The impact of consumer change on brand marketing under social media

China Paint Network
: Under the influence of the Internet and social media, consumer psychology has changed dramatically, while rapidly affecting consumer behavior. How to understand the essence of marketing on the Internet and social media may not be easy for operators when the motto of "consumer-centric" and "customer is God" becomes the business principle and marketing philosophy of many enterprises. If today's operators ignore the impact of consumer change on marketing under social media, no business can "hurt."
such as McDonald's, Barbie, Fisher toys, Kraft Cheese macaroni and so on were once the most well-known brands in the United States. But with the development of the Internet and social media, consumers, especially after the 80's and 90's consumer attitude changes, coupled with the rising health trend, they spread their consumption concept through a variety of social media, resulting in the sales of these brands plummeted, and even now do not see the hope of a resusive. McDonald's sales fell more than expected this year, falling nearly $400 million in the first quarter alone. The company has announced it will close 350 underperforming stores in Japan, the US and China. McDonald's has tried a number of ways to win the favor of the post-80s and post-90s. In January, mcdonald's launched a series of events, including all-day breakfast, in response to its first drop in sales in 12 years, and admitted that the company "urgently needs to follow changes in consumer tastes" or else it will struggle to change the status quo. Similarly, Barbie sales have plummeted over the past three years, continuing this trend in the first quarter of 2015. In November 2014, the movie-themed doll beat Barbie for the first time, making it the most gifted to a girl last Christmas, according to a TopToy survey released by the National Retail Association. That's why Mattel unveiled 78 new Barbie dolls at the New York Toy Fair in February, highlighting two elements that are important after the 80s and 90s - high-tech and diversity - in the hope of opening up a bigger market there. The same classic cheese pasta's high sales figures are gone. Its sales have recently fallen 3 per cent, while those of rivals such as Annie have risen 3 per cent. Kraft Cheese macaroni sales have suffered, as have McDonald's, because consumers are primarily looking for healthier, less processed products after the 80s and 90s. At the same time, consumers launched an initiative against the product, asking the company to use natural ingredients such as red pepper, sebum and turmeric. Kraft responded by eliminating synthetic pigments from Kraft's original cheese pasta sold in the U.S. by January 2016.
The above cases we can see that with the development of the times and changes in the living environment, people's consumption ideas and consumption behavior also change, especially with the rise of social media, if a product shows a decline or can not keep up with the trend of the times, this news will soon spread through the Internet social media around the world. In the age of the Internet and social media, consumers have become more shrewd, proactive and powerful, and in brand marketing they are no longer waiting for the occupied "position", but have become active participants and forces. This characteristic brings new opportunities and challenges to brand marketing, operators should be based on the consumer characteristics and trends living on the Internet and social media, with the help of social media methods, brand marketing can grasp their characteristics in depth and effectively to succeed.
1. Consumer psychology changes one: consumers for their own intentions, their awareness of their own value is constantly increasing, no longer always believe in the brand instilled in them the content of the message.
in consumer psychology, the vast number of Internet users are becoming more opinion, more suspicious. Survey (2014): Consumers think that online consumers or third-party comments than brands themselves published information more authentic and reliable, more than 60% of consumers feel that most brands of advertising is now boasting, instilling their ideas into consumers, it is difficult to be convinced that 56% of consumers think my needs and feelings and others There is a big difference, in the choice of brands and products, I will be more opinional, less listen to brand manufacturers' publicity, more than 80% of consumers will often view and pay attention to those published and shared by real users of the product experience and feedback, more than 80% of consumers from different pipelines to learn a variety of brand / product information will be more accurate to judge its true reliability. With the diversification of information dissemination, people can get the information they need through multi-channel, cross-screen and other forms, people as the receiving end at the same time is the content manufacturing, sharing and dissemination of the media. In the era of mobile Internet marketing will produce such as the existence of the economy, praise economy, imagination economy and other information interaction of the economy, no interaction and dialogue, there is no brand influence, people in the two-way interaction to understand brand value, brand communication is based on the communication of the relationship chain.
2. Consumer psychology changes two: consumers consumption independence is strong, more willing to make their own consumption decisions.
Survey (2014): 56% of respondents agreed that if a brand manufacturer continues to try to influence or change my mind through various advertising campaigns, I will be bored and counter-sentimental, while 63% of consumers said they understand the brand manufacturer's marketing practices, always easy and clear to determine what each of their advertising activities want to achieve. In terms of consumer behavior, 62% of consumers will spend some time and mind to figure out what kind of information brand manufacturers want to convey to me through various advertisements, and 55% of consumers will try to avoid advertising (such as changing stations, closing advertising windows, doing other things, etc.) and other behaviors and activities when watching TV or surfing the Internet. Brand marketing uses social media to enable consumers to make their decisions by communicating with the brand community.
3. Consumer psychological changes three: consumers express their desire for autonomy, pay more attention to real-time contact and information sharing.
Survey (2014): 80% of respondents agreed that if others paid attention to or benefited from the experiences and experiences I shared, I would have a sense of accomplishment and would like to share more, and 80% agreed that I like to connect with people who share a common interest or topic, listen to their experiences and suggestions, and actively share my thoughts and feelings. This also means that corporate brand marketing has to change the way it communicates and talks with consumers and find new ways to interact effectively with these "experienced" consumers. In the internet and social media era, information is constantly transparent, the pace of product life is also gradually accelerating, brand marketing to let every consumer will become a producer of products, participate in the production of products in line with their own, personality. Consumer participation in the production process is a means to stimulate consumer behavior, so that consumption as a product crowdfunding is an inspiration to consumer consumption value.
4. Consumer psychology changes FOUR: consumers are more willing to actively through social media and brand interaction.
Survey (2014): More than 80% of consumers believe that if manufacturers can design and develop products to provide opportunities for consumer interaction, I would be happy to participate and give valuable ideas. So the online brand community, a group of recruited members, interacts in an organized way on an online platform with consumer insights and research as its main theme, using a variety of effective research techniques and methods to gain ongoing brand consumer insights, and more than 70% of consumers agree that I would be willing to actively share my feelings or experiences even if I had the opportunity to let manufacturers know what I was up to. Through the brand community they are becoming brand "de facto" marketing managers or consultants. Every comment, micro-blog and WeChat or product review from consumers becomes a permanent record on the web, and they jump out of Baidu or Google searches, like brand information posted on the official website, affecting consumers' brand choices and attitudes. If enterprises can not understand and grasp these content in a timely manner, the future brand marketing will become very difficult. While the Internet brings direct benefits to a brand, it is also likely that an event will break down the foundations of a brand. In the brand marketing activities, the combination of distinctive brand values (attitudes), topic selection and social hot spots, content becomes very important. Brand marketing on the Internet needs to upgrade the information economy to a trust economy, the brand itself into a self-media platform for the production of content, for consumers to create a more attitude (self), style (lifestyle) and personality of the content, through the rapid dissemination of content, will strengthen the cornerstone of consumer brand trust.
(Professor, School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University)