomplish in social media, it will be forced

to also see social media as a place for consumers to engage with the brand

Engage the audience early and understand what they are looking for. Its that

simple Guy Bevan

The responses also suggests that brands should experiment with different aspect of

social media, although not blindly but by monitoring and understanding their

consumers first. As stated by Tara Coomans

48
Experiment is key thing, it may work it might not work.. But, if you listen to

your consumers first and then plan... the probability of it working out is much

more.

4.7 What impact can social media have in influencing consumers in their

decision making journey?

As discussed in the literature review, consumers are more receptive to influences

during certain stages of their decision making journey. It thus seemed important to

ask how social media can help in influencing consumer in their decision making

journey.

Each one of the interviewee had different take on this, one of them stated that

Emotional connections are far more powerful than product or promotion

Since social media allows brands to directly interact with consumers, if brand can

build emotional bond with them, then it can influence their decisions in choosing that

brand over other while making purchase. Social media can help brands to remain on

the top of mind of consumer, irrespective of where purchase happens.

An interesting point made by Ben Grossman was, that a brands presence on social

media can impact the consumer during active evaluation and post evaluation

stages of the decision making journey.(Appendix A) This fact strengthens, the point

made in consumer decision making theory, discussed in the literature review

chapter.( pg. no 28)

49
4.8 Role of Influencers on social media in impacting consumers.

As briefly mentioned in the literature review( pg. no 30) , influencers are no different

than consumers but have a potential to influence people, so understanding the role

played by them on social media platform seemed important.

Amongst the responses there was general agreement that influencers do play a major

role on a social media platform. However, influencers may not necessarily always

have a positive influence; they can sway in both directions. As Dinesh Chindarkar

puts it

consumers trust what his friends would say or recommend ,social media provides

just that people who are just like me the consumers would listen to peers, common

man rather than a celebrity telling them how good the product.

It was also inferred from the responses that there are different types of influencers,

some who just express their opinion, some are fan followers and there are brand

ambassadors, who openly propagate about the brand. These influencers can also be

negatively influential. So, it is important for the brands to recognize and utilize the

right influencers, while creating their social media plan. Ben Grossman said

influencers also assist in moving social media from a one-to-one (less efficient)

medium to a one-to-many (high efficiency).

It can be understood that influencers do have a potential to widely spread brand

awareness.

50
CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION

5.1 Findings and Discussion

After reviewing and analysing each of the interviews, there were several interesting

insights and key themes that emerged. The findings from the interview can be briefly

summarized as follows:

Social media can be best utilized as listening medium and for gaining
consumer insights rather acting as a marketing medium for FMCG brands.

It can be best used for monitoring and tracking consumer conversations,


feedback, views they have about the brand.

As social media offers direct contact with the people; it acts as a better
platform for understanding the needs and wants of their customers rather than
advertising or promoting a brand.

Social media can act as platform to keep the consumer engaged with the
brand.

Social media cannot be used in isolation for marketing a FMCG brand; it has
to be a part of integrated marketing communications plan.

On social media platform, consumers speak their mind, hence for a brand it
is essential to have system in place for online reputation management.

Social media platform can be utilized differently by several different brands,


hence adapting to new tools on social media and experimentation is the key.

This process helped in identifying and formulating key strategies, which are now put

forth.

51
5.2 The Key Strategies

In conclusion, the following are 10 key strategies that were drawn upon, that can

help FMCG brand marketers to make use of social media platform for their brand to

influence the consumers.

1. Humanize the brand: When setting a social media platform, if a brand has more

human voice than a marketing tone, it can help in connecting with the

consumer better. Consumer need to identify and relate to the brand in order to

bond with it. Hence such a brand can remain at the top of the mind of consumer,

while purchasing the product.

2. Message is the key: It is very important to communicate the right message to the

audience; the message should be of interest to the consumers, which they would

like to share with their social peers, which could perhaps be spread through

word of mouse.

3. Listen and monitor: The best use of social media is for listening to consumers,

monitoring their conversations in social space. It is this way that brands can get

into the minds of consumers.

4. Know the social media tools: Before delving into social media space, it is

important to know the pros and cons of different tools and also to identify the

best fit for achieving its marketing goal. For e.g. Facebook can act as effective

medium for consumer engagement, twitter for consumer response.

52
5. Interact and engage: Social media for FMCG brands means less marketing and

more interacting. So the strategy is to interact first, engage the consumer and then

sell the products.

6. Connect to consumer emotionally: Social media is best used to understand and

connect to consumers and to know their views and perspectives about the brand

and if the consumers can connect to a brand on emotional level, it helps brand

build relationship with the consumer.

7. Identify and utilize influencers: It is important to identify right influencers of

their brand. The strategy is to find them, cultivate them and utilize them to

transform the consumers from fan followers to brand ambassadors.

8. Build consumer response platform: In the social media, it is of utmost

importance to maintain continuity of dialogue with consumers. It is essential to

track and manage these conversations. Hence the resources required to keep this

in momentum need to be aligned before creating a social media space for brand.

9. Plan for long term: For FMCG brands, social media is about building and

maintaining relationships with its consumer, hence it is important to plan a social

media platform in such a way that it can sustain in the long run.

10. Adapt and Experiment: Social media space is continuously expanding and there

are several different new tools to utilize and as mentioned before there is no one

size fits all strategy that can be implemented for all brands. Hence adapting to

new tools and experimenting with them is the vital for the brand to influence its

consumers.
53
5.3 Limitations

One of the main limitations of researching social media subject is the paucity of

academic literature. Hence it was difficult find theoretical base to support the

research study with the available literature. The practitioners literature mostly seems

like opinion journalism and the lack of peer reviewed literature posed a challenge. In

terms of primary data collection, one of the limitations was less number of

interviewee candidates. The ratio of number of potential candidates targeted to the

ones who agreed for interview turned out to be very less.

Another limitation associated to it, was the type of interview conducted. Since email

interview had to be conducted due to the geographical distance, in-depth probing of

the questions was not possible. Although the email interviews were very descriptive

in nature, the emotional tone of voice can be better captured through face to face

interviews. Another limitation that must be mentioned is, due to less number of

interviews, the findings from the interview could not be significantly generalised.

5.4 Implications for future research

Since this research study lacked in gaining very in-depth insights from the social

media practitioners. A further research could be undertaken with larger sample size.

Also it would be interesting to gain insight from FMCG brand marketers themselves,

as to how confident they are in utilizing this medium.

As mentioned in this research study, since the field of social media is rapidly

evolving, these strategies will also have to evolve with time. Hence the implication

for future research would be to know how newer tools within social media can be

effectively used.

54
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APPENDIX A

Interview with Mr Ben Grossman, Communication Strategist at Oxford


Communication.

[Interview via email, response received on 16th August, 2011]

Info: The content marked in the bracket indicates the additional detail provided to
interviewer for a better understanding of the question.

1. Do you think there are any specific challenges for FMCG brands in
creating social space compared to other product brands?

(Given the fact that these are low involvement products and consumers take
relatively less time in making purchase decisions?)

Yesbut it is important to note that there are both challenges and advantages

for FMCG brands in the social media landscape. The obvious challenge is

that, because these are often low-risk investments, consumers often go

through a significantly shorter active evaluation cycle prior to buying the

products. The absence of more intensive active evaluation means that

consumers are less likely to rely on some common forms of purchase-driving

social media, such as forums, recommendations from online acquaintances,

ratings and reviews.

That said the fact that FMCG brands are generally purchased continually and

without much thought also yields a major advantage to FMCG brands in

other forms of social media. First, FMCG brands are usually curated well by

brand managers, and thus, have a compelling brand story and image that can

play out splendidly through social media. More brand-centric forms of social

media, such as social networking site brand pages (i.e. Facebook) and content

sharing sites (i.e. YouTube), allow brands to play out fully and establish

loyalty. In other words, though social media might not help consumers make

61
the first purchase decision, it is what keeps them making a specific decision

over and over, because it helps form relationships with consumers.

2. How different would you say is Social media as a marketing channel,


compared to other marketing communications mediums? ( say for eg
traditional media such as TV Advertising, Print media, email etc)

The most major way social media is different as a marketing channel is that

other channels are a one way communications stream. That is, the advertiser

creates the message; it is filtered through a channel and received by a

consumer.

Social media means that messages go through a different communications

cycle. Sometimes the advertiser creates the message and sometimes the

consumer does. Sometimes that message is filtered through a paid channel

and sometimes it is filtered through a consumer generated content channel.

Ultimately, it may be received by a consumer or rejected by a consumer (i.e.

unsubscribe). Finallyand this is the very new partthe consumer often

gives feedback based on the message that comes to them. Sometimes it is

received again by the advertiser and sometimes it is just the beginning of

another message being sent to another consumer (i.e. ratings and reviews).

3. How important it is for the marketers to understand the use of different


tools within social media (eg facebook, twitter, blogs), while building
Social Media plan for a FMCG brand?

It is extraordinarily important for marketers to have an extraordinarily

thorough understanding of social media principles and details while building

a social media strategy for an FMCG brand. Even if the plan does not directly

involve use of social media, all marketers have to know that consumers are

going to take their brands there whether they like it or not. Even if a marketer

62
tries to ignore the channel in their plan, they better have a crisis response

plan, or else face major risk when their product ends up in social media in a

poor light. Its much easier to cope with crisis when presences are already

established and respected.

4. Do you think Social media can serve some other purpose, besides just
being used as marketing tool, especially in context of FMCG brands?
( eg for market research, consumer insight , research & development etc)

Social media can and will certainly serve other purposes than marketing in

any context. Brands can draw out invaluable insights about their products,

consumers and marketplace. All of that information should better inform the

formation of products and campaigns alike. Of course, social media, just like

as a marketing channel, should serve as one part of a solid research method

mix.

5. Presently, are there any guidelines/ rules or key elements that one follows
or takes into consideration for developing social media strategy for
brand?

While most marketers know there are no rules to the profession (other than

legal ones), there is a general process that is used for developing social media

strategy for a brand:

Step 1 Assess business challenges: For businesses to see value in social

media, strategies must be designed to overcome business challenges. Do you

need to get better at customer service? Do you need to encourage incremental

sales? Do you want to tap into consumers for research and development?

Step 2 Create marketing goals: One marketing tactic likely isnt going to

solve a businesss entire challenge, so it is important to define what part of

63
that challenge social media can help with. Will it help increase peer-to-peer

endorsements? Will it let you resolve your most vocal customers

complaints? Will it make you aware of emerging product or service

opportunities that will expand your business?

Step 3 Listen: Do some preliminary listening to what people are saying on

social media to make sure your goals are reasonable. Based on current levels

of conversation, will your messages resonate? Will there be enough people to

engage with you on the level youd like to?

Step 4 Set objectives: Set objectives so you can see the short- and long-term

benefits of your social media strategy paying off. What social media-specific

metrics will you use to measure your success?

Step 5 Plot out actions: What tactics will you use to leverage social media?

Will you conduct outreach to people talking about certain subjects? Will you

search peoples profiles for mentions of geographic areas? How often will

you post? What topics will you post about?

Step 6 Plan process: This is a step many businesses miss in the excitement

of starting a social media profile. Its extremely important to put processes in

place that wont let the business fall off the saddle. Put processes in place that

proactively alert the curator of the Social media presence to hot tweets that

need attention. It is key during this phase that the curators be honest with

themselves about their time restrictions and willingness to make social media

a priority. During this phase, also consider the wide range of tools available

to make your action plan easier.


64
Step 7 Prepare for emergencies: What will happen if a user turns on you or

there is an unexpected development within your business? Make sure to have

a plan in place for what you are willing and able to do to make it right.

Sometimes, taking heated exchanges off social media and to real life or e-

mail is the best thing you can do.

Step 8 Activate consistently: Make sure that your plans will allow you to

keep your social media efforts active over the long term. Have backup

curators and content in place for the inevitable sick, busy or just plain over

it days.

Step 9 Measure and refresh regularly: Start activating your social media

strategy with specific times scheduled in the future to stop and review

progress, success and areas for improvement. Also, make sure to refresh your

approach every once in a while. Are there new opportunities for your Social

media strategy? What about new business challenges to take a look at?

6. What aspect of the social media do you think Fmcg brands should take
into account while setting a platform?

(What I mean is, when a marketer decides to have social media platform for
its brand, taking FMCG brand into consideration here, what should be its
intent, whether that platform should serve merely for advertising purpose, or
serve as platform for interaction or for customers to engage with brand, or act
as customer response centre etc.. in your opinion, what would you suggest,
what is recommended??)

The way FMCG brands should plan to utilize social media widely depends on

their marketing goals. If the brand needs to drive trial, it needs to activate its

65
base of enthusiasts and/or influencers to get samples and coupons into the

hands of their online connections. If the brand needs to drive loyalty, then it

should seek to build up a branded presence with ongoing engagement to drive

affinity and awareness. If a brand needs to drive frequency, it could consider

an educational channel about different uses for its product would be

appropriate. If a brand needs to provide better support, then it should create a

plan to listen and respond to consumer feedback.

No matter what a brand really wants to accomplish in social media, it will be

forced to also see social media as a place for consumers to engage with the

brand and as a customer response channel.

7. How do you think can social media be helpful in influencing consumers


in their decision making journey?

( Considering Fmcg brands, the purchase of the product doesnt happen


online, it happens in supermarket, so how do you think can social media play
its part in the decision making journey of consumer, can it be targeted
towards various touch points of the decision making journey)

Simplifying the consumer decision journey down to the stages Procter &

Gamble focuses on can help marketers understand where social media can

play a role. P&G aligns marketing efforts with four stages: Trigger

(anywhere), Zero Moment of Truth (active evaluation), First Moment of

Truth (shelf), Second Moment of Truth (use of product). Social media can

impact every one of those stages. A recommendation from a friend might

serve as a Trigger. A quick Google search from a mobile device may reveal

an educational brand video about how to solve a problem and coupon to take

to the store. A barcode scanning application on a mobile device might lead a

customer to poor consumer reviews of a product. A social network might

66
offer an opportunity for a consumer to express their thoughts on a product as

they use it.

That said, the most major opportunities for FMCG brands likely comes at

Zero Moment of Truth and Second Moment of Truth.

8. Do you think Influencers can play major role in successful social


media strategy?

Influencers are a very important part of a successful social media strategy.

Mommy blogger reviews can serve as an invaluable third party endorsement

and as the trigger point for sampling by large populations. Ultimately, use of

influencers also assists in moving social media from a one-to-one (less

efficient) medium to a one-to-many (high efficiency), while still maintaining

many of the benefits of social media (i.e. trust and authenticity).

9. Any pointers/suggestions you would like to give, that a marketer should


keep in mind before developing Social Media strategy for FMCG brand?

No other than whats covered above!

67
APPENDIX B

Interview with Mr Dinesh Chindarkar, Global Country Head, Global


HealthPR.

[Interview conducted via Google+ on 6th August, 2011]

Transcribed on 7th August, 2011

Info: The content marked in the bracket indicates the additional detail provided to
interviewer for a better understanding of the question.

Do you think there are any specific challenges for fmcg brands in creating social
space compared to other product brands?

(Given the fact that these are low involvement products and consumers take
relatively less time in making purchase decisions?)

D C- Yes definitely if you look at it, fmcg brands such products are off the mind

purchases, but its very emotional or optimized, so top of mind recall is essential.

P S- they are kind of low involvement

D C- Yeah and it is a bit of challenge for fmcg to build a top of the mind recall of the

brand when the consumers say for eg would go and buy toothpaste in supermarket.

How different would you say is Social media as a marketing channel,


compared to other marketing communications mediums?

D C- You mean compared to traditional media

P S as in yeah compared to say as TV Advertising, Print media, email

D C- Well, traditional media comes to you as an unwelcomed media, whereas on

social media, is about consumer choice, if they want to listen or not. It doesnt create

an intrusion for consumers as the traditional mediums would do, thats biggest

68
difference. Traditional marketing mediums provide information that they havent

asked for but social media on the other hand provides info when they need it, its not

an annoyance to consumers.

How important it is for the marketers to understand the use of different tools
within social media (eg facebook, twitter ,blogs), while building Social Media
plan for a FMCG brand?

D C- Its a very interesting question, because in India the marketers have very poor

knowledge about the different tools that can be used. The shift from traditional

marketing mind set to the new social media mind set hasnt happened fully yet.

It is important for marketers to understand which tool can be work well with the kind

of message it has to send out. For eg if there isnt much to talk about, twitter feed

wont help, same as if there isnt a way to keep customer engaged on facebook, it

shouldnt be used.

Do you think Social media can serve some other purpose, besides just being
used as marketing tool, especially in context of FMCG brands?

D C- Actually in my opinion social media as marketing channel ranks 3rd, first

would be its a market research tool, getting consumer insight is at its best through

social media, I think on social media people are there natural self, they are in their

natural behaviour, so for consumer in sighting there is no coercion , especially if you

consider consumer research in the FMCG industry, the second would be social

media listening, listening to what consumers are saying and then thirdly as

marketing channel to reach out to the consumers to tell them about products and

services, but essentially I think its more of market research tool.

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Presently, are there any guidelines/ rules or key elements that one follows or
takes into consideration for developing social media strategy for brand?

DC- Well it differs from brand to brand, as such there arent any best practise ways

or guidelines to it, but social media plan cannot be made in isolation. It needs to be a

part of integrated marketing communication plan, so defining clear objectives,

setting clear goals is important, knowing who the TG is, also taking into

consideration which social media tools to be utilised. Social media metrics needs to

be set before planning or developing a social media strategy.

P S - Hmmm ok

D C- Social media cant be used a as an individual marketing channel by itself, there

also has to be offline strategy built along with it . Social media is actually a part of e-

marketing plan.

What aspect of the social media do you think Fmcg brands should take into
account while setting a platform?

DC- Aspect in the sense

P S - like say for eg should it be a used as information provider, for promotions, for

engagement, customer services, for interactivity etc.

D C - Well again it differs from brand to brand, depends on does a brand have

something to talk about, or something to engage their consumer with.. so it depends.

If you consider FMCG say you cant really talk about soaps and shampoos on daily

basis, unless there is something new to tell them, say if you consider an antidandruff

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shampoo, you have something more to say, but then if you talk about the subject

area and not product then conversation and interaction is possible.

P S - Ok, like

D C- If consumer is having dandruff problem talks about it on social media platform

a peer might recommend a particular brand that he has found effective or has heard

about a lot through, what FMCG brand can do is track such conversations and target

consumers and in a way promote their brand.

There has to be a feel good factor for consumer to associate with, on social media

platform, so depending on what goal the brand wants to achieve social media can be

used as listening medium or engagement medium. Actually it has to be flexible

enough to reach the Target Group.

How do you think can social media be helpful in influencing consumers in their
decision making journey?

( Considering Fmcg brands, the purchase of the product doesnt happen online, it
happens in supermarket, so how do you think can social media play its part in the
decision making journey of consumer, can it be targeted towards various touch points
of the decision making journey)

D C- Well influencing is a relative term, social media can be positively impacting or

it can be a threat as well. The positioning of brand on social media, its goals, the TG,

consumers interaction, engagement with the brand etc.. these factors determine how

influential social media can be.

In context of FMCG, the social media needs to impact the consumer in such a way

that the brand remains on the top of the mind of consumer while purchasing product,

without it being an annoyance to the consumer.


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Do you think Influencers can play major role in successful social media
strategy?

D C- Influencers play a big role, consumers trust what his friends would say or

recommend, their feedback is valuable and social media provides just that people

who are just like me the consumers would listen to peers, common man rather than

a celebrity telling them how good the product.

Actually if you consider there are different kinds of influencers when it comes to

social media, there are the ones who express their opinion eg say on facebook they

just like things, the others are followers who would like things because their

friends liked it , then there brand ambassadors who openly propagate about the

brand , who may form groups or communities etc.

So for developing an effective social media strategy identifying and understanding

these influencers is important and how could one to transform the followers to brand

ambassadors, should be the goal.

Any pointers/suggestions you would like to give, that a marketer should keep in
mind before developing Social Media strategy for FMCG brand?

D C- For me as I look at it, social media acts mainly as market research tool,

especially if you consider for FMCG brands, secondly it acts as a good listening

medium, understanding the consumers needs and wants is essential, getting into the

mind of consumer is no game.

So social media should not be looked in isolation but it should be made a part of

integrated marketing communications plan for company.

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I also think message is also of importance, what kind of message the brand wants to

send out, through this medium.

I think the key is to experiment and adapt -dont follow or practise what already has

been proven successful, take risks but be responsible as well.

Customer feedback, views, opinion should be monitored frequently, what people are

talking about whether good or bad, use it as collective measure to improvise the

brand through social media. Online reputation management is also critical, and it

should be run parallel

And brands should try to get closer to customerAlso I would say, set clear cut

metrics and goals, and how the success of it would be measured. whether say for eg

getting 20,000 fans to like it, or making 10 customers satisfied with the product

offering, who have posted valuable feedback on the social media space, the social

media strategy should resonate with the sales target.

Most importantly marketers should understand that social media strategy is for long

term, instant gratification is not achieved through it, and milestones have to be set

that would end up building strong relationship with the customer.

So I say experiment-adapt- and focus on building relationships with customers.

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APPENDIX C

LinkedIn: Discussion Forum [Excerpts]

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