Believe it or not, brands have now been engaging customers online for over a decade. Throughout this time the general rule of thumb for social media strategy has been to offer customers insider product knowledge, vouchers and samples in return for opinions and, hopefully, word-of-mouth generated sales.

However, as Facebook fan pages continue to attract visitors, a question is raised about whether marketers need to turn to other online venues – such as privately run online communities – to generate deep consumer insights. Although it’s tempting for them to simply ‘dip into’ their Facebook fan base to gather feedback, recent studies have suggested that public social networks may not be the best option for companies to obtain useful feedback that can help develop tactical marketing strategies.

To clarify, Facebook fan communities can provide a wealth of benefits for companies, but findings from a recent Communispace study suggest that consumers primarily go to public brand-sponsored sites to hear from them, but prefer to talk to them in private online environments. This conclusion was echoed in a study released by iVillage that found that women, in particular, are “more inclined to have serious discussions on focused community sites than on venues like Facebook.” These findings suggest that only certain consumers participate in research on Facebook, and those who do, aren’t willing to reveal that much about themselves in the context of a social network.

It seems that if marketers rely solely on Facebook fan pages, or mining other public forums for insights, they are likely to hear from a skewed sample of the online population. There is a need for marketers to understand the different types of social media strategies available to them to understand which will work best to achieve their objectives. The first step is to ask what the key objectives are: do you simply want to communicate new product launches and provide fans with benefits such as vouchers, or do you want to gather insights and feedback from customers to use for marketing purposes?

One option is to use different strategies simultaneously to make the most of both public and private social media. A top tip is to use their fan page to promote what you have developed with the private online community, therefore complementing one strategy with another. However, it’s essential to always bear in mind the following points when engaging with customers online:

1. Remember why your fans are there: Keep in mind that consumers on social networking sites are more interested in hearing from you than in talking to you.

2. Know who you’re listening to: Mine the web and “pull” data about trends and monitor your brand’s online reputation, but realise that not all consumers publicly engage online.

3. Create safe, reciprocal environments: Consumers are more likely to have insight-generating conversations if they feel safe and know they’re being listened to.

4. Don’t confuse sampling with insight: We found that consumers go to public brand-sponsored sites to sample new products and to get coupons and discounts. Create private online communities for gaining deeper insights into not only what consumers think about your brand and products, but how they live their lives.

There is no right or wrong way to engage as each brand is different and wants to achieve different things from their online engagement with customers, but we suggest carefully considering how you match objective with strategy in the coming decade.

Michael is senior researcher at Communispace. Image via Note from Lapland.

Tags: communispace, consumer insight, facebook, michael jennings