Businesses creating 'digital waste' with social media
Survey finds more than half don't want to engage with brands via social media.
Wednesday, November 23 2011 || News || BY Maria Slade, Businessday.co.nz
Digital Life, an international study of online consumer behaviour conducted by market research company TNS, has found that 54 per cent of New Zealanders say they do not want to engage with brands via social media.
The New Zealand figure was similar to the global average of 53 per cent, the survey showed.
The push for companies to engage with their customers on social media sites had created a huge volume of ''digital waste'' which was making it increasingly difficult for anyone to be heard, TNS New Zealand managing director Jason Shoebridge said.
Businesses needed to target their online efforts carefully. ''Firms need to deploy precisely tailored strategies to realise the massive opportunity that the online world presents.''
Two-thirds of New Zealanders said they had joined an online brand community to take advantage of a promotion or special offer. With this behaviour, there was a risk of the internet turning into a channel just for offering discounts, he said. Marketers needed to give consumers other reasons to connect.
The difference between traditional and online marketing was that people could ''defriend'' you. ''They can actively sever that connection,'' Shoebridge said.
Kiwis are still treading carefully in some of their consumer activity online, the Digital Life survey showed.
Only 15 per cent use group buying sites such as GrabOne, whereas the global figure is 24 per cent. And only 10 per cent have purchased products using their mobile phone, compared with 22 per cent internationally.
