I held out for as long as possible, but a few months ago, I allowed my 11yr old son to open a Facebook account (their ‘terms of service’ state they have to be 13). Frankly, I was just as concerned about the necessity of lying about his age as I was about the safety issues, and even more so about the temptation to spend yet more time in front of a screen.
So why did I do it? He was leaving his old school, upset about losing touch with his friends, and wanting to make new ones easily. I wanted to ease the transition for him and so agreed as long as I could be his friend. I now monitor his usage and trawl through his friends making sure I know (or at least he knows) them all. I don’t feel good about it, but at least I have so far resisted the demand for a Smart Phone, which the vast majority of his friends already have.
The issue of underage use of Facebook was raised again in the press last week. It crops up every now and then, as one of several ritual ‘bash the parents’ themes.
The problem is simple. Parents have long memories; most of us remember only too well the pain of being left out by peers at school if you didn’t quite fit in (my mum refused to let me watch sitcoms in the 1970’s. I didn’t get to play the Liver Bird game recreated in the playground. I am still getting over it…). We give in because we fear the alternative; isolation.
So we need help. Yes, we can be responsible parents and monitor kids’ usage, but in the same way that I pleaded for manufacturers (if not the Government) of video games to take more responsibility, we also need mobile phone or ISP providers to back a campaign aimed at kids – by flipping the situation and educating kids about social networking from a young age, the incessant nagging and guilt that parents are subjected to may never happen. By and large, tween kids have yet to find their individuality. If something is perceived by the majority as ‘not done’, then it’s ’not done’.
Persuade BBH to provide the ads at cost and Jessie J and Tiny Tempah to front it. These are not new ideas. They are tried and tested, (they worked to simultaneously persuade kids to drink both more milk and less alcohol). Hey, they could even throw in the dangers of cyber bullying too – yet another issue only just round the corner for me.
Parenting is a tough job, never more so than today. Am I wrong to be asking for help?
Asda’s decision to put mothers at the heart of its marketing strategy is no surprise; there is little doubt that as the main shoppers and decision makers for family purchases, this level of insight can be very powerful.
What is commendable is Asda’s willingness to look beyond shopping behaviours to social trends. While appearing to be unrelated these trends often have a profound effect on the nature of a consumer’s bond with a brand, through a broader understanding of their lifestyle. An empathetic appreciation of people and the context within which they live is crucial for any brand hoping to play a role in their lives.
For example, I believe that Helicopter parenting is dying. Over the last couple of years I have scaled back my kid’s extra-curricular activities and now like nothing better than homework-free evenings kicking back with a TV show (and not even an educational one!) and a cuddle. My friends can’t believe it. I was the one always complaining if work wasn’t set or rushing them around to ballet lessons, drama classes and chess club.
The reason? I now think kids’ lives are stressful enough without actively adding to the pressure. Almost every activity came with exams attached, and I now sincerely believe that creating stronger bonds in the home creates a happier, more successful child.
What has this got to do with a supermarket? Everything. I can think of several products, services or communication that could tap straight into that insight and immediately create an emotional link with me. Family fondue night anyone?
It would be interesting however, to know how the sample for the Mumdex panel has been profiled; the assumption being that it’s representative of the existing Asda demographic. If so, caution is needed to avoid the temptation to extrapolate the findings to all mums. No doubt there will be a quarterly release of data that will happily make the pages of the national press; the source simply cited as ‘UK mums’.
Equally has Asda considered identifying those mums on the panel with the most influential clout? In a world where brands need to rely increasingly on Word of Mouth both on and (more crucially for this audience) offline, our research shows that it is a certain type of woman across all social classes who is shaping others’ attitudes and preferences, much more than any form of brand communication. Understanding these women and how, when and where they influence is key, not only to gaining valuable insight into the development of social trends, but also to creating a WOM strategy that goes beyond the mummy blogger and into the real world.
When I first started working at 1000heads, I was regularly asked what I did, and I usually began by explaining, ‘We build relationships with key influencers to affect conversations about brands.’ Actually it started out a lot more convoluted than that, with references to insight and advocacy and amplification; the number of glazed expressions prompted the simplification.
However, it was while carrying out the Different Size Feet research into parental social influence that it became apparent that perhaps there is a little too much emphasis in our industry on the ‘influencers’ and not enough on the ‘influenced’ – the ones who actually end up making the difference between brand success and failure.
When we first briefed the research to our partners at Kids Industries, we wanted to discover how social influence impacts on parents’ buying behaviour: how, why, where and when conversation prompts them to buy, on and offline, and which social relationships influence them at which stages of the process.
What I didn’t expect to uncover was a fascinating insight into parental behaviour towards these influences.
After the initial qualitative research, we found that parents are not a generic herd of followers at all. Eight very distinct groups of behavioural paradigms emerged, each with its own distinct psychology prompting shared common traits around what and who influences socially and how that translates into purchasing behaviour. What was even more exciting was that quantitative research showed that these personality types were broadly consistent across all product categories.
How does this affect what we do at 1000heads?
Put simply it means that while we will continue to identify and connect to family influencers, we know that to reach everyone, several strands of strategy may be necessary. Our in-depth knowledge of these social buyer personalities (which we will continue to build on) and their behaviour means we know who needs to be sharing the conversation at what trigger points and with what emphasis.
Subsequent discussions about the personality types has also proved these types to be pretty universal – OK, so having kids is a life-changing experience, but reactions amongst those without children does indicate that this research has relevance beyond the parental sphere. You can read in more detail about the research and the personality profiles via the Different Size Feet white paper, but here’s a brief summary of these types:
The Experts
Likely to have specific passions but approach all purchases with rigour and independent research, relying on online and offline resources as well as opinions of other ‘Experts’.
The Deliberators
Very risk averse. Will spend a relatively long time on purchase decisions, exploring all options, reading reviews and asking friends and family for opinions.
The Validators
Rely heavily on opinions of family and friends and love to share their own experiences and recommendations.
The Frugals
Are primarily driven by price, tending to only ask other Frugals for recommendations.
The Child-centred
Motivated by keeping their kids happy. Will converse with other Child-centreds and their children to gain their endorsement.
The Spontaneous
Lack the motivation to research for the best quality or deal. Will often decide at the point of sale or observe others for tacit recommendation.
The Disengaged
Not at all product or brand driven, tending to take a highly functional approach when considering new products. They seek information only when really necessary from trusted sources.
The Excluded
Lack strong networks and experience with products/brands overall compounded by lack access to information (both online and offline. Make lots of mistakes due to poorly informed decisions
Two weeks ago we released our research white paper, ‘Meet the Family: A new model for social influence.’ Our aim was to explore the different influences that impact upon purchasing behaviour within the family; but also, crucially, to identify which ones are most important, for which types of people.
So this week we’ve been reading with interest the new study from the Social Computing Group division of HP Labs, which also tries to examine what types of relationship most influence our behaviour in social.
Does the crowd trump your mates? Image via James Good
In ‘Swayed by Friends or by the Crowd?’ the HP team look at users of Mechanical Turk and conduct three empirical studies on the effect of friends’ recommendations vs general ratings on their behaviour. The gist of their findings?
“We find that for a user deciding between two choices an additional rating star has a much larger effect than an additional friend’s recommendation on the probability of selecting an item.
Equally important, negative opinions from friends are more influential than positive opinions, and people exhibit more random behavior in their choices when the decision involves less cost and risk.
Our results can be generalized across different demographics, implying that individuals trade off recommendations from friends and ratings in a similar fashion.”
It’s a small study specific to a very particular platform but worth absorbing nonetheless.
While offline word of mouth with friends and family still holds greatest sway over our decisions, might the wisdom of the crowd be what we’re seeking when we go online? Can the looseness of a ‘friend’ in social media (come on, for all your matey comments you haven’t seen that girl on Facebook since you were nine) devalue their influence?
Last year, the University of Washington Foster School of Business and the Wharton School of Business conducted another niche but noteworthy study on the influence of friends versus the crowd, this time on the topic of film reviews.They found that:
“if you pay attention to online movie reviews, you are likely to follow the crowd. If, on the other hand, you consider the online reviews generated by friends, you’ll probably come to your own conclusion.”
Today sees the official launch of Different Size Feet, our specialist family consultancy unit designed to deliver in-depth insight into the area of family social influence.
Working closely with us here at 1000heads, Different Size Feet, (headed up by our family brands expert, Carrie Grafham) was developed to meet a need for greater understanding of parents’ purchasing dynamics – the role of influencers on and offline and how and when they made an impact on the end decision.
A recent large-scale study of family decision-making carried out by Carrie and her team has resulted in some fascinatingly rich data, some of which we will be sharing with you over the next few weeks. We will be discussing the relationship between on and offline influence, pester power, the role of the mummy blogger and gender differences.
In addition, and most excitingly, behavioural profiling was carried out into parental purchasing; we have developed eight social buyer personalities, sharing common traits around what and who influences them socially and how that translates into purchasing behaviour.
