A veritable golden calf of digital marketing, advertising on social networks is struggling to prove its effectiveness and exasperates the French.according to an October 2013 study by IFOP/Generix Group.
- The presence of ads on social networks does not support 68% of the French people.
- Less interesting than consumer opinions for 62% of the French, advertising on social networks is considered useless because poorly targeted by 59% of the French.
- The French are making social networks their sanctuary: 83% hopes that in the future, advertising will take less space than today.
- In terms of effectiveness, advertising on social networks ranks far behind most other forms of advertising: only 19% of the French have ever made an online purchase after seeing an ad on social networks.
- A fantasy of all marketing managers, sharing purchases with your community on a social network is not in the French way of life: only 1% do it systematically and 9% from time to time, compared to 75% never.
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With 32 million followers in France, social networks have become the new playground for brands where their advertising investments are constantly growing. It is in this context that Ifop and Generix Group, a publisher of collaborative software for the retail ecosystem, have given the French people a voice to gather their feelings and identify the impact of this new type of advertising on their purchasing behavior.
A severe and uncompromising judgment of the French with regard to advertising on social networks:
- Brands do not gain in proximity: almost nine out of ten people are opposed to the idea that these ads give a better image of brands and make people feel closer to them (86%). And only 17% of the French want to know more about the brands concerned.
- The lack of originality of the ads is severely criticized: only 16% of the interviewees believe that what is broadcast on social networks is a change from traditional ads, even if the finding is less severe among young people aged 18 to 24 (22%).
- The French are sanctuarizing social networks: 68% of the interviewees consider these ads "unbearable" because they do not go on social networks to make purchases (including 75% from the liberal professions and senior executives and 72% from the inhabitants of rural communities).
- By browsing social networks, a space where public and private life mix, the French expect advertisers to give a personalised discourse: 62% believe that advertisements are less interesting than consumers' opinions of the brand (and up to 71% among people who have made several purchases after seeing an advertisement on a social network). In addition, nearly six in ten people feel that this type of advertising is useless to them because it does not target their buying habits (59%).
In this context, only 2% of the French want advertising on social networks to take more space in the future. Conversely, 83% hope that it will take less space than today and 15% "as much space". The desire to see advertising on social networks is therefore very marginally convincing, even among young people aged 18 to 24 (4%) or French people who have already made several online purchases after seeing advertising on social networks (9%).
For a still low efficiency...
Rejected by the French, it is not surprising to find advertising on social networks among the least persuasive incentives or recommendations for buying online. In concrete terms, 19% of the French have already made online purchases after being exposed to advertising on a social network (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.), including 9% several times.
Although not negligible, it is far behind exposure to other types of advertising: for example, 60% of the interviewees took the step after receiving an advertisement by e-mail, 56% following recommendations or comments on the Internet (including 38% several times), 51% after receiving an advertisement by mail, and 45% after being exposed to an advertisement on television or radio (29%).
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In the end, only buying experiences after receiving an SMS advertisement (15%) are rarer than those related to social networks. In detail, buying experience after being exposed to advertising on social networks is more frequent among respondents aged 18 to 24 years old (30%), professionals and executives (26%) and in the Paris metropolitan area (29%). On the other hand, it is much rarer among French people aged 50 and over (13%) and residents of rural communities (13%).
Clearly, the majority of French people want to decorate social networks from everything related to the act of buying. The study reveals on the one hand that the French are not accustomed to sharing their new acquisitions with their community on Facebook, Instagram and the like. In fact, only a tiny minority of French people systematically (1%) or occasionally (9%) share their purchases on social networks. Conversely, 75% of them never communicate on this subject.
The sharing of the shopping experience with their relatives on the social web appears unequal in terms of age, from 22% among digital natives aged 18 to 24 to only 1% among respondents aged 65 and over. Notably, 40% of people who have made online purchases after seeing an ad on social networks share their experience with their community, thus constituting important ambassadors.
"If we can note a notable use - nearly one person in five - of social networks as a springboard to online shopping, the great lesson of this survey is above all the severity of the French towards the presence of advertising on social networks," says Mike Hadjadj, Marketing and Communication Director at Generix Group. "By fantasizing about creating online ambassadors eager to consume on social networks, brands run the risk of alienating the majority of Internet users with increasingly intrusive advertising that is considered intrusive, not personalized enough and therefore useless. Conversely, brands that transfer these budgets into community animation to strengthen the link, the attachment, the sharing of experiences and the recommendation will develop a multiplied and faithful sales force... and much less expensive! ».
The full study - a graphical summary of the results and a full report with written synthesis - is available in download here.
About Generix Group
Publisher of collaborative software for the retail ecosystem, Generix Group helps retailers, logistics service providers and manufacturers to manage, share and optimise their flows. The Generix Collaborative Business package of services is based on strong business expertise in the fields of ERP, Supply Chain and cross-channel sales management, supported by our EDI, EAI and portal integration solutions.
With Carrefour, Gefco, Leclerc, Leroy Merlin, Nestlé, Unilever, DHL, Louis Vuitton, Sodiaal, Metro, Sara Lee, Kuehne+Nagel, Cdiscount... more than 1,500 international players have chosen Generix Collaborative Business solutions, establishing Generix Group as the European leader with over €63 million in sales.
