It is known that being a marketer is quite a challenge as it implies knowing what customers want, what they expect and how much, aspects that are hard sometimes to know in the context in which most of the customers themselves do not completely know what they want, or they want more in exchange for less.
Even though social media is a consumer-generating method, the results of a research conducted by IBM Institute for Business Value (2011), in an article by Baird, the Research Leader for IBM , showed a different side of the argument. According to this research, made on 1000 customers worldwide, in terms of who is using social media, the reasons of why they use it, what sites do they use more frequently and last but not least, what makes the customers engage with the companies, was concluded that the customers` willingness to engage with the companies should not be taken for granted or easily assumed. More detailed, the results of the research were the following: even though the social media is astonishingly booming, only a small percentage of the users engage to a regular base by posting or responding, also that this platform has as a main use socializing with family and friends and not engaging with brands and that there is a gap between what companies think the customers want and what they really care about.
More exactly, customers expect from their interactions on social media with a company, in exchange for their personal data, time and endorsement, something tangible. Moreover, the IBM research results also showed that the majority of businesses believe that social media will increase advocacy, while only 38% of the customers do agree and over 60% believe that the passion for a brand is essential for social media engagement. A more detailed insight regarding the gap between the companies’ perception and the customers’ expectations, reasons, regarding the interaction on social media companies` sites can be seen here:
Also, even though companies in general are seeking to engage with their customers through the use of social media, where the target market spends time naturally, believing that this increases advocacy , according to another research carried by IMB Institute for Business Value (2011) on 351 business executives in different countries: United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, India, China, Australia and Brazil, there is still a considerable percentage of companies that either do have a profile, but do not have presence, or do not have a profile at all, as can be seen here:
Social Media Trends 2014 