Question

Topic: Social Media

How To Convert Loyal Fans Into Loyal Consumers ?

Posted by langarods on 6/13/2012 at 12:17 PM ET 250 Points
I am doing my PHD and I am looking into social network sites and their impact over loyalty.
I would like to have your views on what could be the possible reasons why a loyal fan at the facebook is not always a loyal consumer outside the Facebook ?
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  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 6/13/2012 at 6:55 PM Accepted
    Excuse me but this is all ass backwards.

    What is there for the "fan" to be fanatical about?

    How did the person in question become loyal, and to what are they pledging loyalty?

    Where do problem, solution, need, want, desire, knowing, liking, trusting and value fit into this model?

    Where is the sales path?

    How long, cluttered, and winding is this sales path?

    When does person looking for the solution become the buyer and when does the transaction take place?

    Once the buyer has moved into ownership, how long will value take to materialize?

    Once value has appeared, how long will they remain a customer (how often are they going to buy more? How frequently will they tell their friends and recommend the
    product in question?

    Once they've consumed this product, how many touch points will they need to interact with to spark any feeling of being valued?

    Once they've felt valued, how long will loyalty take to take hold?

    How will you define, measure, and track loyalty and how will you track the process of buyer to customer to consumer activity in terms of referrals?

    What work have you already done on this project that you can share? Ideally, this is a student question, not a social media question. And why am I, someone with no BA, Masters, or advanced degree of study in marketing better able to think through this process than a Ph. D student?


  • Posted by langarods on 6/14/2012 at 4:17 AM Author
    Hello Gary,
    Thanks for your thoughts.
    My intention was to promote a discussion and take out of that possible hypothesis that could be checked against literature.
    The subject proposed is a very fundamental one and it is directly linked to social media - since there is no sense on moving forward with it if you are not able to generate conversion. So - it is an emergent question and if you work with social media - you should start thinking about it! It is key to understand what are the triggers and how much do they impact.
    I hope that others also feel motivated to contribute to this discussion....
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 6/14/2012 at 10:14 AM Accepted
    I'm not sure what constitutes a loyal Facebook fan. Is it simply "liking" a business? Reading the posts? Posting/sharing? In some cases, people become online fans to enter a contest or have access to information. It doesn't cost anything to do, so it's low-risk.

    Becoming a consumer means you have to spend money to get the benefit ("put your money where your mouth is").

    Also remember that not every product/service is purchased often. I can be a fan of a car company (because I own one already or like its look), but I might not be a consumer (because I don't need a car anytime soon).
  • Posted by langarods on 6/14/2012 at 10:30 AM Author
    Hello Jay,
    It makes lots of sense what you say on loyalty - I am currently measuring it by the intention to participate on the page and to recommend it to others. But both measures are declared answers. I would prefer to be able to measure observable items --- are you aware of any tool that could help me to track the number of times that a certain fan assesses the page independent from giving their like to a post ?

    As with regard to your second point - vary valid and I am already looking into it! - Thanks
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 6/14/2012 at 12:56 PM Member
    Dear Langarods,

    "... if you work with social media - you should start thinking about it! It is key to understand what are the triggers and how much do they impact."

    Thank you, yes I do work with social media. However, loyalty appears as a result of the chain of events (and the triggers) I outlined above. I've been looking at this issue for three years.

    In response to Jay you mentioned you are "measuring it by the intention to participate on the page and to recommend it to others." Is the "it" in question loyalty? Or is it user's uses of specific Facebook content? I'm not sure it's possible to measure "intention to participate". Social media users either participate of they don't. Short of hacking into Facebook's mainframe, I'm not sure you'll find numbers on the frequency of page visits of specific users before, and following any specific content piece "like". Nor do I see how this information would help with new content. People "like" things or they don't. And then there's the issue of "unliking".



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