2015 Media Forum: Mark Ritson

Summary

In his engaging presentation at the 2015 Media Forum, Mark Ritson challenges the pervasive narrative surrounding social media marketing effectiveness. He highlights the discrepancy between brand follower statistics and actual consumer behavior, suggesting that the reality of social media influence is overstated. Ritson humorously criticizes marketers' compulsive investment in unproven avenues, attributing it to inherent professional tendencies and social conformity. He emphasizes a shift in digital advertising focus from conversational approaches to traditional advertising methods, urging marketers to critically assess their strategies.

Highlights

• Brands are largely unwelcome on social media 👎
• Majority of consumers don't care to engage with brands or receive ads 🙅‍♀️
• Despite low ROI visibility, social media ad spend keeps rising 📈
• Marketers invest in the latest trends due to fear of missing out 😬
• Facebook and Twitter are reverting to traditional ad models 🎯

Key Takeaways

• Social media is more about people than brands 📱
• Most consumers don't actually follow brands on social media 🙅‍♂️
• There's a disconnect between social media investment and ROI 📉
• Marketers are often driven by shiny new trends rather than data ✨
• Facebook and Twitter have transitioned back to traditional ad models 🛍️

Overview

Mark Ritson opens his talk by arguing that social media is fundamentally about personal connections rather than brand engagement. He challenges marketers to reevaluate their approach and understanding of social media metrics, highlighting that a large portion of the audience on platforms like Twitter and Facebook aren't interested in brand communication. 🤔

Diving deeper into the statistics, Ritson presents startling data indicating that most users don't actively follow brands, and those who do are barely engaged. Yet, paradoxically, businesses continue to pump more money into social media marketing despite unclear returns on investment. His humorous take on the subject, likening marketers to magpies chasing shiny new things, underscores a critical need for self-reflection in the industry. 🐦

Ritson wraps up by pointing out that giants like Facebook and Twitter have evolved back to traditional advertising models, emphasizing direct ads over interactive engagement. This shift demonstrates a significant move away from the early ideals of social media as a community-driven conversational platform. He calls for a pragmatic approach, urging marketers to distinguish between actual engagement potential and mere industry hype. 🎙️

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Social Media This chapter discusses the definition and essence of social media. It begins by clarifying the meanings of 'social' and 'media.' 'Social' pertains to activities where people engage in conversations and interactions, while 'media' refers to a channel of communication. The chapter emphasizes that social media is revolutionary in facilitating person-to-person communication, allowing users to create and share content. It urges readers to deeply understand these foundational concepts to fully appreciate the transformative power of social media.
• 00:30 - 01:30: Brand Engagement on Social Media The chapter discusses the role of communication in social media and how it is primarily designed for personal interactions rather than for brand involvement. It highlights the challenge brands face in engaging with audiences on platforms meant for social interactions. The chapter poses a critical question about brand engagement, particularly how many brands a typical Canadian follows on social media, suggesting that neither the author nor the reader knows the answer.
• 01:30 - 02:30: The Myth of Brand Followers This chapter challenges the prevailing narratives about brand loyalty and consumer behavior. It claims that many of the statistics and narratives presented over the past eight years are misleading. While discussing data collection, it highlights the difficulty of finding certain 'inconvenient' truths that contradict popular beliefs. It mentions using an online research platform for Canadians to uncover the reality behind brand affiliations.
• 02:30 - 04:00: Australian Data on Social Media The chapter discusses the topic of social media, focusing on Australian data regarding user engagement with brands. It highlights a statistic indicating that 64% of social media users have taken action to stay updated with a brand through social media. However, the validity of this data is questioned, suggesting it may be misleading or exaggerated. The speaker points out that this figure pertains only to those who already follow brands, thus representing a smaller, specific segment of social media users. The critique emphasizes the importance of analyzing metrics critically when interpreting such data.
• 04:00 - 06:00: The Spending Paradox In 'The Spending Paradox,' the chapter discusses the behavior of brand followers, emphasizing that many followers already engage with multiple brands. Despite seemingly positive statistics, such as two-thirds of brand followers following more than five brands, the chapter critically points out the need for understanding engagement from non-followers and highlights the gaps in the data by questioning where those not following any brands stand. The analysis reveals that the presented data may not provide a complete picture of brand engagement.
• 06:00 - 07:00: Why Marketers Spend More on Social Media This chapter discusses why marketers are increasingly focusing their budgets on social media platforms. It highlights that only a third of followers seek interactions beyond deals or contests with brands, suggesting that not all followers desire dialogue. The chapter questions the assumption that those not solely interested in deals want to engage in dialogue, indicating a need to understand distinct follower preferences. Additionally, it notes that a quarter of followers are receptive to marketing messages through social media, emphasizing the potential of social media as a marketing channel.
• 07:00 - 10:00: The Nature of Marketing The chapter titled 'The Nature of Marketing' discusses consumer engagement with marketing messages. A specific observation is made that a significant portion of consumers are not open to marketing efforts. A curious case is highlighted where crucial data regarding consumer behavior in Australia was initially hidden in print footnotes but later exposed. This data, originating from Experian's research, serves to underscore the challenges faced in accurately gauging consumer marketing response.
• 10:00 - 12:00: Conformity Experiments The chapter discusses the results of conformity experiments related to brand following habits on social media in Australia. It reveals that a significant two-thirds of Australians do not actively follow any brands, which is notably different from behaviors observed in Canada. For the one-third who do follow brands, 83% follow fewer than seven brands. This statistic is significant considering the vast number of brands aiming for consumer attention online. The chapter emphasizes that the average Australian consumer is targeted by approximately 13,000 brands annually, most of which attempt engagement through social media channels.
• 12:00 - 14:00: Facebook and Twitter's Shift This chapter discusses the irony of consumer behavior in relation to social media spending. Consumers, on average, engage with fewer than one brand on social media, yet spending on these platforms continues to rise. The transcript highlights a contradiction where individuals find the situation amusing, yet actively choose to invest more into social media each year, indicating a trend that defies what the data suggests should be happening. According to data from e-marketers, there's an anticipated increase in spending on social media by approximately 20% next year.
• 14:00 - 15:00: Future of Internet Advertising The chapter discusses trends in internet advertising, specifically how spending has been increasing approximately by 20% each year. This data primarily reflects North American trends, including some Canadian data. A 2014 survey of marketers reveals that only 7% strongly agreed and 30% agreed that they see a return on investment from their social media efforts. The chapter explores these survey results and provides insights into internet advertising strategies.

2015 Media Forum: Mark Ritson Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 applications enable users to create and share content that's not it they're missing the point take the two words and look at their definitions the definition of social relating to or involving activities in which people spend time talking to each other to each other medium a medium of cultivation conveyance or expression social media is and again we'll take time on this one a social media it's revolutionary in person-to-person
• 00:30 - 01:00 communication no doubt i would be [ __ ] to tell you it isn't i'm on twitter too right but when the brands get involved by definition they're not welcome it's a social media for people brands aren't welcome so that's prompts a very interesting question if you're a canadian marketer or agency how many brands does a canadian actively follow on social media and it's a question that i don't know the answer to and probably you don't either
• 01:00 - 01:30 because it's a question that we can't show you because it would dispel everything every statistic i've shown you so far is true and you've never seen it before because it's scarily shittily bad and it doesn't fit the agenda or the propaganda that's been parlayed to you for the last eight years we can't show that because if we even glimpsed what it was it would break the myth here's the best i could find after about seven days of trying to find this stuff out so there's a bit of data here from asking canadians which i think is some kind of online research site bit of data here so what brands and
• 01:30 - 02:00 social media so the first one we've got here is we know that 64 of social media users have taken action to stay up to date with a brand via social media 64 sounds pretty good right except it's it's look out for this data it's filled with horseshit first of all look at that canadians following brands so this is of the 64 that are already in that minority group of following a brand we've already gone into the smaller slice of the pie and second look at the metric 64 of
• 02:00 - 02:30 people at any point in the last eight nine years have once updated once it's a very low bar tells us nothing so let's try something else over here this looks better two-thirds of brand followers follow five plus brands that sounds pretty good two-thirds but again that's two-thirds of brand followers they already follow at least one brand i need to know the zero number and you're not telling me that right so maybe we'll go down here to this bit
• 02:30 - 03:00 a third of followers are just looking for sorry a third of followers are not just looking for a deal or contest they want to dialogue with the brand now two things here first how about the two-thirds of followers who are just looking for a deal and also just because i'm not just looking for a deal doesn't mean i'm looking for a dialogue that's a huge leap right finally a quarter of followers are open to receiving marketing messages through social media channels well that's awesome why don't we talk about
• 03:00 - 03:30 the three quarters who aren't open to any marketing messages of the tiny group that are actually following brands in the first place look at the data look at this data it's not right so i don't know i can't tell you the answer for canada i spent a lot longer in australia and i can give you the data from australia because someone unfortunately accidentally discovered it and then tried to hide it in the footnotes of the paper but i was able to dig it out experian did research the end of last year on australians i'll bet you ain't no
• 03:30 - 04:00 different from canada two-thirds of australians are not actively following any brands on social media two-thirds of your customers don't follow any brands not just you any brand of the third that do 83 percent follow less than seven brands less than seven brands think how many are out there trying to get them less than seven so you had all this data together the average consumer in australia is targeted we think by about 13 000 brands a year most of them also trying through social
• 04:00 - 04:30 media and 94 of those consumers average less than one brand on social media huh it doesn't make sense and yet through this era while you're laughing you're also spending your money on social media the joke is definitely on you we spend more and more on this despite the fact that the data would appear not to support it the data from e-marketers suggests that approximately 20 more will be spent next year on social
• 04:30 - 05:00 than on this year it's been going up by approximately 20 each year you're spending more and we see the same picture now this is north american data so there is some canadian data here but it's you know diluted by your southern uh neighbors but we see this picture over and over again this is a survey the end of 2014 of marketers okay and what you see here is do you agree with the statement that i see return on investment from my social media and you got seven percent strongly agreeing and 30 agree and then the other question to the same sample
• 05:00 - 05:30 what are your future plans for social media oh [ __ ] i'm going to spend a lot more on it next year i can't wait to get my money in there right this picture is troubling is it not on the left-hand side two-thirds of these marketers are unsure of roi on the right-hand side two-thirds of them are going to spend more on it next year now i'll be generous to assume there's a third of them that have seen roi and spending more the other 33 i'd fire them i'm not just a professor i work for lots of large companies i work at a senior level if i met a marketer that was spending more on
• 05:30 - 06:00 something they couldn't show me roi from i know my recommendation to my boss why spend more on something that you know or you're not sure is actually working i'd like to answer that question but i'd like to rephrase the question first and i'd like to rephrase it by asking a different question and the question is why does my dog kill wallabies even though i tell her not to i apologize for those you're not familiar with australian indigenous marsupials a wallaby is a small cute kangaroo
• 06:00 - 06:30 and where i live down in the south of australia we have a lot of them and unfortunately my dog has a pension for wallaby and kills them a lot okay and nothing ruins a good dinner party than your dog padding in with the head of a dead wallaby so i have spent three years in my free time out on the garden lawn training asia my dog not to do this with absolutely no success at all so why does my dog keep killing wallabies let me tell you a bit about my dog my dog's a beautiful girl her name is
• 06:30 - 07:00 asia like all good people i got it from a dog pound i didn't take a breeders dog i went to the dog pound i found a dog and she was a pup and often popped it found her in a plastic bag and uh she was a beautiful four week old girl look at that and she's clearly got you know she's labrador and i said to the owner of the dog's home i said so yeah what is she said well she's some kind of lab cross so we fed her and we got her healthy and we looked after her and she grew a big strong dog and this is asia today now you may not be familiar with
• 07:00 - 07:30 australia but let me share with you that clearly there is a lot of labrador in my dog but there's also a lot of something else and that something else is dingo in fact if i had to guess i think she's about 95 dingo with a small smidge of labrador around the edges now the good news is i don't have to feed her anymore right she looks after herself the answer to the question why does she
• 07:30 - 08:00 chase wallabies should be obvious why does she chase wallabies it's in her nature why do marketers keep spending more on social media because it's in your nature you are and bob talked about it earlier the magpie profession you like new things shiny shiny if i invented a new social media tool this afternoon called wacko a third of you would be asking whether you could invest in it by the end of the day
• 08:00 - 08:30 you're also very paranoid about being left out the older a marketer gets the more insecure they are the more they're worried [ __ ] if i don't invest in this stuff it'll look like i'm holding off fire me so let me explain to you why i think marketers all over the world and here in canada have spent too much too much on social media i'm not saying they should spend something but too much and talk about it too much and i have to use my favorite professor a guy called solomon ash who's a a very famous behavioral psychologist from the 20th century
• 08:30 - 09:00 and ash was famous for doing what were called conformity experiments showing the hidden rules inside society and famously one of his experiments was repeated by candid camera and here i think we have the answer to why a market is spending too much money on social media the gentleman in the elevator now is a candid star these folks who are entering the man with a white shirt the lady with a trench coat and subsequently one other member of our staff
• 09:00 - 09:30 will face the rear and you'll see how this man in the trench coat he tries to maintain his individuality but little by little he looks at his watch but he's really making an excuse for turning just a little bit more
• 09:30 - 10:00 to the wall now we try it once again here's the candid subject here comes the candid camera staff three of them at least and uh this man has apparently been in groups
• 10:00 - 10:30 here's a fella with his hat on in the elevator first he makes a full turn to the rear and charlie closes the door a moment later we'll open the door everybody's changed positions
• 10:30 - 11:00 now we'll see if we can use now let's see if we can use group pressure for some good now in a moment on charlie's signal everybody turns forward notice they take off their hats and now do you think we could reverse the procedure watch
• 11:00 - 11:30 i think we're doing it because we're afraid not to do it and it's a natural feeling but one we have to fight against now to be fair first of all to facebook facebook has changed when mark zuckerberg was launching facebook nearly 10 years ago it was a much more disruptive sell he said back then the way to advertise in the old days was to get into the mass media and push out your content that was the last hundred years in the next hundred years information won't just be pushed out to people it will be shared among the millions of connections people have
• 11:30 - 12:00 advertising will change this was that [ __ ] about conversations and dialogue and community and all that stuff that we all believed in you jump forward to today and we move away from social ads and the zuckerberg of today is running a much stronger much more successful organization and they don't talk anymore about that conversational [ __ ] only companies do only agencies do facebook now talks like any other agency you know what they just launched as you probably know for their video online video trps measured by nielsen sound familiar
• 12:00 - 12:30 they've become a very successful very vibrant display media it's advertising in a different form of media it's just advertising same story at twitter they've got a new uh offer which is the promoted moment what is it it's a little display ad at the bottom of your twitter feed it's just advertising no more conversations none of that [ __ ] they're making a very good business at facebook and a so-so business at twitter selling ads it's fine it's a good business
• 12:30 - 13:00 and if we look at the projections for the next two or three years you're going to see according to the economist and zenith of the media that this green bar which is what they call internet advertising globally will continue to grow along with the rest of the pie a little bit and if we break that down and you look at for 2016 what that means for the internet stuff for digital stuff you'll see that most of it is still paid search don't forget that so i'm displaying classified and then we have online video and social media spending here it's a significant part of the internet spend which is a significant part of the
• 13:00 - 13:30 overall spent if you actually look at the overall numbers