Engagement Labs Analytics About Value of Consumer Conversations Published in MIT Sloan Management Review
Analytics shows that both online and offline consumer conversations drive purchase decisions but require separate marketing strategies
NEW YORK, Jan. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Engagement Labs Inc. (TSXV: EL) (OTCQB: ELBSF), an industry-leading data and analytics firm that provides social intelligence for Fortune 500 companies, announces that a new analysis by the Company is published in MIT Sloan Management Review.
The MIT Sloan article titled "Deriving Value From Conversations About Your Brand," is based on analytics conducted and authored by three executives of Engagement Labs in conjunction with Koen Pauwels, Professor of Marketing at Northeastern University. The article demonstrates that in most cases there was little correlation between what consumers say online and offline about brands, even though both streams of conversation can have big effects on a company's sales.
The analysis is based on Engagement Labs' proprietary TotalSocial data and analytics, reveals that 19 percent of U.S. consumer purchases are traced to consumers talking about brands online and offline.
In addition, the analytics determined correlations between consumer conversations and purchases for 175 brands across multiple sectors such as beauty, personal care, retail, technology and food, as well as more detailed analytics of 21 brands, including Apple, Intel, A&W, Campbell's, Lay's, Red Bull, and Revlon.
"MIT Sloan Management Review publishes top quality content, and we are delighted to be able to contribute and join a highly esteemed community of authors and researchers in the fields of business and marketing," said Ed Keller, CEO, Engagement Labs. "I urge Fortune 500 marketing leaders to read our report and analytics that provide guidance for driving growth through online and offline social strategies."
How Customer Conversations Affect Sales
The Engagement Labs analytics found that offline and online conversations had similarly large impacts on sales. For the 21 brands most closely studied, 9 percent of purchase decisions could be traced back to online conversations and engagement that occurred in social media (including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, blogs, and customer forums). A slightly larger share — 10 percent of sales — was related to offline conversations as measured through continuous surveys.
The Metrics That Matter Most
For offline conversations, the most important metric was the volume, or quantity, of conversations. While for online conversations, sentiment mattered more. Notably, the analytics found that online and offline sentiment often move in opposite directions. Another metric worth tracking is the extent to which the brand is being talked about off-line by "influencers" — people who regularly give consumer advice.
Implications for Marketing
Engagement Labs recommends that marketers look for ways to drive more positive conversations both online and offline. In many cases, this will mean going back to marketing fundamentals — rethinking product design, market segmentation, customer service, messaging, and channel selection — with social strategy in mind. Understanding the value that each type of conversation may provide — and how — can help businesses develop smarter marketing strategies and make targeted investments that lead to growth.
"There are a number of quite important implications of this study for marketers," said Keller. "Underestimating or ignoring the impact of social influence will negatively impact a brand's bottom line. Social media conversation has a measurable business impact. Our analytics also demonstrate that social influences go well beyond the screen. Consumers are making purchasing decisions at the water cooler, on dates and at home with family, as well as chatting with friends on Twitter and other social networks."
The full MIT Sloan article, "Deriving Value From Conversations About Your Brand" is available for download at http://bit.ly/2SXef8B.
To learn more about Engagement Labs and how to increase your brand's word of mouth in real life and online, reach out at: [email protected].
Connect with us on Twitter: @engagementlabs #totalsocial
About the Study
Engagement Labs' TotalSocial platform measures online and offline conversations on 501 U.S. brands. For this analysis, we collected online data for 2015 and 2016 and offline data for 2013 through 2016. Our continuous survey research program yielded data on brands from an average of 7,000 offline conversations per week with consumers ages 13 to 69. A regression analysis to link the online and off-line conversations to third-party weekly sales data that we acquired for 175 brands, and to weekly ad expenditure data for a subset of 21 of those brands using a method known as market mix modeling.
About Engagement Labs
Engagement Labs (TSXV: EL) (OTCQB: ELBSF) is an industry-leading data and analytics firm that provides social intelligence for Fortune 500 brands and companies. The Company's TotalSocial® platform focuses on the entire social ecosystem by combining powerful online (social media) and offline (word of mouth) data with predictive analytics. Engagement Labs has a proprietary ten-year database of unique brand, industry and competitive intelligence, matched with its cutting-edge predictive analytics that use machine learning and artificial intelligence to reveal the social metrics that increase marketing ROI and top line revenue for its diverse group of clients.
To learn more visit www.engagementlabs.com / www.totalsocial.com.
About TotalSocial®
TotalSocial® is a premier data and analytics platform that provides brands with unique insights, improved marketing ROI and strategies to grow revenue. Fueled by actionable online and offline data, TotalSocial is the only platform that encompasses and listens to the entire social ecosystem. TotalSocial offers unique, proprietary data about brands, its industry and competitors. With cutting-edge diagnostics, patent-pending predictive analytics and machine learning, TotalSocial identifies business opportunities and provides recommendations and a roadmap to grow revenue and achieve business and marketing goals.
About MIT Sloan Management Review
MIT Sloan Management Review leads the discourse among academic researchers, business executives and other influential thought leaders about advances in management practice, particularly those shaped by technology, that are transforming how people lead and innovate. MIT SMR disseminates new management research and innovative ideas so that thoughtful executives can capitalize on the opportunities generated by rapid organizational, technological and societal change. www.sloanreview.mit.edu
For media inquiries please contact:
Vanessa Lontoc
Engagement Labs
732-846-6800
[email protected]
SOURCE Engagement Labs
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