A new study conducted by the Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council (CCRC), “Untangling the Social Web: Insights for Users, Brands and Retailers,” reveals four categories of social media users including their style, the manner in which they interact and their influence as shoppers. Insights into “bonders,” “sharers,” “professionals” and “creators” can help retailers more effectively leverage social media for strategic business purposes.
• Bonders, as their name suggests, love forming groups and building relationships. They were the fastest adapters to social networking and today are the most likely to use mobile devices to keep in touch with their networks no matter where or what they are doing.
• Sharers love spreading the word on what they are doing including their shopping patterns. This group loves talking about their experiences, which makes them extra influential when it comes to spreading the word about products, services and stores.
• Professionals use the Web to build their network for both personal and work issues. They are a little more careful with their posts, but still like to offer and spread their opinions in a timely fashion. Their work-life balance reflects itself in the social web, as they are just as likely to use professional sites like LinkedIn as Facebook and Twitter.
• Creators use the social web to launch their new ideas and express their eclectic thoughts on a variety of topics. They post content, watch videos, read blogs and more in their daily path through the web.
For more insights on the four personality types, download the report at www.ccrrc.org, under the tab marked North America or click here.
Editor’s Insight: While this study is designed mainly for brick and mortar retailers, it is an excellent overview of social media, which is one of the most promising marketing tools for all types of businesses. Vending and refreshment service operators will find this report useful for better understanding social media.
Within the vending and refreshment services industry, social media is especially important for those operators who are planning to expand into self checkout micro markets. Self checkout micro markets are the fastest growing tools among vending and refreshment service operators, and they require a new set of management skills. Self checkout micro markets are similar in many ways to brick and mortar retail stores. Hence, a tool like social media that is important to brick and mortar retailers will be just as important to self checkout micro market operators. 04-04-12 By Elliot Maras
