social media in the confectionery industry

The Manufacturing Confectioner • June 2011 37

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The best businesses in any industry focus

tirelessly on the ultimate driver of their

success: the customer. The confectionery

industry has important channel partners —

distributors, wholesalers, retailers — who

are, of course, valued customers. But the

ultimate arbiter of our success is the cus-

tomer we call a consumer, because this is

the person who decides whether our tea-

infused chocolate, our carbonated chewing

gum or our guacamole-flavored jelly bean is

worth the money in his or her pocket today,

and whether it will still be worth the price

tomorrow.

Understanding customers — and thereby

gaining their business — depends largely, of

course, on listening. Even when a customer

isn’t yet sure what he or she wants, that very

uncertainty can provide us insights that lead

to new opportunities to meet that cus-

tomer’s needs — and very possibly the same

or similar needs of the customer’s friends,

family or colleagues. This is true whether

we sell candy, computers or carpeting.

In just the last five years our ability to

listen to and understand customers — for

now, let’s focus specifically on consumers

— has grown almost unimaginably through

the advent of social media. By now the

names of social network sites such as Face-

book and LinkedIn have become familiar to

many of us, but these represent just a part of

the tens of millions of online conversations

that also take place around the clock on

blogs, forums and platforms such as Twit-

ter. Millions of additional pieces of what

has come to be known as consumer-gener-

ated content — photos shared on Flickr,

videos uploaded to YouTube and the like

— are posted daily. If our ability to capture

consumer conversations five years ago was

akin to overhearing occasional snatches of

water-cooler conversation, it now seems that

we have been transported into the middle of

cacophonous crowds in Times Square on

New Year’s Eve.

And, frankly, the quality of the conver-

sations varies as broadly as the range of top-

ics, from the mundane to the philosophical,

from politics to potato chips. We are, after

Using Social Media toSweeten ConfectioneryIndustry GrowthThe millions of conversations on social media provide us newways to learn more about what matters to our customers.

Pete HealyGyroHSR

Pete Healy is VPaccount planning atGyroHSR LLC. Prior tothis appointment hewas the director ofCrowbar Marketing.He previously workedat Perfetti Van MelleUSA and Jelly BellyCandy Company.

all, just plain people before we’re con-sumers, but therein lies the payoff. We aresocial animals, and most of us enjoy being“in the know,” sharing our opinions andinfluencing others. How good is that new

restaurant? Which 4G cell phone is the best?

Is that new dark chocolate candy bar as

good as it looks?

Like it or not, people — consumers, incommercial terms — are using social mediato talk about our products and our brands.This is human nature, but now vastly ampli-fied through a new-media universe that’shere to stay. Do we want to listen? Do wewant to learn? Do we want to conversewith people who clearly are engagedenough to share their raves, complaints,suggestions and desires? Social mediaoffers the confectionery industry anunprecedented opportunity to leverage thevoice of the customer in developing anddelivering products — and an overall brandexperience — that can attract, engage and

retain loyal consumers in an intensely com-

petitive, impulse-driven category.

THE CURRENT SOCIAL MEDIALANDSCAPEXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In 2008, Brian Solis, a highly regarded new-

media thought leader based in San Fran-

cisco, mapped the “universe” of social-

media sites as a color wheel (Figure 1),

with a spectrum that ranged from main-

stream and niche social network sites

(Facebook, LinkedIn) to video and music

sites (YouTube, Pandora) to blog and con-

versation platforms (Blogger, Tumblr, Twit-

ter). This map, which Solis entitled “The

Conversation Prism,” also depicts dozens

of other sites through which millions of

people share text-based and graphic con-

tent of all types. Solis’s map is an insight-

ful snapshot of a very young universe; some

of the sites listed will disappear over time,

while others will grow and new ones arise.

Still, the point is that people have signed on

to social media at an accelerating rate, even

if it’s only to see (or share) photos of their

grandchildren on Facebook.

In fact, Americans have embraced sev-

eral social network sites with fervor (with

one exception: MySpace, one of the first

mainstream sites, now in decline as newer

sites grow dramatically). Figure 2 summa-

rizes key attributes of the current main-

stream social-media sites:

The social-media landscape extends, of

course, beyond network sites like these.

The Ning platform or metasite (www.ning.

com) comprises a virtual gated community

of thousands of niche-interest groups rang-

ing from accountants to rock-climbers to

devotees of Renaissance music. The site

invites visitors to create and run their own

social networks under the Ning umbrella

for a monthly fee.

Flickr is perhaps the best-known photo-

Social Media in the Confectionery Industry

Social media offersthe confectionery

industry anunprecedentedopportunity to

leverage the voiceof the customer in

developing anddelivering products

that can attract,engage and retain

loyal consumers.

38 June 2011 • The Manufacturing Confectioner

➤Figure 1

The Conversation Prism

sharing site, containing an estimated 4.5 bil-lion images uploaded by members into gal-leries of all types. Approximately80,000 blogs are launched each day, withthe total now numbering in excess of 110million (although many have become dig-ital flotsam, unattended by their authors).Tens of thousands of forums are main-tained by people sharing interests in every-thing from car seats to carpentry. Fiskars isone company that has revitalized its brandof scissors by creating a forum dedicated toand administered by passionate scrapbookhobbyists (www.fiskateers.com).

Of course, not everyone participatesequally. In late 2007, Josh Bernoff andCharlene Li of Forrester Research intro-duced a “social technographics ladder” torepresent the range of activity (Figure 3).“Inactives,” unsurprisingly, do not partic-ipate in social media, although they mayuse the internet to shop, for email or forsimilar “Web 1.0” activities. One step up,

“spectators” contribute no content, butread customer ratings and reviews, amongother activities; even at this lowest rung ofparticipation, social media is influencingpurchase decisions on a scale far beyondtraditional word of mouth. The amplifica-tion of influence was recognized byBernoff and Li when they added “conver-sationalists” to their model in 2010. Theseare participants who do not generally postoriginal content, but who actively fosterdiscussions on blogs, forums, opinion sitesand the like. At the top of the socialtechnographics ladder are the “critics” and“creators” who, as their labels imply, reg-ularly post product reviews and authorblog entries, and upload photos, videos orother content. (Of note is the fact thatvideos and annotated photos are nowwidely used for many product reviews.)

Why have millions of people gotten soinvolved in social media? First is the corefact that, as we’ve noted, human beings are


Approximately80,000 blogs arelaunched each day,with the total nownumbering in excessof 110 million.


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FacebookUsers (2011): 525MM worldwide; 154MM in USA (double since 2009)Demographics: 18 –24 yrs = 25%; 25 –34 yrs = 25%; 35 –44 yrs = 20%Site Character: “Friends & family”Notes: Average FB user is on the site 25 min per day; 71% of all U.S. internet users on FB

TwitterUsers (2011): 190MM worldwide; 90MM in USA (up from 12MM in 2009)Demographics: 45% of users >35 yrs (average user age = 39)Site Character: Real-time, experiential, eclectic: from the mundane to the profoundNotes: Annual household income of users: 30%>$100k, 58% >$60k

YouTubeViews (2011): Two billion views per day worldwide (600MM in USA)Demographics: GlobalSite Character: Eclectic in content, multilingual, multiculturalNotes: FB users in aggregate watch 46.2 years of YouTube videos per day; each auto-share

tweet about a YouTube video spurs seven new YouTube user sessionsLinkedIn

Users (2011): 95MM worldwide; 45MM in USADemographics: 64% male; average user age = 41Site Character: Professional; networking and discussion forumsNotes: Average annual household income of users: $110k

MySpaceUsers (2011): 46MM (USA); down from 65MM in 2009Demographics: 56% female; 44% are 18 –34 yrsSite Character: Bands, high school students, 30-something momsNotes: Annual household income: 46% at <$60k

Figure 2

Key Attributes of Current Mainstream Social Media Sites

inherently social animals. We want tobelong. Beyond our obvious survival needs,we want to voice our thoughts, exchangeideas and learn from others.

Second, the simultaneous developmentof a consumerist culture and mass com-munications during the 20th century fos-tered our tendency to connect to brands— to choose Ford over Chevy, for exam-ple — through our relationships with otherpeople. Describing the merits of the newLexus around the water cooler, debatingwho makes the best golf clubs with friendsat a barbecue or seeing platoons of teens atthe mall all wearing Abercrombie & Fitch

outfits: these all represent the role ofbrands in our need for self-identity, self-expression and peer affinity.

In fact, for many of us, these two emo-tional drivers have engendered a third,which we can call the brand/friend blur,that is, the fact that we often rely on brandsfor comfort, excitement or other emotionalboosts — much as we might expect fromfriends. Coffee shops were coffee shopsuntil Starbucks came along, elevating theemotional reward of consuming coffee toa level that engendered remarkable andenduring brand loyalty. The coffeehousechain remains a friend of sorts to count-less millions around the world.

Fourth and last, online social media andnetworks have immeasurably increasedthe opportunities each of us has to be a“brand champion,” that is, to recommenda product, a service or a brand to a farlarger and widespread audience than ourtraditional circles of family, friends andcolleagues. Of course, the same audience isavailable when we play the role of a “branddetractor”; either way, the point is thatsocial media provides for many individualsa scope of influence unimaginable even10 years ago.

But that’s not all, as some TV ads pro-claim. Another wave of amplification ishitting us at this moment: the increasinglyrapid diffusion of mobile technology in theform of smartphones (Figure 4). The inter-net marketing-research company com-Score reports than one in four cell phoneowners in the United States now uses asmartphone, a clear indication that we’reincreasingly online while on the move. Infact, comScore research confirms thatnearly 40 percent of smartphone ownersare using internet browser functions toaccess news and information online, andnearly 25 percent regularly use their smart-


The simultaneousdevelopment of a

consumerist cultureand mass

communicationsduring the 20th

century fosteredour tendency to

connect to brandsthrough our

relationships withother people.


➤Figure 3

The Social Technographics Ladder

phones to access social network sites. Thismeans that the conversations that takeplace across the internet have even greaterreach as people participate from smart-phones and other mobile devices.

IMPLICATIONS AND OPPORTUNITIESFOR CONFECTIONERY R&D/PRODUCTIONNXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sociology and changes in the media land-scape are well and good, but what do theymatter for confectionery-industry profes-sionals working in product development orproduction? The answer lies not only in howsocial media amplifies, but how it also accel-erates conversation among consumers, andbetween consumers and businesses. Con-sider the consumer who feels she receivedan unhelpful response from your customerservice department to her question abouta possible allergen in your product. In therecent past she may have told a handful ofothers about her dissatisfaction. Today, shehas the option of using her blog or a socialnetwork to share her discontent (or worse)with hundreds or thousands of othersinstantly, some of whom will likely share orecho her message with others in their ownnetworks. This ripple effect can be aston-ishingly fast; and while it may dissipate justas quickly, it may also gain force as itspreads, provoking attention from reportersin mainstream media.

Consider a broader issue such as the crit-icisms expressed by some health advocatesand consumers over the use of high-fruc-tose corn syrup in food and beverage prod-ucts, including, of course, confectionery.Your company may have received noinquiries or complaints so far, but the man-ner in which social media disseminates andperpetuates discussion — with, arguably, adisproportionate representation of extremeopinion — may at some point draw yourbusiness into the fray. Why do you use high-

fructose corn syrup in your products? Why

don’t you label it more clearly on your

packaging? When do you plan to stop using

it? The risk to your company’s reputationand to its brand image may be substantial.

Senior corporate managers may right-fully object to the possibility of unjustifiedattacks or ill-informed accusations fromvocal activists online. Marketing managersmay fear that they will “lose control oftheir brand” if they venture into the social-media realm. But if you are one of thosemanagers, the likely fact is that consumersare already talking about your brand oryour business. You can remain silent whilethe conversation continues, or you canpresent your own point of view. Whenmom-bloggers were offended by an onlinead campaign for Motrin in September 2008,they unleashed their anger quickly andvociferously on their blogs and throughTwitter. McNeil Consumer Healthcare, themaker of Motrin, was further criticized forbeing slow and insincere in its apology.Once the apology was made, however,some mom bloggers called upon others tolet the issue go, showing that a sense offairness can prevail in social media, just asin offline communities.

Returning to a positive scenario, con-sumers may be delighted with your newtea-infused chocolate truffles. You may dis-


The likely fact isthat consumers arealready talkingabout your brandor your business.You can remainsilent while theconversationcontinues, or youcan present yourown point of view.


➤Figure 4

Social Media Amplification

cover that several prominent bloggers aregenerating many positive comments inresponse to their posts about your prod-uct. In fact, someone has set up a Face-book page where nearly a thousand fansare already sharing their ideas for new fla-vors; seaweed-infused truffles are winningat the moment.

Of course, several aspects of these sce-narios — package design or new-flavorrequests, for example — traditionally fallwithin marketing or customer service. Hereagain, though, the rules are changing. Socialmedia not only amplifies and accelerates,it provides even the r&d or productionprofessional ensconced in the most remotelaboratory or office the opportunity toaccess the voice of the consumer almostimmediately, in real time and with littleeffort. Whether that professional scanssocial media to stay ahead of potentialproblems or to stay current with her col-leagues in marketing, customer service orsales, online conversations offer a tremen-dous wealth of information and insights.

In 2010, the semiconductor manufacturerIntel decided to ask consumers for newproduct ideas. The company launched aFacebook page through which consumerscould submit their own ideas or commenton those submitted by others. The winnerof this promotion would be named vice pres-ident of r&d for a day, with the chance towork with Intel engineers at the company’sproduct-development center. Other prizesincluded notebook computers and software.

The results of the 10-week event wereremarkable: 53,000 participants who gen-erated 5,000 unique ideas; 200,000 viewsof those ideas; 8,000 comments and 110,000ratings; and a total of 420,000 engagementsbetween consumers and the Intel brand.

Perhaps more relevant to food-industryprofessionals is the example of My Star-

bucks Idea, an online social community

the coffeehouse chain launched in the

spring of 2008. The premise was straight-

forward, as Starbucks told visitors to the

site, “You know better than anyone else

what you want from Starbucks. So tell us.”

A recent check of the site showed that

more than 44,000 ideas have been submit-

ted for food and beverage items, including

flavors, blends and formulations. This fig-

ure does not include another 21,000 ideas

for merchandise other than food and bev-

erages. It also does not include thousands

of suggestions related to the customer

experience inside Starbucks locations.

While Starbucks has the advantages of a

global brand and thousands of its own

storefronts, it achieved that status only by

listening to its customers. The advent of

social media has given the company even

more opportunities to deepen the engage-

ment and loyalty of its fans.

IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSUMER-DRIVEN BRAND ENGAGEMENTX

If consumers increasingly regard their

favorite brands as a part of their self-iden-

tity, as a platform for peer affinity and even

as vehicles for self-expression, social media

clearly offer new ways to project those

emotional elements. Yes, that may be true

for cars or clothing, one might say, but isn’t

it far-fetched to ascribe the same dynamics

to a roll of mints or a bag of candy corn?

Most marketers would agree that this is

not far-fetched, since the physical product,

as important as it is, constitutes only the

starting point for creating a brand experi-

ence that, if positive, can grow and deepen

over time. When the consumer’s emotional

attachment is validated by positive reac-

tions from others in his network, his

engagement with the brand deepens, rais-

ing the odds that he will continue to pur-


Social mediaprovides the R&D

or productionprofessional the

opportunity toaccess the voice of the consumer

almost immediately,in real time and with little effort.


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chase the product. While the relevance ofproduct categories varies for each con-sumer depending on his or her needs anddesires, confectionery has the advantageof being a fun, low-cost category from aconsumer standpoint.

The low-cost, low-risk attributes of con-fectionery make it an easy product to talkabout. Trial based on someone’s recom-mendation is usually simple and inexpen-sive, and in the “flat world” of social media,nothing more is required to post an opinionor review. (In fact, even product trial isoptional, if one chooses to dismiss an itemas too weird, unhealthy or otherwise unde-sirable.) In broader social terms, confec-tionery is an easy conversation starter. Justlike wandering into a neighborhood party,the first-time visitor to Twitter or anothersocial network site uses the topic to breakthe ice, project some personality, establishrapport and create new acquaintances. If Ilike salted licorice and you like sweet, weshare a starting point from which to explore.

But if I like Darrell Lea licorice and youprefer Panda, then we move from categoryto brands, adding another dimension tothe conversation. Confectionery is inher-ently fun, at the same time evoking child-hood memories and other pleasant asso-ciations. But we can talk only so long abouta product type or category in general.Brands, as we have noted, provide a spring-board to do more, to project our individualpersonalities. Brands often serve as ameans of self-expression. This is evidentin consumer actions that range from thesimple —for example, the habitual use ofa tagline from a TV ad—to the elaborate,as when friends gather to drop chewy mintsinto bottles of soda, releasing foamy gey-sers and provoking boisterous amusement.

In the summer of 2009 Ruiz Foodsdecided to give fans of their Tornados hot

snacks a new way to share their enthusiasm

for the brand. Without a large marketing

budget, the company chose Facebook as its

platform to launch a series of monthly con-

tests and sweepstakes, each centered on

sharing and rating consumer-generated con-

tent, ranging from fan videos to flavor ideas.

Visitors to the Tornados Facebook page

could download coupons, and win points

redeemable for Tornados-branded mer-

chandise — and even a family trip to a

Nascar race at Daytona — by commenting

on other visitors’ content. When the Face-

book page reached 100,000 fans, Ruiz Foods

committed to providing 100,000 free boxes

of Tornados through downloadable buy-

one, get-one e-coupons. By the end of the

campaign, the company had gained more

than two million brand engagements with

consumers online and well over 150,000

new Facebook fans. And by any measure,

Ruiz Foods was successful in boosting the

Tornados brand by using social media in

combination with tried-and-true promo-

tional activities to create new fans and

strengthen consumer brand loyalty.

By now, millions of pieces of consumer-

generated content about brands (including

confectionery) have been shared on blogs,

Facebook and Twitter, and through videos

and photos uploaded to YouTube, Flickr and

similar sites. Consumers use social media to

amplify their engagement. Their posts accel-

erate imitation and engagement by others,

and marketers can access these engage-

ments, however large or small, more easily

and broadly than ever before.

LEVERAGING SOCIAL MEDIA FROMCONCEPT TO CASH REGISTERXXXXX

How do we turn brand engagement

through social media into sales that help

our businesses grow? This can be done in

numerous ways through each step of the


Consumers usesocial media toamplify theirengagement. Theirposts accelerateimitation andengagement byothers. Marketerscan access theseengagements moreeasily and broadlythan ever before.


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process from product concept to cash reg-ister, and can be tailored to the goals andresources of any manufacturer.

Corazonas Foods, a manufacturer ofsnack foods based in Los Angeles, is a goodexample. Driven by the death of her fatherfrom heart disease, ceo Ramona Cappellostarted the company in 2005 with the goalof creating tortilla chips and other snacksthat both taste good and can actually lowercholesterol. The company’s products con-tain plant sterols that have been clinicallyshown to provide this benefit, and prod-uct packaging includes the FDA-approvedhealth claim.

Corazonas Foods is another companythat has chosen Facebook as their keysocial media platform through which tocreate and retain fans and customers. Muchlike Ruiz Foods, Corazonas offers couponsthrough the social network site, but alsogoes further with a direct “Prove It” chal-lenge. A visitor can register her name andemail, and then have her cholesterol testedbefore and after eating Corazonas snacksover a four-week period. If her cholesteroldoesn’t drop, the visitor will receive arefund. The company extends the brandexperience, including social-media ele-ments, all the way to the point of purchase,where shoppers can receive cholesterolscreenings near Corazonas displays andin-store sampling. The company uses Twit-ter to announce screening schedules anditineraries for interested consumers.

In general terms, then, manufacturerscan leverage social media and digital toolsin a number of ways to differentiate andstrengthen their brands:

Product concepts/product innovation• Google Alerts and similar tools to scan

blogs and forums for trend-focused con-versations on analogous categories suchas flavored beverages, baked goods orcross-cultural fusion foods.

• LinkedIn Groups to track conversationson technical issues, particularly in inter-national contexts.

Marketing• Facebook to engage consumers in con-

versation about your brands and products.• Twitter and Facebook to promote and

report in real time on sponsored events,roadshows, in-store demos.

• Flickr to share event photos, or to inviteconsumers to post their own photosrelated to their experience of yourbrands or products.

• YouTube to share event or roadshowvideo, or to invite consumer-generatedcontent related to a contest or promotion.

• Google Analytics to understand visitortraffic to and on your brand or companywebsite, and to integrate website andsocial-media consumer/brand touch-points more effectively.

• Mobile applications to deliver incentivesand personalized content to opt in con-sumers (may be triggered by shopperscans of quick response codes at pointof sale).

Sales/trade support• LinkedIn Company or Group page(s)

for distribution of value-add informa-tion to channel partners or retail tradecustomers.

• Twitter for real-time updates on in-storedemos or other promotional events.

Customer service/consumer affairs• Addictomatic or similar low-cost tools

to scan consumer sentiment or responseto specific events.

• Twitter or Facebook to engage consumers,facilitate resolution of complaints, proj-ect responsive image for the company.

INTEGRATION INTO BUSINESSSTRATEGIESXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

By its nature, social media is open and

accessible. Conversation and collaboration

replace the one-way “push” communica-

tions of traditional advertising and Web 1.0

corporate websites. Social media therefore

challenges companies to attain higher lev-


Companies thatintegrate socialmedia into their

culture andoperations will

strengthenalignment of their

business and brand strategies.


➤

els of collaboration across corporate func-

tions in order to compete more effectively.

In fact, companies that integrate social

media into their culture and operations

will strengthen alignment of their business

and brand strategies, in turn strengthen-

ing brand equity and brand loyalty among

consumers.

Like other c p g (consumer packaged

goods) companies, confectionery manu-

facturers can integrate social media into

their operations in various ways, depend-

ing on business goals, resources and inter-

nal culture. Nonetheless, the foundation

must be a firm and sustained commitment

by senior management to leverage social

media in order to do the following:• Engage consumers openly and authen-

tically about the company’s productsand brands.

• Recognize and reward fans of the com-pany’s brands.

• Optimize opportunities to supportand/or promote retail trade customers.

• Inform those interested about the com-pany’s community-focused programs orevents.

• Represent the industry of which thecompany is part.

With appropriate support, senior man-

agement in each functional area should

evaluate and propose ways to leverage

social media, and toward what objectives.

“Appropriate support” in planning, imple-

mentation and periodic measurement can

take the form of a nimble cross-functional

team trained in social-media practices. (For

those wondering why this would matter to

accounting or hr managers, it’s worth not-

ing that professionals in those fields are

generally very active on social network

sites such as LinkedIn and Ning.)

Keep in mind that the fundamental goal

is to tap social media as a new tool to gain

customer insights, to innovate, to build

brand loyalty that drives sales and to

improve operations while reducing inter-

nal functional silos. For that reason, social-

media team members should never be iso-

lated in a separate “department” of

whatever sort, called upon only when a

manager wants a “funny viral video.”

RETURN-ON-INVESTMENTCONSIDERATIONSXXXXXX

That’s all great, one may ask, but what’s

the bottom line? What’s the roi (return

on investment) of social media for a candy

company? In these early days of this new

media landscape, there is no single, simple

answer. The good news is that tools of

measurement abound; the big questions

are what to measure, and why.

Some successful business people see

social media as an investment in learning

more about customers through dialogue,

or as a way to anticipate and leverage

trends sooner and more effectively. What

is the roi on equipping your sales force

with cell phones? What was the point of

creating a company website 10 years ago?

In fact, as more companies begin to use

social media, what may have provided a

competitive edge two years ago is fast

becoming table stakes. But as we know,

ultimately there is a cost and, therefore, a

net value to any business activity.

The debate over the roi of social media

reflects the tension between opportunity

and risk in a new marketing landscape. But

it has been intensified by attempts (often

by social-media proponents) to apply

financial terminology to nonfinancial meas-

ures: the number of hits on a company

microsite, the number of fans on a Face-

book brand page, the number of views of

a company’s YouTube video and the like.

These can be meaningful indicators, but

they clearly are not financial measures.


The fundamentalgoal is to tap socialmedia as a newtool to gaincustomer insights,to innovate, tobuild brand loyaltythat drives salesand to improveoperations whilereducing internalfunctional silos.


➤

At this point the value of the sales-fun-nel model comes to mind. Can we evaluateand select social-media-related indicatorsthat might lead toward conversion? Canwe connect one consumer/brand touch-point to another, and track the progressionto quantifiable sales points? For example,can we launch interactive digital ads thatlead viewers to our microsite, where theywould receive an incentive to share withfriends via Twitter or Facebook, ultimatelydriving new sales at nearby retailers?

As mobile applications multiply, 4G cellphones with geo-location become com-monplace, and quick response (qr) codesprovide manufacturers with new ways toincentivize consumers all the way to theretail aisle, a social-media-driven sales fun-nel becomes increasingly feasible. We havediscussed the rapid diffusion of smartphones,which enables increasing numbers of con-sumers, while standing before product dis-plays in a store aisle, to interact with thecompanies that make those products. Wealso have discussed the opportunity to usesocial-media platforms in combination witheach other and with traditional marketingtactics. In the case of Corazonas Foods andits cholesterol-lowering snack products, thisapproach has enabled them to increase theirshare of acv (all commodity volume) up to40 percent in key markets, a remarkableachievement for a small company in anintensely competitive category.

But in all cases, and regardless of tacticsor technology, the essential nature of socialmedia remains paramount, in the form ofa willing partnership and ongoing dialogueof the consumer with the brand marketer.

CONCLUSION

The advent and spread of social media inhardly more than five years has trans-formed the relationship consumers have

with brands and with the companies thatproduce those brands. The one-way “push”of traditional advertising is now joined byconversations moving in all directions. Inthis rapidly changing landscape, marketersfear “losing control” of their brands andceos wonder whether social media canreally help business.

But if nothing else, we have learned thatthe millions of conversations on socialmedia can teach us new ways to learn moreabout what matters to our customers,including how they influence each other,and why they choose to purchase — orbypass—our products. We can explore thenew social-media landscape one step at atime, learning as we go, if we’re commit-ted in that effort. This includes the clearunderstanding that fans on Facebook don’tequal register rings, but that more fans canmean more sales, more often if we set theright goals and measures.

People are talking about our brands; thatis a simple reality. The question is whetherwe believe we can grow our businesses byignoring or by engaging in those conver-sations. As new as social media still is, smartcompanies already know the answer. n

REFERENCES

Bernoff, Josh. Empowered. Forrester Blogs. Jan-uary 2010. Web: http://forrester.typepad.com/groundswell/2010/01/conversationalists-get-onto-the-ladder.html

Bernoff, Josh, Charlene Li. Social Techno-graphics Ladder. Forrester Research, 2010.

Solis, Brian. The Conversation Prism v2.0.@BrianSolis blog. March 30, 2009. Web:ht tp : / /www.br iansol i s.com/2009/03/conversation-prism-v20/


The millions ofconversations onsocial media can

teach us new waysto learn more

about what mattersto our customers,

including how theyinfluence each

other, and why theychoose to purchase

our products.


Presented at the PMCA Production Conference

social media in the confectionery industry

Business