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Creating brand evangelists in the 21st century: using brand engagement through social media to develop brand loyalty in teens

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Creating brand evangelists in the 21st century: using brand engagement through social media to develop brand loyalty in teens

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Content CREATING BRAND EVANGELISTS IN THE 21 ST CENTURY: USING BRAND ENGAGEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA TO DEVELOP BRAND LOYALTY IN TEENS by Jennifer Savage A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS (STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS) May 2012 Copyright 2012 Jennifer Savage ii Dedication I dedicate this thesis to my amazing family with gratitude for their support and encouragement throughout this process and my entire academic career. Mom and Dad, because of you, there is no limit to my dreams or what I can accomplish; my success is yours. Thank you. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my thesis committee chair, Jennifer Floto, for her continued support during the thesis process and throughout my graduate career at USC. I would also like to acknowledge and thank Mattthew Le Veque and Laura Jackson for their feedback, encouragement and support of my thesis. Thank you. iv Table of Contents Dedication ii Acknowledgements iii List of Tables vi List of Figures viii Abstract ix Preface x Research Methodology x Purpose xii List of Common Terms xiii Introduction 1 Chapter One: Social Media: An Overview 3 A Brief History 3 The Facebook Phenomenon 4 The Need to Share 5 Enter Twitter 5 The World of Content Creators 8 The Thrill of Immediacy 8 Apps 9 Social Media as Entertainment 10 Chapter Two: Social Media and Brands 12 Chapter Three: Connecting With Teens Online: Establishing a 14 “Third Place” Presence Teens and Brands 16 Chapter Four: Defining Brand Engagement 18 Developing Brand Engagement Online 20 Chapter Five: Developing Brand Loyalty 22 Chapter Six: Creating Brand Evangelists and Advocates 25 v Chapter Seven: Engagement Motivators 26 Intrinsic Motivation 26 Extrinsic Motivation 28 Chapter Eight: Developing a Blueprint for Brand Engagement on Social Media 32 Chapter Nine: Brand Engagement Case Studies 38 Nike 38 DKNY 42 Victoria’s Secret 46 Chapter Ten: Analysis of Primary Research 51 Research Objectives 51 Research Methodology 52 Survey Statistics 53 Demographics 53 Overview of Survey Results 56 Summary of Key Findings 73 Limitations and Recommendations for Future Research 74 Chapter Eleven: Recommendations for Developing Strategic Online 76 Brand Engagement Plans Conclusion 84 Bibliography 90 Appendix: Survey Instrument 98 vi List of Tables Table 1: Gender Breakdown of Survey Respondents 54 Table 2: Age Breakdown of Survey Respondents 54 Table 3: Survey Respondents’ State of Residency 55 Table 4: The Relationship Between the Use of Social Media (Yes/No) and 57 Frequency of Use (Teens 13-18) Table 5: The Relationship Between the Use of Social Media (Yes/No) and 58 Frequency of Use (Adults Over 18) Table 6: The Primary Platforms Used for Accessing Social Media in Relation 59 to the Most Commonly Used Social Media Sites (Teens 13-18) Table 7: The Primary Platforms Used for Accessing Social Media in Relation 60 to the Most Commonly Used Social Media Sites (Adults Over 18) Table 8: Brand Categories in Relation to Social Media Engagement 61 Table 9: Reasons for Interacting with Brands on Social Media (Teens 13-18) 62 Table 10: Reasons for Interacting with Brands on Social Media (Adults Over 18) 62 Table 11: Correlation Between Frequency of Social Media Use and Brand 63 Engagement Online (Teens 13-18) Table 12: Correlation Between Frequency of Social Media Use and Brand 64 Engagement Online (Adults Over 18) Table 13: Relationship Between Social Media Platforms and Brand Engagement 65 (Teens 13-18) Table 14: Relationship Between Social Media Platforms and Brand Engagement 66 (Adults Over 18) Table 15: Use of Mobile Apps (All Respondents) 67 Table 16: Use of Mobile Apps (Teens 13-18) 67 Table 17: Use of Mobile Apps (Adults Over 18) 67 vii Table 18: Frequency of Brand Engagement on Social Media With Respect to the 68 Preference for the Brand Category of Retail (Teens 13-18) Table 19: Frequency of Brand Engagement on Social Media With Respect to the 68 Preference for the Brand Category of Retail (Adults Over 18) Table 20: Influential Factors in Development of Brand Loyalty (Teens 13-18) 70 Table 21: Influential Factors in Development of Brand Loyalty (Adults Over 18) 70 Table 22: Influencing Factors on Social Media Use (Teens 13-18) 71 Table 23: Influencing Factors on Social Media Use (Adults Over 18) 72 viii List of Figures Figure 1: Most Popular Activities/Uses of Twitter 7 7 Figure 2: US Print vs. Online Ad Spending 2011-2016 13 13 Figure 3: The Process of Brand Loyalty Development On Social Media 23 Figure 4: Social Media and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs 27 Figure 5: “The Chance Campaign” Facebook Infographic 42 Figure 6: Example of a Tweet by DKNYPRGirl 45 Figure 7: Pink Nation Mobile App 50 ix Abstract This paper examines the influence of social media on the creation and development of brand loyalty among teens. By understanding the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators for brand loyalty, marketers and public relations professionals will better understand how to connect with and influence this key audience. The overriding hypothesis motivating primary and secondary research is that if brands are successfully able to develop brand loyalty in teens between the ages of 13 and 18, then when these consumers reach the critical buying age of 18 to 24, their purchasing motivation will be influenced by the brand loyalty they developed as teens. Additionally, strong brand loyalty can develop into brand evangelism, which encourages organic and influential peer-to-peer marketing and word of mouth campaigns motivated by teens’ desire to fit in and be liked by peers. x Preface The key sections in this paper include an introduction to the use and prevalence of social media, particularly among the teen audience; an introduction to brand engagement, including brand loyalty and brand evangelism; and a discussion of the use of social media by brands as a primary form of engagement. Additionally, this paper will examine the results of the author’s primary research, which includes a survey and a content analysis of current examples of successful brand engagement by brands using social media. Finally, a list of recommendations has been created based on the results of primary and secondary research for brands that wish to develop a strategic brand engagement plan for engaging with teens online. Primary research revealed two major key findings through survey of the teen audience: peer-to-peer marketing on behalf of the brand and extrinsic rewards are more influential at driving engagement than direct engagement and intrinsic motivators for the teen audience. Additionally, the survey results revealed that the teens are, or want to be, using social media, both sites and apps, to engage with brands online (Figure 21, Chapter 10). Online engagement with brands is influential in the development and reinforcement of brand loyalty, as the survey also found that the second most influential factor in developing brand loyalty for teens has been social media, with the most influential factor being friends (Figure 25, see Chapter 10 for more detailed results). Research Methodology Quantitative primary and qualitative secondary research were conducted in order to understand the influence of social media on teens (ages 13-18). A Qualtrics survey xi was launched on November 19, 2011, and was closed on February 22, 2012. The 15- question survey, including three demographic questions, involved convenience sampling as it was distributed through Facebook and e-mail. The purpose of the survey was to determine the use and influence of social media engagement with brands among teens between the ages 13-18. There were a total of 149 responses. Further discussion of the survey instrument, question types, and results will be discussed in Chapter 10. Besides the survey, additional primary research included content analysis of the communications made by three brands that execute online brand engagement strategies to interact with teens. The purpose of the content analysis was to understand how brands are successfully engaging with teens online, and to determine any existing patterns or techniques that other brands might emulate to produce a similar successful online engagement strategy. Because the survey findings revealed that retail was the most popular brand category that respondents engage with online (Question 12), the content analysis examined three retail brands, Nike, DKNY, and Victoria’s Secret, each of which has been successful with engaging the teen audience online using different techniques (see Chapter 8 and 9). The secondary research included a comprehensive examination of social media research on blogs, Twitter and Facebook, as well as a review of research and peer- reviewed articles and books. Rather than unveil the findings of the literature review in one exhaustive section, the author has chosen to reveal them in separate chapters to serve as a background and support to the primary research, which will be discussed in detail in Chapter 10. xii Purpose While much research has been done to explore the development and influence of brand loyalty among the 18-24 year old market, there is a gap in the research and understanding of brand loyalty development among the teen market (13 to 18-year-olds). Solid understanding of how and why teens interact with brands and develop loyalty to certain brands could greatly impact and improve brand engagement strategies with this audience in the future. As teens today have grown up with social media as a way of self- expression, a knowledge source, and a lifestyle influencer, it is imperative that brands stay relevant and competitive by understanding the social media platforms teens are using. As more brand managers figure out the need for a social media presence and strategy, it is going to be harder to compete for attention and loyalty among the teen markets (and all markets for that matter); therefore, an understanding of target audience behavior and motivation will greatly enhance the ability of brands to differentiate themselves from the competition and appeal to the needs and wants of the teen market early on. xiii List of Common Terms a. Social Networking Sites (SNS): Online social networks that allow individuals to present themselves, articulate their social networks, and establish or maintain connections with others (Ellison, Steinfield and Lampe). b. Social Capital: The sum of the resources, actual or virtual, that an individual accumulates through the recognition and establishment of personal relationships (Bourdieu and Wacquant 14). c. Applications (hereafter “apps”): On a computer, “applications” may refer to almost any type of program (besides basic operating systems) from spreadsheets, such as Excel, to media players, such as iTunes, to virtual reality games (PC Magazine). d. Mobile App: Software application that runs on a smart phone, tablet or other portable device, excluding operating systems (PC Magazine). e. Impression management: On SNS, users negotiate presentations of self and connect with others (Boyd and Ellison). f. Brand: The name, associated with one or more items in the product line, that is used to identify the source of character of the item(s) (Kotler 396) g. Brand Engagement: The process by which a consumer develops an attachment to, or relationship with, a brand either through advertising or other means, such as years of reliable service. The attachment could be emotional, rational or both (AMA). h. Brand Loyalty: The situation in which a consumer generally buys the same manufacturer-originated product or service repeatedly over time rather than buying from multiple suppliers within the category (AMA). i. Brand Identity: As defined by the brand owner, is the outward perception of the brand including its slogan, name, brandmark, packaging, and communications (AMA). j. Brand Advocate: A consumer with favorable perceptions of a brand (product or service) and thus speaks favorably of the brand to encourage purchase and generate positive associations and awareness for the brand (AMA). k. Brand Evangelist: Believers and “preachers” of brands. These extreme advocates have an effect on undecided consumers and commonly use technology to spread their message and engage with brands (AMA). xiv l. Brand Community: A community formed on the basis of attachment to a brand (product or service) (AMA). m. User-Generated Content: The production of content by the general public rather than by paid professionals and experts in the field. Also referred to as “peer production” (PC Magazine). n. Infographic (Information Graphic): Images used to instruct people that would be impossible to explain with text. Commonly found on Facebook to explain contests or new features (PC Magazine). o. Web 2.0: A set of technologies and applications that enable efficient interaction among people, content and data in support of collectively fostering new businesses, technology offerings, and social structures (Forrester Research). It is important to note that for the purpose of this paper, the term “brand,” which is an inanimate object, will be used as a workable entity. For brevity, the term will replace “brand managers” or “brand marketers.” 1 Introduction Brand loyalty plays a large role in the development and determination of brand strategy and equity. Brand Loyalty is a key issue for many marketing managers…companies spend millions each year tracking brand loyalty levels through market research organizations. This interest in brand loyalty is also reflected in the academic literature, where loyalty has also been referred to as commitment and retention (Srivastava1). Additionally, for many marketing and public relations professionals, brand loyalty is a key determinant of brand success and strength. This concern over brand loyalty is largely due to the fact that the stronger the brand loyalty, the stronger the brand will be when adversity surfaces, such as competition or economic hardships. “Strong brand loyalty helps to: provide a solid foundation for new product launches; offset a decline in market share during price and promotional wars; and to help provide resistance to competitive attacks” (Kamakura and Russell). There are three key problems that marketing and public relations professionals face when dealing with brand loyalty development and maintenance: 1. Increasingly, people seek variety and like to try new brands and products; boredom thresholds have fallen and consumer like to break out of same old routines—[resulting in] a negative impact on loyalty. 2. Quality levels of products have risen to a standard where they no longer clearly differentiate the competing brands within the category. Consumer risk in switching brands is considerably lower today as the quality of substitute brands is no longer a concern. 3. Many brands still position themselves on the basis of quality and risk reduction, which does not resonate with modern consumers. Brands have different meanings for modern consumers compared with consumers of bygone eras. (Bennett and Rundle-Thiele). 2 Based on these analyses of the adversity brands face today, it is necessary for brands that wish to remain competitive, particularly with the teen market, to establish a presence on and in the platforms and places that teens frequent most. For brands that are afraid to take the leap to social media, perhaps they should consider the potential brand equity boost from social media involvement. “30 percent of social media [users] stated that they…pay a comparatively higher price for brands present on various social networking sites while 70 percent of them said that social profiles of companies tend to influence their buying decisions to a great extent” (Social5). This finding reveals that a social media presence can have a positive impact on brand reputation and perception among consumer audiences. 3 Chapter One: Social Media: An Overview According to the Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, social media is defined as: …web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system (Boyd and Ellison 1). The social media landscape is forever expanding, and new milestones are being reached everyday in number of users, page views and impressions on the many sites and platforms that encompass this definition. “Today, the ability to be connected to others through anytime, anywhere technology expands our sense of place, what it means to be social, and also reshapes how we experience community” (Craig 47). A Brief History The first social network site, Six Degrees, launched in 1997. “SixDegrees.com allowed users to create profiles, list their Friends and, beginning in 1998, surf the Friends lists” (Boyd and Ellison). Social media has grown tremendously in the past 15 years and with the advent of smartphones and smart devices such as tablets, is now a constant fixture in everyday life. It is estimated that 2.8 billion people have social media profiles, which is half of the number of people that access the Internet worldwide (Pring). Additionally, four out of five Internet users worldwide visit blogs and other social media sites for information and entertainment, regardless of whether they have a social media profile (Pring). Today, the most popular sites include Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Tumblr, Pinterest, Technorati and Digg. Facebook, YouTube and 4 Twitter came in at the top of most-used social media platforms among teens, according to the author’s survey (Chapter 10). Additionally, the survey also revealed that social media is used at most “all the time” or “several times a day” and at the very least “several times a week” (Question 2, Chapter 10). This finding is particularly important because it demonstrates the significant amount of time teens spend on social media platforms in daily life. The Facebook Phenomenon Facebook, launched in early 2004, is one of the most popular social networking sites in the world (Facebook). Toggling between first and second with Google as the most trafficked website in the world, Facebook gets an average of 400 million logins per day, about half of its total active user membership of 800 million (Facebook). The average user has at least 130 friends and the site logs over 250 million uploaded photos per day (Facebook). Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO, has described the site as a way to share information through the “social graph,” which is a term used to describe the social and “digital map” of our real-world connections, such as friends, family, and co- workers (Facebook). Just five years ago, Facebook was an unfamiliar term for many. Today, Facebook is not just a social networking site: according to some researchers “it has become a verb” used in our everyday language (Foregger 1). What made Facebook succeed, and so many other sites, like MySpace fail? Many experts argue that Facebook meets two basic psychological needs: the need to belong and the need for self-presentation. In several studies, the use of Facebook has been linked to a reduction in feelings of loneliness and an increase in self-esteem and feelings of being 5 supported and liked (Eler; Gonzales and Hancock; and Protalinski). Facebook helps to develop the personality traits we wish to display, thus it help us “perform” as our ideal selves to our “friends” in our social networks (Eler; Gonzales and Hancock; Protalinski). In a nutshell, Facebook has become the primary social network for many users because it taps into and fulfills our psychological needs for connection and approval. The Need to Share “If the rise of mainstream social media has proven one thing, it is that a lot of people have an intrinsic need to share things about themselves” (Treadaway and Smith 16). The content shared on Facebook can be divided into three main categories: life events (engagement, children, wedding); activities (sporting events, time with family or friends); and purchases (new clothing or style items) (Johnson). In addition to the traditional text status update, photo status updates are quickly becoming the chosen form of communication for many users. One of the contributing factors to the appeal of “sharing” is the concept of building social capital. For individuals, social capital allows a person to draw on resources from other members of the networks to which he or she belongs. These resources can take the form of useful information, personal relationships, or the capacity to organize groups” (Paxton). Social capital has a significant impact on self-esteem, which will be discussed further in Chapter 7. Enter Twitter Similar to the status update on Facebook, Twitter is a social media site and app that launched in 2006 and is used to share text updates, images, and links in 140 6 characters or less. According to the author’s survey, Twitter is the third most popular social networking site, behind Facebook and YouTube (Question 3). Though the site is “often dismissed as time-wasting trivia, Twitter’s potential as a broad Internet platform is just beginning to be fully realized…” (Calore). In just six years the platform has grown tremendously; more than 250 million tweets are sent per day and over 400 million users visit the site per month (Perlman). Brand engagement and purchasing power play a role in these figures: 55 percent of Twitter users are following six or more brands and two out of three (or 66 percent) of users state that Twitter is influential in their purchase decisions (Perlman). The potential power of Twitter as a communication platform for influence is demonstrated by the knowledge impact celebrities, political figures, and hashtags or trending topics, have on the “Twitterverse,” which is a popular term to describe the population of users on Twitter. As a platform, Twitter has been used to disseminate information quickly to a wide variety of audiences and to other channels using community-driven methods such as “retweets,” or replies to Tweets including the original message, and hashtags, or clickable explanations for Tweets following a hash (#). For example, The Prince of Whales announced his engagement to Kate Middleton via Twitter, surpassing other media channels as his first choice for announcement (Scott). On a more serious note, Ann Curry used Twitter to help locate a place for Doctors Without Borders to land their plane after the earthquake in Haiti: “@usairforce find a way to let Doctors without Borders planes land in Haiti: http://bit.ly/8hYZOK THE most effective at this” (Scott). Through Twitter, Curry was able to get in contact with the US military 7 and Pentagon officials to successfully land the plane (Scott). Twitter is also powerful at driving integration across other media platforms and channels. For example, “[with services] like Twitpic, users send pictures to their followers,” and with bitly links, users can send followers to other websites for product information or articles (Calore; Perlman). A survey by Compete found that the most common activities on Twitter include reading Tweets and Tweeting with links to other sites (Figure 1). This information can be useful when developing a brand engagement plan for Twitter, as it is important to consider the way in which users consume and share information. Figure 1: Most Popular Activities/ Uses of Twitter Source: Perlman 8 The World of Content Creators Social media, while it is made up of many platforms and channels, is generally speaking, a large communication channel that is primarily comprised of user-generated content (Agresta, Bough, and Miletsky). In addition to the number and types of daily posts, original content creation has also taken off in recent years. “Since 2004 more than half of American teens reported that they created content for the Web. You name it—art, photos, blogs personal Web pages, mash-ups, videos, game mods—and they are creating it” (Craig). Supporting this claim, a recent Pew Internet study found that teens and young adults were creating and sharing original user-generated content more than ever before (Lenhar, Purcell, and Smith; Zickuhr). Whether on social media sites or on personal blogs, teens are creating vlogs, blogs, videos, and other content to share with friends and followers. The advent of apps like Instagram, a mobile picture-sharing app that allows users to upload photos of their current activities or surroundings, have made sharing original content, such as photos, easier and more instantaneous that ever before, encouraging creativity and original content creation and ownership (Tsukayama). The Thrill of Immediacy Perhaps one of the most intriguing elements of social media is the ability to share information and connect with friends in real-time. Whether it’s a post about a relationship update, a career move, or even a lament about a bad day, social media users can become addicted to the thrill of sharing their life updates, no matter how small, with their network of friends and followers. Perhaps what is more addicting than the ability to share however, is the instant feedback they receive through “likes,” comments or 9 retweets. This instant approval and feedback suggest that there is some truth to the belief that Facebook appeals to our psychological need to be accepted and liked (see Chapter 12). Apps Due to the advent of smartphones and tablets, social media is accessed from a variety of platforms, including apps on mobile devices. For example, more than 350 million active users are using the Facebook app to log in to the site on their mobile devices (Facebook). Perhaps a product of the need for immediacy and sharing, social media apps like Instagram and Pose have become popular ways for users to interact with their social networks while on the go through image sharing. Though it only launched in October 2010, by the end of January 2012 Instagram hit 15 million users. According to the author’s survey, a majority of the respondents, 65 percent to be exact, use social media apps (Question 5). Instagram, hailed “The App of the Year” in 2011 by Apple, is one of the most popular social media apps (Tsukayama). Users can create a community by following other users that are of interest to them as well as friends linked from Facebook, Twitter and e-mail accounts. “Followers” can “like” and comment on photos and use clickable hashtags to view communities containing similar photos and to search for photos of interest. Known to critics and fans alike as the “Instagram of fashion,” Pose is another mobile photo-sharing app designed to instantly share and create communities with user- generated fashion and style photos. Like Instagram, Pose allows users to create 10 communities, and follow similar users. Additionally, Pose is a premier case study for how teens use social media to interact with and about brands, as many brands are on the app and the primary audience is teens. Unlike Instagram, Pose was designed with brands in mind, and many prominent fashion brands, such as DKNY, True Religion and Levi’s, have a strong presence on the app, leveraging their influence with the teen audience (Pose). Brands have begun to find their place in the mobile app world, and are seeing surprisingly high levels of engagement and feedback on these platforms. Pros and cons of including mobile platforms in a brand’s strategic social media brand engagement plan will be discussed in further detail in Chapter 11. Social Media as Entertainment As social media has become a facet of daily life, many people are turning to social media as a source of entertainment and information. According to a study conducted by Edelman Public Relations in 2011, over half of the respondents reported using social media as a form of entertainment, second only to television (Edelman). YouTube, which is second only to Facebook as the most used social media site according to respondents of the author’s survey, is one of the most popular video-sharing platforms in the world. More than 500 years worth of video content is viewed on YouTube every day and more than 800 million unique users visit the site each month (YouTube Statistics). YouTube has played a significant role in brand engagement, both negatively and positively. For example, The Home Depot’s YouTube channel provides users with video content about the company, such as the company mission and charitable projects, as well as helpful 11 product videos, such as tips on picking the right paint color and instructions for changing air filters (Home Depot YouTube). An example of engagement on YouTube that placed a brand in a negative light was demonstrated by the infamous case of the broken guitar on a United Airlines flight. A disgruntled customer made a musical video that went viral about United’s response, or lack thereof, to their treatment of the customer’s belongings, including his guitar. With hit lines such as, “I should have flown with someone else, or just gone by car, because United breaks guitars,” the video has received almost 12 million views on YouTube to date and spawned a consumer backlash (SonsofMaxwell). These videos demonstrate how multimedia and consumer-generated content disseminated on social media platforms can damage or enhance a brand. 12 Chapter Two: Social Media and Brands The concept of Internet marketing or online brand engagement is not new. In fact, Internet marketing has been around since the mid-1990s, with the advent of banners, or ads, at the top or side of websites. With the advent of Google, banners led to the development of click-through ads (Treadaway and Smith 15). At the turn of the Millennium, with the rise of Google, online marketing became more specialized and easier to adapt based on target audiences and markets. With the introduction of Web 2.0, two-way brand engagement became more active on social media. The advent of social media provided detailed demographic, psychographic and geographic information to marketers, which made it even easier to segment and target key audiences with different ads. By 2009 however, marketers started to see “the shift from traditional ‘push marketing to a conversation with consumers’” (Treadaway and Smith 16). This shift from “push” marketing meant that brands and marketers were beginning to realize the benefit of interacting with consumers online to encourage a positive view of the brand and build brand loyalty. For brands it also meant that public relations professionals could step in and create conversations and engagement with consumers, instead of relying on one-way advertisements to attract key audiences. This explosion in Internet marketing hasn’t come without a price however; it is estimated that more than $40 billion will be spent in online marketing and public relations campaigns and efforts in 2012 (eMarketer). Why is it important to study the influence of social media on brand engagement? Social media has become an omnipresent source of information and influence in our society. Now, more than ever before, is the perfect time to create a brand engagement 13 strategy for brands that have yet to establish a presence on social media platforms. Additionally, because of its constant presence and power to influence, it is important to understand the role social media plays in brand loyalty development, particularly among teens. In addition to serving as a platform for connection and information, social media has also become a primary choice for leisure; for many teens it has even replaced the television (Craig). Television viewing has decreased by 67 percent since 2002, largely due to a preference for social media and Internet. However this shift has not gone unnoticed; for the first time ever, online ad spending is predicted to surpass spending for print ads in 2012 (eMarketer). This shift in marketing money allocation is predicted to substantially increase in the next few years (eMarketer). Figure 2: US Print vs. Online Ad Spending 2011-2016 (billions) Source: eMarketer 14 Chapter Three: Connecting With Teens Online: Establishing a “Third Place” Presence “For young people, new digital technologies… are primary mediators of human- to-human connections. They have created a 24/7 network that blends the human with the technical to a degrees we haven’t experienced before” (Palfrey and Gasser 4). Because the majority of teenagers do not know a world without social media or 24/7 connectivity, it is in the best interest of companies to identify and understand the relationship between how social media creates brand interest and loyalty for users even at young ages. While research has explored brand loyalty and engagement in teens, there is an apparent gap in the literature about the influence of social media on teens’ online engagement with brands. By learning how to create and sustain brand loyalty and advocacy in younger teens, companies could have strong and dedicated buyers and advocates once the teen is in the critical age of 18-24 when their purchasing power is new and high, as they will have grown up developing this brand loyalty and commitment. Given the lack of research and success stories of brands engaging with this audience, there is a huge opportunity for brand loyalty creation and development using social media, ultimately resulting in a capture of much of this market. For most teens, social media has become a “third place,” or a place where they spend much of their time, besides home or school (or work). “Third places” are frequently visited with the anticipation and purpose of finding people, conversations, and activities that make one feel connected and alive (Craig 59). If brands can enter this “third place” of social media, which many teens already frequent and view generally 15 positively, they will have an even better chance of developing a positive connection with this audience. With the shift to social media, new marketing opportunities and threats have developed (Mediamark Teen Market Profile). Much of the opportunity is found in population and monetary potential. Teens are a part of a quickly growing market: the teen population expanded from 32.4 million in 2000 to 33.5 million in 2010. This growing audience also has money to spend: the teen market is estimated to have spent more than $208 billion dollars in 2011 on discretionary items such as clothing, make-up, and shoes (Mediamark; DECA). Additionally, teens have a lot of influence on purchasing power in families due to their understanding and use of the Internet. “Teens are… a robust part of the economy. They have a significant income of their own to spend and also wield increasing influence on household purchases. For example, [the study found] nearly half of 9 to 17-year-olds were asked by their parents to go online to find out about [and purchase] products or services” (Mediamark). It is estimated that teens influence as much as $200-$300 billion in annual household purchases (DECA). However, with opportunities, there are also threats. Today, particularly because of the increase in social media and Internet usage, teens have more choices than ever, so public relations professionals need to identify how to capture and retain teens’ attention. Additionally, with the access to more media platforms comes the potential for information overload and clogged communication channels. Therefore it is important to not only understand how to get teens’ attention, but also how to keep it. 16 Teens and Brands The traditional advertising approaches aren’t working anymore. “Banner ads on Facebook, seen initially as the [primary method] of brands targeting a young audience, yielded few returns” (eModeration 3). Therefore, brands need to find new ways to raise awareness and gain support. Carol Philips, a millennial generation researcher and blogger, believes that “brands make poor friends” (eModeration 4). When a brand uses social media in the wrong way, she says, they risk “at best, brand invisibility- simply not being noticed by teens, or ignored; at worst, a lasting lack of credibility by doing something considered to be deeply ‘uncool’” (eModeration 4). Social media has created an opportunity for brands to learn to communicate with this audience by employing the appropriate tone, message and speed (eModeration 2). Another important consideration is that brands must balance appropriateness, maintaining parents’ trust, while also keeping teens happy by treating them as much like adults as possible, with respect for their opinions and likes and dislikes (eModeration 4). As a group, teens are “brand fickle, but also the most brand aware; influenced more by their peers than by advertising, [they can be] relatively high spenders on themselves. [They are also] keen to see themselves as early adopters, but (for the most part) are trend followers”(eModeration 2). Community creation also plays a large role in teens’ use of social media with respect to brands, as they are aware of peers’ activities (Wellman, Salaff, Dimitrova, Garton, Gulia, and Haythornthwaite). One of the key recommendations made in many brand engagement analyses is the need to interact with members of key audiences. Interaction can include: responses to 17 comments and questions; promotions and contests; reposting user photos to recognize the user as “special” or “unique,” or perhaps simply posting regularly enough to keep target audience interested (eModeration 7; Social5). The “language and tone” of brands’ social media messages is another important consideration. It is important to keep the interest of teens in an age-appropriate way, such as engaging them in contests or conversation that is applicable to their life experience and circumstances (eModeration 8). For example, a brand would not want to ask a teen audience about their biggest career concern, but rather focus on questions about their everyday lives, such as topics including relationships, sports, driving, prom dates, or graduation. Finally, “speed” is a consideration, as teens have short attention spans, especially with the frequency with which they are online and the many platforms they can and do access all day, every day. Thus, it’s imperative that a brand wanting to engage with teens online, respond quickly to comments or questions, especially those involving customer service that could impact their relationship with the brand. A final consideration for brands wanting to engage with teens online is the future of social media engagement in general. According to a study conducted by eModeration on the use of social media to attract brand loyalty in teens and tweens, “the most important platform to watch is mobile, which is likely to be the main choice for all …communications within the next two years” (eModeration 4). This is supported by findings from the author’s survey, which revealed that 76 percent of respondents primarily accessed social media from their cell phone or mobile device (Question 5). 18 Chapter Four: Defining Brand Engagement In mainstream marketing, brand engagement is seen as the way in which brands interact with key audiences, whether real, potential or perceived. Brand engagement has taken on a new role in recent years with the influx of online discussion both with and about brands. From Facebook pages and Twitter handles to YouTube parodies and mobile apps, brand engagement is happening every day, whether the brand is involved and aware or not. Two infamous examples of brand engagement gone wrong were demonstrated by two famous and established brands: Comcast and Nestle. In the case of Comcast, a consumer uploaded a video of a Comcast technician sleeping on her couch, which encouraged other consumers to upload similar videos showing technicians asleep on the job (Kirkland). Comcast still has not responded (it’s been two years), leaving their brand in jeopardy of being associated with less-than-satisfactory service and encouraging an onslaught of complaints (Kirkland). In a more famous example, in 2010 Green Peace posted a video to YouTube and Facebook that appeared to be a commercial for a Kit Kat bar, however when the actor bit into the candy bar it turned into an Orangutan’s finger, symbolizing the animal deaths Nestlé has caused by producing its candy with palm oil (Blanchard). Nestlé’s first mistake was the lack of response on any social media channel to the video. The second mistake was the demand for removal of the video due to copyright infringement without a comment about the video content. It took several days of fighting (Nestlé vs. consumers) on various social media platforms for Nestle to release a somewhat apologetic response. What can be learned from Nestlé’s and Comcast PR 19 crises? Always be listening on social media platforms, because engagement is always happening! Despite these brand mishaps however, brand engagement and the quality of brand engagement are still hard to define. Is “good” brand engagement defined by the number of fan letters received, “likes” on Facebook, retweets on Twitter, or comments on YouTube and blogs? Or should it be measured according to an actual act of purchasing more product, recommending the brand or products to friends, or writing reviews on a website? According to a 2011 Brand Channel report on brand engagement in the digital age, “for brands to gain traction, they will need constantly to create singular, relevant, engaging and rewarding experiences. Regardless of social media, the challenge for brands is as much offline as it is online.” Additionally, another threat to brands is the people that manage and associate themselves strongly with the brands (i.e. spokespersons, celebrity advocates). According to the same Brand Channel report, “people who pass along soul-less content or who send out too much (spam) may tarnish brands more than help. Brands…could suffer as a result” (Brand Channel). For brands to survive, they must engage both online and offline with actual, perceived and potential audiences to build awareness and relationships. By getting in and staying in the conversation, brands will have a better chance of building both brand equity and brand loyalty. In addition to the brand managers, the chosen spokespersons and advocates must be aligned with the image of the brand, but relatable to the key audience. 20 So, with all of this confusion and constant communication, how does a brand identify and engage with key audiences in a world of social media overload and brand bombardment? The posited theory is that if brands can develop teens into brand advocates, by the critical purchasing age of 18-24 these individuals will already be loyal and willing to evangelize their loyalty to particular brands and products among their peers. Social media is an omnipresent source of information and influence in our society. By identifying online patters of the teen market, as well as which brands are successfully engaging with this market (and how), brands can identify how to engage this market to create brand advocates and evangelists (for the first time or more successfully). Developing Brand Engagement Online While a comprehensive and strategic plan for engaging with teens on social media is included in Chapter 11, it is important to understand a general background of online engagement strategy. “With social media, the power is in building lasting relationships that can foster over time. So it requires shifting from a [traditional] campaign mentality to one where you build long-term relationships and have open-ended conversations” (Agresta, Bough, and Miletsky 74). The recommended elements in all social media engagement plans are:  Listening and monitoring: Always be aware of what key audiences are saying to and about the brand.  Community management: Make sure to read and respond to posts from followers, consumers, and fans as quickly and positively as possible. Prioritize the negative comments and comments asking for help.  Community participation: Encourage participation from followers, but make sure to respond and engage when they participate. 21  Add value: Make sure that all outputs add value for network (i.e. do not spam or waste users’ time, instead contribute knowledgeable, humorous or interesting content).  Identify advocates: Similar to offline brand strategies, look for advocates or loyal brand representatives to speak on behalf of the brand to current or new audiences (Agresta, Bough, Miketsky, Urban; Hinchcliffe). 22 Chapter Five: Developing Brand Loyalty By identifying and examining the engagement strategy of brands that are successful at promoting awareness and loyalty, it is possible to identify techniques to further engage with this audience online. According to Philip Kotler, author, marketing professor at Northwestern University, and partner in Kotler Marketing Group, brand loyalty is considered to be: ...one of the ways with which consumers express his/her satisfaction with the performance of the product or service received. Loyal consumers, compared to non-loyal consumers, will work harder to obtain that brand on each occasion, possibly by paying more attention to marketing activities such as advertising and promotion. Moreover brand loyalty is a key determinant of brand choice and brand equity (Kotler and Pfoertsch 312). The ultimate goal for most brands then, is to develop strong brand advocacy and equity through successful engagement. The question becomes, how do we engage the ideal audience of teens (13-18), and how can we use social media to create brand advocates? A closer examination of brand advocacy and evangelism, illustrated in Figure 3, will help define a clear goal for suggested engagement strategies and tactics to use with this particular audience. 23 Figure 3: The Process of Brand Loyalty Development On Social Media Source: Social5 Research Elements of Brand Loyalty Development on Social Media:  Visitor with Concern/Question/Praise: A consumer or fan visits a brand’s page to leave a comment, either positive, negative or neutral.  Interaction: The brand has a chance to respond. This response should consider elements of: tone, speed, and potential future action. Additionally, this response should add value and seek to please this consumer as well as “watching” consumers.  Visitor Satisfaction: Hopefully the brand’s response will satisfy the user and other users watching and/or interacting.  Social Mentions: Social mentions can include effort on the part of the user, brand, or both. Whether the user is engaging in a hybrid WOM (word of 24 mouth) campaign or the brand is seeking users to highlight and praise, social interactions are seen positively by the social media communities (Social5).  Lead: This section has been interpreted as the “value-added” portion. It is imperative that the manager of the social media community (in this case brand) add value through knowledgeable and sharable content that informs and inspires audiences (Social 5).  Social Recommendation: This step is primarily on the part of the users. As brands become fluent with their social media engagement strategies, users will recommend their pages to other friends, fans and followers, increasing brands’ communities.  Brand Loyalty Developed: This is the final step in the social media brand loyalty cycle. As brands continue to have positive interactions with users online and through product output and experience, brand loyalty will be developed over time. 25 Chapter Six: Creating Brand Evangelists and Advocates According to the American Marketing Association, a brand advocate is defined as “a consumer with favorable perceptions of a brand (product or service) and thus speaks favorably of the brand to encourage purchase and generate positive associations and awareness for the brand” (AMA). Similarly, but on a higher plane, brand evangelists are “believers” and “preachers” of brands. “These extreme advocates have an effect on undecided consumers and commonly use technology to spread their message and engage with brands” (AMA). Based on these definitions, the goal for brands that want to develop brand evangelists and advocates is to create an environment that supports the development of brand supporters who would be willing to launch organic word of mouth campaigns on behalf of the brand to their peer groups, using a multitude of platforms. Ideally, once brand advocates and supporters have been created, brand evangelists will likely emerge. With these goals for advocacy in mind, it is necessary to identify the elements of brand engagement that will allow the process of advocate creation to advance. Brands are using social media to create brand advocates and evangelists once loyalty has been established using the process outlined in Chapters 8 and 9. Research has found that loyalty building is strong both online and offline when dealing with the teen market: “teen-oriented brands now aim to register so strongly in kids’ minds that the appeal will remain for life” (Quart xvii). While teens are faced with a large amount of noise on social media channels, the process of branding, or identifying with brands that reflect their personalities and likes, “is how they create an identity" (Quart xvi). 26 Chapter Seven: Engagement Motivators Engagement with brands and engagement with social media in general is influenced by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Research has identified both the need to build social capital as well as the need for connection and approval as strong motivators behind the use of social media (Eler; Gonzales and Hancock; Protalinski; Paxton). By identifying what motivates engagement with brands, brands can appeal to the target audience while fulfilling their basic needs and wants. Ultimately, by understanding and utilizing the motivators for brand engagement and social media engagement, brands can attract and satisfy the target consumer audience when communicating with them online. Intrinsic Motivation In the 1940s, Abraham Maslow introduced the “Hierarchy of Needs,” which continues to be a primary source of instruction about the basic and developed psychological and physiological needs of humans. “Maslow’s model resonates because it offers a glimpses into how we becomes who we are, and how that creates a foundation for the core principles we use to filter information about issues and products” (Pearson and Zehr). While social media has been explained using many psychological frameworks, Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs” seems to offer the best explanation for our need for human connection and reassurance online (Herrick; Gibbons; Pearson and Zehr). In addition to social media, the “Hierarchy of Needs” can also be applied to brand engagement. In particular, the basic needs for safety, and the social needs of belonging 27 and esteem, can and are met by social media and brand engagement. By engaging with others about a brand or product on social media, users can feel better about themselves, develop relationships, and establish a sense of belonging and acceptance. Additionally, by finding others who share similar opinions, likes and dislikes, it provides a sense of belonging and community-building as users feel reassured and accepted by their peers (Gibbons). Further, when other users “like” comments, or agree with a user’s Tweets and posts, it helps him or her feel liked and appreciated by his or her peers, which further reinforces needs of love and belonging as well as esteem, which Maslow has identified. By tapping into the desire to fulfill these basic and social needs through engagement, brands can design engagement strategies on social media to help encourage conversation and interaction, while simultaneously focusing on meeting users’ basic needs. Figure 4: Social Media and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Source: Antonios 28 Extrinsic Motivation In addition to intrinsic motivators like those suggested by Maslow for brand engagement, it is equally important to identify if extrinsic motivators, such as peer–to- peer marketing and rewards, could play a role in influencing the teen audience. In “Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teens,” peer-to-peer marketing online is regarded as one of the most influential forms of strategic marketing. Author Alissa Quart examines how marketing professionals market to teens online using this technique. The Internet is a force for peer-to-peer marketing, stretching boundaries between kids sharing their fandom with one another and doing the work of companies for them. Given that teens now spend so many hours surfing the Web, and far fewer hours watching television than previous generations, it’s not surprising that intense peer-to-peer marketing has emerged and flowered online (Quart 39). She goes on to note: “Peer-to-peer [marketing] is based in part on the belief that [teens] are sophisticated. They are so…cynical about advertising…that the best way to appeal to them is through their friends…they simply can’t resist buying things their popular peers tell them to buy” (Quart 44). The goal of the average teen is to “fit in” with his or her peers. Fashion and style play a major large role in identity formation and acceptance during the critical years of middle school and high school. While “fitting in” can also be considered an intrinsic motivator, for the purpose of this analysis it will be discussed as an extrinsic motivator as the motivation to “fit in” produces extrinsic action and result. Exactly how much influence do peers have? According to a study conducted by global research group Ipsos Loyalty in Canada in 2011, “49 percent of online Canadians state that they are influenced by brand or product recommendations by members of their 29 social network. The influence of social network recommendations is significantly stronger for online Canadians aged 18-34 (56 percent) than for online Canadians aged 55+ (40 percent)” (Ipsos Loyalty). Additionally, “within social networks, being “liked” or “promoted” is also critical, as four in ten (41 percent) online Canadians are influenced when those in their social network “like” or “promote” a brand or product” (Ipsos Loyalty). The study also found that this influence was much higher among younger audiences, like teens and tweens, also known as a pre-teen child between the ages of 9 and 12 (O’Donnell). Ipsos Loyalty vice president Dave Pierzchala, states, “these results show that social networks influence impressions and ultimately the bottom line” (Ipsos Loyalty). This conclusion is of particular importance to this project, as it demonstrates a motivating factor for brands to invest in the teen market: brand loyalty and advocacy ultimately do improve the bottom line. Lastly, Pierzchala touches on the point of “interaction” with audiences, when he states that “’Brands and products cannot assume that once a consumer befriends their organization that they will be friends for life. To be successful, organizations must work on their virtual relationships as hard as they work on their face- to-face ones’” (Ipsos Loyalty). According to the author’s survey, after “connecting with family and friends,” the most popular reasons for utilizing social media was to see what is popular among peers (such as their “liked” pages) and then to connect with brands and products (Question 6, see results in Chapter 10). Survey results also supported the belief that peers influence brand choices, as it asks which factors have been most influential in developing loyalty to 30 particular brands, and the majority stated that the most overwhelming influence was friends (Question 9, Chapter 10). While peer-to-peer marketing may be motivated by teens' desire to fit in, it is also equally motivated by the desire to influence others. One study found that “teen girls are vocal about their purchases within their social circles. Nearly nine out of 10 teen girls say they enjoy sharing recommendations with their friends.” Additionally, the study found that “teen girls know they are influencers— 53 percent of teen girls believe their opinions greatly influence their friends’ purchase decisions. Teen girls report that their friends’ opinions and actions are the number one reason they will make a purchase” (Varsity). “While teen boys and girls spend roughly the same amount of time online, teen girls are more likely to use that time for connecting, self-expression and relationship building” (Varsity). Based on the influence of peer marketing and intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, the author will specifically examine style and fashion products, with an eye toward the role social media plays in encouraging the popularity of one brand over another (thus leading the teen to choose a particular brand in order to “fit in” with his or her peers). Besides peer-to-peer marketing, another strong motivator for brand engagement includes extrinsic rewards, such as prizes, special deals, contests or insider promotions. According to the author’s survey, the primary motivator for engaging with brands on social media was to learn about new products, promotions or special deals. Almost 80 percent of survey respondents stated that they “liked” and followed brands for this reason over any other, including “ to show support” and “to be like peers” (Question 11, Chapter 31 10). Responses to the author’s survey were congruent with general research about why people of all ages may “like” brands of Facebook (Lake). However, when dealing with the teen market, extrinsic rewards in particular should be considered and utilized when designing brand engagement strategies because the teen audience responds more favorably to extrinsic motivators such as contests, giveaways, and discounts (Question 11, Chapter 10). The author conducted unique primary research, including a survey and content analysis to add value and support to the existing literature surrounding social media brand engagement and development of brand loyalty in teens. By examining how social media is used effectively (and ineffectively) by brands, we can understand how brands should ideally engage with target audiences on different platforms, such as mobile and Web. Both primary and secondary research revealed that controlled and value-added interaction are key steps in creating and sustaining brand loyalty using social media; this will be the central focus for subsequent recommendations for strategic brand engagement plans discussed later in this work. 32 Chapter Eight: Developing a Blueprint for Brand Engagement on Social Media “Consultants…highlight brand behavior as the most important component of branding as it is the axis on which brand image and reputation is directly hinged” (Kuruvilla). Brand behavior is demonstrated and developed through many elements of a brand’s identity, and differently among different audiences, real or potential. Brand behavior contributes to the development of brand loyalty, particularly with respect to online engagement. Some brands have already developed and executed successful and strategic online engagement plans. Based on results from the author’s survey, a framework for measuring current social media brand engagement strategies was developed in order to conduct a content analysis on three prominent retail brands, as retail was the most popular sector of brands that respondents currently, or would like to, engage with online. This brand engagement blueprint will be used to dissect the online social media brand engagement strategy of three retail brands that have been successful at engaging the teen market online: Nike, DKNY and Victoria’s Secret. The brand engagement template is designed with four key steps used to compare the process of developing and executing a brand engagement plan: developing an identity for the brand; segmenting key markets (audiences); developing a position for the brand; and developing communication strategies. A content analysis of the brands using the social media blueprint will follow an introduction of the template for online brand engagement. 33 1. Develop a Brand Identity Before any sort of engagement can occur between a brand and an audience, the brand’s identity must be established. According to Kotler, there are nine key elements involved in brand identity creation: name, logo, slogan, color, packaging, character, jingle, retail environment, and signs (Kotler). It is imperative that the identity of a brand be reflected in the engagement strategies used to communicate the brand online and offline to key audiences. All of the elements of the brand identity must be related and respective of one another in order to form a complete and unified message to audiences. Additionally, when thinking about engaging on social media and/or with new audiences, brands must understand how to reflect the new audiences and platforms. Some brands create extensions of their identity to communicate with teen audiences online, but the slogan, color scheme, logo, etc, still correspond with the original brand identity so that the mantra and equity of the extension(s) are still strongly associated with the original identity. An excellent example of this seamless transition to social media will be discussed in the analysis of Nike. Although the company maintains a presence on a variety of social media sites and targets various audiences on their different channels, they remain true to the brand mantra by using identifiable colors, symbols and slogans. Further, all communication and engagement remains true to the Nike brand through word choice, activities, and tone: all engagement encourages consumers to challenge themselves, strive to achieve goals, and continually work toward a better “you” (Swallow). 34 2. Segment Market Once a brand has established its online identity, it needs to create a foothold with current and potential key audiences. First a brand manager must consider the teens that will have “interest in, income for, and access to” the his/her products (Kotler). Further, he/she must break down the needs and wants of these audiences based on their demographics, psychographics, behavior and geography. With respect to teenagers, it is important to consider what drives brand engagement and for many teens, the source of this engagement is fitting in. According to Alissa Quart, author of “Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers, "[fashion is] a way of defining oneself…[branding] is how they create an identity" (Boston). This is where community influencers and peer-to-peer marketing play a role. “Teen girls are vocal about their purchases within their social circles. Nearly 9 out of 10 teen girls say they enjoy sharing recommendations with their friends” (Varsity). 3. Position the Brand Once the brand identity has been created and the key markets have been segmented, brand marketers must determine the desired and current mindsets: how a company wants its brand to be seen, how the brand wants to be seen and how audiences will actually see the brand. It is important to understand the difference between ideal image of the brand and actual perceived image of the brand by consumers. Additionally, positioning can change over time as new platforms for engagement develop and new audiences are segmented. 35 With respect to positioning a brand for teens on social media platforms, it is important that a brand be positioned as having three key characteristics: authenticity, excitement, and interest. The latest research has shown that the more authentic, interesting and exciting a brand is perceived to be, the higher the engagement audiences will have with and about the brand (Hoven). “Authenticity” pertains to the realness of the brand: does the brand communication appear to be only selling product, or is the brand actually contributing to the conversation? For example, on Heinz Ketchup’s Facebook page, the brand regularly posts recipe for fans, obviously containing Heinz Ketchup, such as a recipe for Honey Dijon Beef and Vegetable Stir-fry. Additionally, they post user comments about the product that are helpful for other consumers, such as “Heinz Ketchup is gluten free.” Both the recipes and product facts result in engagement such as “likes” and comments, but more importantly, “shares” to friends. The second characteristic, “interesting” pertains to the quality of the content contributed by the brand. Is it relevant to the audience? Is it new? For example, the content should be both relevant to the brand and the audience, but also interesting enough to keep the attention of the audience. A good example of “interesting” can be seen on Pose’s Facebook page. Pose introduces a new fashion fact each week that is intended to be considered both interesting and relevant to the teen audience; these facts usually result in a higher amount of “likes,” “shares,” and comments than other forms of online engagement from the brand. Lastly, “exciting” pertains to the level of excitement the audience gets from online engagement with the brand. A great example of creating “exciting” engagement was demonstrated by Carl’s Jr. during the brand’s partnership with Kim Kardashian 36 (Carl’s Jr. Facebook). Kim Kardashian hosted “The Ultimate Salad Lunch Date with Kim Kardashian,” on January 13, 2010 (Carl’s Jr. Facebook). Kim ate a salad live on Facebook while answering questions from fans. This created a level of excitement about the product and the brand, while greatly increasing engagement and positive brand association, assuming that the participants were fans of Kim Kardashian. 4. Develop Communication Strategies Once the brand has been positioned, communication strategies can be developed for the brand. Brand communication should be regular, organic, and relevant. Just how important is communication to loyalty creation? “Interaction is the first step to loyalty creation using social media” (Social5). Furthermore, brand engagement must be a continual practice. Pierzchala of Ipsos Loyalty touches on the importance of “interaction” with audiences, when he states that “’Brands and products cannot assume that once a consumer befriends their organization that they will be friends for life. To be successful, organizations must work on their virtual relationships as hard as they work on their face-to-face ones’” (Ipsos Loyalty). Additionally, if a brand wants to continue to engage with audiences on social media, communication should be organic and relevant. Similar to positioning a brand as authentic, the brand must appear to have organic communication. This is done by introducing new information into the conversation, and by responding to Tweets, blog comments, YouTube posts, and Facebook comments in a timely fashion with individualized responses, particularly if there are serious questions about quality, safety or complaints. Similarly, the communication should be relevant to the teens, introducing 37 information about issues that they are unfamiliar with or unconcerned about will bore them, therefore it is important to keep the topics relevant and of interest to them. The more relevant and organic communication is, the more likely consumers are to redistribute this communication to their peers, further enhancing the brand’s online reach and impressions. 38 Chapter Nine: Brand Engagement Case Studies As more brands begin to engage with audiences using social media, some brands have developed strategies and tactics to engage with their audiences online. The following three retail brands are being showcased because they are particularly successful at engaging with the teen audience on social media, Nike, DKNY and Victoria’s Secret. Success is determined by level of proactive engagement on the part of the brand and the audience (including conversations, product movement, and brand identity adaption and extension to fit audience). Not only are these brands successful at engaging with teens on social media, they have also adopted different unique strategies for interacting with and building brand loyalty among the teen audience. The brand analysis will be based on the blueprint for brand engagement using social media as outlined in Chapter 11, which includes: developing brand identity, segmenting the market, positioning the brand, and developing communication strategies. Nike Brand Identity Since Nike’s establishment in 1964, the company’s brand identity both offline and online has consistently delivered identical and united messages of inspiration, achievement and innovation to audiences. Elements of the brand identity, such as the company name, slogan, logo, retail experience, and packaging, have been consistent with the brand message both offline and online. Nike is no stranger to social media: with a presence on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, as well as creating international social media sites, the company has 39 significant experience in creating and sharing content with audiences (Swallow). Nike has also expanded its social media influence to include large-scale events and activities, such as the Olympics, World Cup, and a video series. Nike uses social media campaigns to combine offline physical activities and events with online encouragement and engagement, which support the company’s brand mantra of innovation, action and excellence (Swallow). All of the social media strategies and tactics that Nike uses are consistent and relevant to the brand mantra, and help to reinforce the brand identity as loyalty is created through physical interaction. According to Nike’s Global Digital Brand and Innovation Director Jesse Stollak: …social networks are tools that help build and leverage our relationship with the consumer. These networks serve as a platform to reach our athletes. However, the goal hasn’t changed since the beginning of Nike — we want to connect with athletes to inspire and enable them to be better (Swallow). Audience Segmentation While Nike’s online audience is not segmented on main platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, the company has created unique websites and sub-channels that are directed at specific audience segments, based on demographics, geography, sport, psychographics and behavior. Demographics and geography are two of the primary ways that Nike segments key audiences, due largely in part to Nike’s position as an international brand and sponsor of key sporting events around the world. During the 2006 World Cup, Nike partnered with Google to create Jorga.com, a site for “the soccer- obsessed teen” interested in learning about and engaging in discussion with others about the event (Swallow). This was Nike’s first attempt at engaging with teens online and the 40 site achieved over 1 million actively engaged visitors worldwide. Similarly, the social media campaign, “What Do You Play For?” was designed to encourage teens in different countries to share their motivations and goals for playing sports. This social media campaign helped Nike tell its brand story of motivation and inspiration through user stories of success. Positioning To best position the brand to teens on social media, Nike created an atmosphere that was fun, motivating, and most importantly, interactive. All of their social media themes aligned with the brand’s goals and mantra. In the “What Do You Play For?” campaign, NikeiD/Nike+, and “The Chance” campaigns, Nike is positioned as the brand that will help teens achieve their goals and inspire them to keep going, demonstrating Nike’s ability to align with the brand mantra of achieving dreams and staying active through social communication and the encouragement of physical activity. Nike marketers have ensured that all of their social media efforts support the brand identity and mantra, which in turn supports the brand equity and loyalty, as the brand continues to help shape opportunities for audiences worldwide. Communication Strategies Nike’s communication strategies are centered on creating change, informing, and inspiring. This is reflected in their social media strategies, which are also designed to inspire and inform audiences. This creates a level of respect for the products, brand, and initiatives launched by Nike, in the minds of consumers. For example, “The Chance” and 41 “What Do You Play For?” are both campaigns that support the future of sports and athletes around the world. Nike is also regularly communicating on hundreds of specific and general fan pages on Facebook, in addition to Twitter and YouTube. Nike has used videos to create a large following, their MVP (Most Valuable Puppets) videos have created a huge buzz on social media, and the puppets have their own Twitter and Facebook pages that they interact with fans on (Nike). Nike has also created its own websites and apps, like Nike+, which has over 5 million members and allow users to track progress as well as motivate one another to reach running goals (Swallow; Walter). Similar to creating communities on apps like Nike+, campaigns like “The Chance,” which gives a kids around the world a chance to become professional soccer players, launched in 2010 (Figure 5). In just six months, “17,000 Facebook pages were created by participants, 5.5 million additional fans were reached through these pages, 2,000 user-generated videos and 28,000 player posts were created and the brand received 3.4 million YouTube views and counting” (Swallow). The value? If organic user-generated content is not enough, Nike continues to report an increase in revenue, with First Quarter revenue for 2012 reported up 18 percent (Nike). While the ROI from social media is often hard to measure, it can be assumed that a portion of the revenue is due to Nike’s advanced efforts on social media to promote the brand and engage target consumers. Nike CEO Mark Parker recognizes the importance of social media and commented at the end of the Fourth Quarter for Fiscal Year 2011 that he believes revenues have been positively impacted by social media efforts, he stated 42 “social media is helping us unite and expand. We have never been closer to our consumers, as they connect more with each other, their heroes and their favorite teams" (Mahoney). Figure 5: “The Chance” Campaign Facebook Infographic Source: Nike’s Facebook DKNY Brand Identity Designer Donna Karan launched DKNY in 1984 with a goal of designing “modern clothes for modern people” (DKNY). DKNY became instantly famous with its 43 premise of simple staple pieces that could easily be mixed and matched to create different outfits. Today, the DKNY empire includes a variety of high-end as well as affordable clothing lines for men, women, teens and children, as well as shoes, watches, and fragrances (DKNY Company Website). The brand mantra of DKNY is “eclectic, fun, fast and real” (DKNY Company Website). Unlike Nike, DKNY did not create new events or extend their brand to launch into the realm of social media engagement: instead, they created a personality for their brand. Like Nike, however, the elements of brand identity, such as the logo, slogan, packaging, retail environment, color and name have remained the same and consistent with the offline brand throughout their online branding engagement efforts. When DKNY launched into the social media sphere, they quickly realized that Twitter and Facebook were not enough of a communication strategy to set them apart from their competition (Indvik). So instead, DKNY used Aliza Licht, its SVP of Global Communication, to distinguish the brand personality online by creating the persona DKNYPRGirl. According to Licht, “as soon as I started tweeting, I realized that Twitter was a conversation and the voice needed to be consistent. Naturally, people started to realize DKNY PR GIRL was in fact, one girl, but yet it never really mattered ‘who’ the person was, it was the personality and content that mattered” (Indvik). Audience Segmentation If one visits DKNYPRGirl’s Twitter or Facebook page (which hundreds of thousands of fan have and do), it becomes immediately obvious that the vocabulary and subject matter is not what a 40-something woman would generally use or discuss. 44 Instead there are Tweets using teen-friendly jargon, like “OMG so funny,” as well as updates about popular shows such as Gossip Girl, a popular book series turned television program on The CW network. This approach has been a huge hit among fans and key audiences, and DKNYPRGirl’s presence on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook continues to grow, with almost 400,000 followers on Twitter and almost 20,000 followers on Instagram (DKNYPRGIRl Twitter). Positioning DKNYPRGirl’s social media strategy is aligned with the positioning of DKNY as an “eclectic, fun, fast and real” brand. The communication is relevant, timely and constant; making sure to provide humor and personal commentary on topics that are of interest to the target audience. Personal interactions with followers have created a strong engagement on all platforms, including Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pose. With DKNYPRGirl as the face and personality of the DKNY brand, the brand is positioned as fun, youthful, and hip, but with a sense of aspiration for the audience. Communication Strategies One of the key attributes of DKNYPRGirl’s communication strategy is her regular engagement with audiences. She answers almost every question and comment she receives, and in turn, her followers keep engaging (Indvik). She uses Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr to communicate about careers, style, the fashion industry, and DKNY products; all topics that her followers are interested in and continually ask about. Additionally, she discusses lifestyle and pop culture issues and topics that are of interest to her audiences. For example, she Tweets during and about Gossip Girl episodes, using 45 teen-friendly language such as “like,” “OMG,” “LOL,” and “WTF.” Figure 6 shows a recent Tweet from DKNYPRgirl discussing Blair’s outfit choices during her pregnancy; she calls Blair (a main character on the show) by her nickname of “B.” This tweet earned DKNYPRGirl 14 retweets and several replies. DKNYPRGirl is the perfect example of the benefits of humanizing a brand, as the brand was just nominated as one of the top brands using social media by Mashable (Indvik). DKNYPRgirl’s strategy is nothing new, however. In “Branded,” this approach is described in detail. “What you notice first about these professional trendsetters…is that they operate as faux teens. They tend to retain all the best mannerisms of youth and use their adolescent stylings to coax information out of the underaged” (Quart 42) Figure 6: Example of a Tweet by DKNYPRGirl Source: @DKNYPRGirl’s Twitter 46 Victoria’s Secret Brand Identity Victoria’s Secret, one of the six retail brands under parent brand company Limited Brands, is the largest lingerie retail company in the world (Limited Brands). Victoria’s Secret was founded in 1977 in San Francisco, California and was designed primarily as a store for men to feel comfortable buying lingerie for women (Limited Brands). The retail website was launched in 1998, and was immediately profitable (Limited Brands). Today, Victoria’s Secret is best known for its lingerie products, The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, several clothing lines, including sleepwear as well as sports and collegiate designs. Personalized branding reached new levels with the targeted online marketing of Victoria’s Secret. While Victoria’s Secret itself has remained a successful and established lingerie brand, typically more popular among the 18 and over audience, the brand extensions they have accomplished continually earn them recognition among marketers. Victoria’s Secret’s Pink line features standard lingerie products, but also includes clothing, accessories, make-up and perfumes, shoes, dog accessories, and home décor. The Pink line is designed for a younger audience, with brighter colors, patterns and language for the teen and young adult audiences, such as “OMG,” “Totally Cute,” and “LOL” (Weber; Squires). Additionally, the Pink line has products for school, such a backpacks, binders and backpacks; the inclusion of middle school and high school appropriate products, complemented by the designs, demonstrates that the brand is intended for a younger audiences than the typical VS consumer. Pink Nation was 47 launched in 2009 as a mobile and web spin-off to the product line Pink by Victoria’s Secret. It is an interactive site, mobile app, Facebook page (and Facebook app), to which members can log on for access to an online community where they can connect with other fans of the brand, read horoscopes, learn style tips and enter giveaways. VS Pink may sell the products, but Pink Nation sells the idea behind the brand (and brand extension). As far as brand identity elements, the original Victoria’s Secret logo is placed subordinately to the Pink logo, which has a different font and larger size. The pink color used is also a bubblegum pink, which is different than the light pink used by the original brand. The packaging and tagging are identical; however, the retail environment for the online and in-store brand is different than the original brand. The original brand uses light pink and black complimented by pink and white striped wallpaper. The Pink stores feature the bubblegum pink with white accents and utilize mannequins to create ideal scenarios (such as a beach outing, or slumber party). Additionally, the Pink store is inviting to younger users with bins to display merchandise such as pants or flip-flops; on the other hand, the Victoria’s Secret store arranges product in the form of an upscale lingerie boutique, with limited sizes on the floor and product displayed on cloth hangers. Audience Segmentation It appears that the creators of Pink Nation have correctly segmented their audience. Through partnerships, contests, giveaways and communication output and input, it is obvious that the brand is using many different means of engagement to interest and maintain target audience attention. Brand engagement is focused on the younger 48 audiences, and though this may exclude older audiences, it reinforces that Pink Nation was created for and is used by the fans and product users of Pink. Additionally, the audience continues to segment itself as users increase and engagement occurs through current users inviting and engaging new users to join (see Communication Strategies). Lastly, because the community influencers and partnerships Pink Nation engages in are relevant to their ideal audiences, audience segmentation is further increased and encouraged as new users join organically. Positioning Pink Nation is positioned as a fun and collaborative space for VS Pink fans to learn more about the products and connect with other users who love the products as much as they do. Pink Nation is interactive and promotes engagement and audience feedback. The site is relevant, as it brings up-to-date news and partnerships with brands and services that their audiences are engaged with right now. For example, Pink Nation teamed up with Polyvore, a fashion site, app and online community, that is extremely popular with the teen audience (13-18), to launch a contest (Indvik). By staying relevant with the wants and interests of their audience, more organic content is created on the Pink Nation site by users, and in turn more organic engagement and interest will follow, which is then rewarded through feedback and free giveaways. Communication Strategies Pink Nation uses its website, app, Twitter, and Facebook page to communicate with specific audiences. “The Scoop” is a section on its Facebook page that allows the user to download wallpapers for their computer and cell phone as well as learn about 49 special promotions. The engagement on Facebook is high, with an average post receiving more than 200 comments and 6,000 “likes.” Pink Nation fans share their style tips with one another, as well as their favorite products with one another and the brand. The brand uses communication resources accurately by focusing time and resources on the appropriate channels; as communication is much higher on Facebook than on Twitter, the brand has more than 10 million fans on Facebook and only 86, 000 on Twitter. However, on both sites they engage heavily with audiences daily, by responding to questions, providing interesting input to the conversation, and commenting on posts and tweets. Additionally, VS Pink constantly holds contests and gives away free merchandise to online fans. In addition to the basic communication strategies, Pink Nation also drives brand engagement through promotions. On its many outlets, the brand encourages audiences to get involved with the product by voting to have their favorite sports teams or schools be included in the product lines (VS Pink has a collegiate line, an NFL line and an MLB line). Pink Nation encourages audiences to engage their peers to vote for a team or school to be included in product lines, and this has spawned hundreds of fan pages on Facebook and Twitter, encouraging votes for new products. In addition to this product- based outreach, Pink Nation has also established a collegiate program at every school featured in their product line. This program includes representatives (students at the school); official Facebook and Twitter pages; special promotions; as well as free events and classes, like yoga and a viewing of the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, complete with a pink carpet, refreshments and gift bags (Nordhoff). Figure 7 shows an 50 example of the Pink Nation mobile app for iPhone, which upon download users are encouraged to “scratch” the heart to receive “love” from Victoria’s Secret in the form of coupons and giveaways for VS Pink products. What does all of this effort accomplish? A lot, actually. Sales for the company during 2011 were up by 72 percent per share for Third Quarter earnings, according to a news release from the company (LTD Brands). Figure 7: Pink Nation Mobile App Source: iTunes Store 51 Chapter Ten: Analysis of Primary Research The primary purpose of this survey was to fill a gap in the existing research on social media and brand engagement with teens. While there is a wealth of information on the use and success of online brand engagement strategies with older audiences (18 and older), there is a lack of information on existing behaviors or potential strategies for engaging the teen audience. This study sought to identify how brands can increase and reinforce brand loyalty among teens using social media. It also served as a means of examining teens’ social media behavior for patterns of frequency and preference that could be of use to brands attempting to develop brand loyalty and engagement among this age group. Research Objectives a. Hypotheses: i. Social media can increase brand loyalty among the teen audience (ages 13-18). ii. Teens are “heavy” social media users, meaning that they are constantly online, thus increasing their access and exposure to brands. b. Research questions: i. RQ1: How much does direct brand engagement influence the target audience? ii. RQ2: How does peer-to-peer marketing influence the target audience? iii. RQ3: Which platforms have the most influence on teens’ engagement with brands? iv. RQ4: Does “fitting in” play a role in creating brand loyalty? 52 v. RQ5: How does social media influence brand loyalty? vi. RQ6: Where are teens spending most of their time on social media? Research Methodology a. Platform: On November 19, 2011, a 15-question survey, including three demographic questions regarding age, location and gender, was launched using Qualtrics software. The anonymous survey was distributed on Facebook by the author and posted to Pose’s brand page wall. The survey was closed on February 22, 2012. b. Variables: The independent variables were: age, gender, and use of social media (yes/no). Dependent variables were: uses of social media and brand engagement. c. Survey Design: The 15-question survey was designed to gauge respondents’ use of social media with respect to brand engagement. Questions were arranged in a funnel by topics, which include: awareness, frequency, preferences, and conclude with three demographic questions (age, gender, location). See Appendix for a full list of survey questions. d. Respondents: Nonprobability convenience sampling was used to recruit the total number of respondents (194) to the survey. Of the 194 responses, 149 respondents completed the survey. There were a total of 65 responses from teens between the ages of 13-18. The original goal sample was 100 teens between the ages of 13 and 18; however, due to a lack of responses from the teen audience, the teens’ responses will be compared to answers of counterparts in the critical purchasing age of 18-24, as well as older audiences to compare use of and attitude toward social media and branding. As the teen audience represents 44 percent of the total survey responses, responses will still be 53 analyzed for patterns of use and frequency as well as brand interaction and potential influence of loyalty creation. Survey Statistics a. Population: N= 2,000 b. Sample size: i. Overall Sample: n= 149 ii. Teen Sample: n= 65 c. Response rate: i. Overall Sample: 0.07 ii. Teen Sample: 0.03 (44% of respondents were representative of target audience) d. Confidence Level (overall): 95% e. Confidence Interval (overall): 7.73 f. Margin of Error (overall): +/- 15.46 Demographics Respondents were asked three demographic questions at the end of the survey. The following graphs breakdown survey responses to questions of age, state of residency, and gender. The majority of respondents were female (74 percent). While respondents from over 20 states took the survey, the majority of respondents were residents of California (over 85 percent). 54 Table 1: Gender Breakdown of Survey Respondents (n=149) Table 2: Age Breakdown of Survey Respondents (n=149) 55 Table 3: Survey Respondents’ State of Residency (n=149) 56 Overview of Survey Results The majority of key findings discussed will be cross tabulations of responses from the target audience of teens 13-18, unless otherwise noted. Many of the responses from the teen audience will be compared to the responses from older demographics to infer patterns and commonalities among the teen audience as compared to their older counterparts and draw conclusions for brand use. Meet Me On Facebook One of the primary goals of this survey was to determine the frequency of social media use as well as existing patterns of social media behavior among the teen audience. The survey found that the majority, 85 percent, of teens and adults were online “all of the time,” meaning always logged in, or “several times a day” (Tables 4 and 5). Additionally, the survey found that for teens and adults, Facebook and YouTube were the most used social media sites; however, the adult audience, defined as those 19 and older for the purpose of this survey, also used Twitter frequently (Tables 6 and 7). Both audiences accessed social media sites most frequently from cell phones and personal computers, with teens accessing social media from both mobile and computer platforms equally. 57 Table 4: The Relationship Between the Use of Social Media (Yes/No) and Frequency of Use (Teens 13-18) 58 Table 5: The Relationship Between the Use of Social Media (Yes/No) and Frequency of Use (Adults Over 18) 59 Table 6: The Primary Platforms Used for Accessing Social Media in Relation to the Most Commonly Used Social Media Sites (Teens 13-18) 60 Table 7: The Primary Platforms Used for Accessing Social Media in Relation to the Most Commonly Used Social Media Sites (Adults Over 18) 61 Table 8: Brand Categories in Relation to Social Media Engagement “Like” Us on Facebook Another significant finding was the correlation between the frequency of social media use and participation in brand engagement. The heavier social media users, who identified themselves as being online “all the time” or “several times a day,” engaged with more brands online more frequently than their lighter-user counterparts (Tables 11 and 12). A key finding from the survey results was that direct brand engagement was considered most successful when it involved extrinsic rewards such as promotions, contests or giveaways (Table 9). For the adult audience, intrinsic rewards such as communication with the brand and input on products also ranked high (Table 10). This finding satisfies RQ 5, which questions how social media influences brand loyalty, the answer: through extrinsic motivators. Survey results showed that YouTube and Facebook were the most popular platforms with teens and adults that had moderate to high engagement with brands online (answering RQ 6) (Tables 13 and 14). Therefore, brands that are creating social media strategies should consider the importance of 62 multimedia, especially through a YouTube channel to engage the teen audience. This finding answers RQ 3, which sought to identify which social media platforms had the most influence with teens. Table 9: Reasons for Interacting with Brands on Social Media (Teens 13-18) Table 10: Reasons for Interacting with Brands on Social Media (Adults Over 18) 63 Table 11: Correlation Between Frequency of Social Media Use and Brand Engagement Online (Teens 13-18) 64 Table 12: Correlation Between Frequency of Social Media Use and Brand Engagement Online (Adults Over 18) 65 Table 13: Relationship Between Social Media Platforms and Brand Engagement (Teens 13-18) 66 Table 14: Relationship Between Social Media Platforms and Brand Engagement (Adults Over 18) 67 There’s An App For That Of the total respondents, 65 percent reported using mobile social media apps like Instagram and Pose (Table 15). Of the teen audience, 66 percent use apps, and 63 percent of the adult audience used mobile apps (Tables 16 and 17). This high number of app users among all audiences is significant as it demonstrates the shift to mobile, and the need for brands to consider mobile apps as part of their brand engagement strategy. Table 15: Use of Mobile Apps (All Respondents) Table 16: Use of Mobile Apps (Teens 13-18) Table 17: Use of Mobile Apps (Adults Over 18) 68 Retail is King Question 12 and 14 were cross tabulated to determine if any relationship existed between the sector of brands that respondents interacted with most on social media, in relation to the frequency of their social media use. Retail was a clear favorite with both teens and older audiences that interacted somewhat frequently and frequently with brands online . There wasn’t a close second for teens with respect to brand sectors; however, for the older audiences, food and entertainment were second and third for heavy engagers. Table 18: Frequency of Brand Engagement on Social Media With Respect to the Preference for the Brand Category of Retail (Teens 13-18) Table 19: Frequency of Brand Engagement on Social Media With Respect to the Preference for the Brand Category of Retail (Adults Over 18) 69 Peer Influence Survey responses revealed that friends were the most influential factor in developing brand loyalty among both the teen and adult audiences. However, a key observation was made about the differences in the two audiences: the teen audience cited social media as the second most influential factor in brand loyalty development. The older audiences cited parents and entertainment (movies, and television) as the second and third most influencing factors. Social media only ranked higher than celebrities as an influencing factor for the adult audience. This finding can be useful for brands that are developing social media strategies because it shows that engaging with teens online, especially with the use of brand advocates and ambassadors in different social circles, can encourage brand loyalty in this audience. This finding supports and answers RQs 2 and 4, which question if “fitting in” and peer-to-peer marketing influence brand loyalty and engagement: according to the results from this survey, peer-to-peer marketing and “fitting in” play a role in the teen audiences’ development of brand loyalty. 70 Table 20: Influential Factors in Development of Brand Loyalty (Teens 13-18) Table 21: Influential Factors in Development of Brand Loyalty (Adults Over 18) 71 Table 22: Influencing Factors on Social Media Use (Teens 13-18) 72 Table 23: Influencing Factors on Social Media Use (Adults Over 18) 73 Summary of Key Findings The survey supported the general belief that teens are heavy users of social media, with 85 percent of teens survey respondents using social media sites “all the time” or “several times a day.” The survey results supported both hypotheses: teens are interacting with brands on social media, and the heavier the social media user, the more likely brand engagement will occur and thus brand loyalty will be developed. Incentives: Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Additionally, the survey found that while both teens and adults were most motivated to engage with brands on social media to learn about promotions, contests and special deals, adults were also motivated by the opportunity to have input or to communicate ideas with brands. For the teen audience however, there was not a close second to deals and promotions. This finding shows that for teens, extrinsic motivators are much stronger than the intrinsic motivators of contribution and input, which are almost as high as contests and promotions for the adult audience. This finding was immediately supported by the lack of responses to the author’s survey. Responses from the 19 and older audience were much easier to obtain than responses from the teen audience, despite the teen audience having more access and exposure to the survey. It is believed that if an extrinsic motivator had been offered as an incentive for participation, more teens would have taken the survey. The adult audience was motivated by the intrinsic motivator of assisting a peer achieve an educational goal. Thus, brands can learn from this finding that in order to build brand loyalty among the teen audience, they must incentivize this market with extrinsic rewards for engagement with the brand. This 74 finding answers RQ 1, which involves the role of direct brand engagement and how brands should approach direct engagement with audiences online: extrinsic incentives. The Importance of Peer-to-Peer Marketing Another key survey finding was the importance of influencers in peer groups to promote brands as well as the use of peer-to-peer marketing with teen audiences. Among the teen audiences, “connecting with friends” and “seeing what is popular with peers” were found to be the two most important reasons for using social media. For the adult audiences, “connecting with friends” and “connecting with family” were most important. This finding demonstrates that brands wanting to connect with the teen audience should identify with influencers in social circles and peer groups to encourage brand engagement and loyalty through peer-to-peer marketing and playing to the ideal of “fitting in” with one’s peers. This finding is important because both adults and teens ranked “connecting with brands” as low in importance for using social media. Thus, it can be inferred that brand promotion directly from the brand without the influence of peers is less influential than the use of peer influencers and peer-to-peer marketing for brand promotion and loyalty development among the teen audience, which answers RQ 1 involving the role of direct brand engagement. Limitations and Recommendations for Future Research Due to the targeted sample of the primary research, it was not possible to obtain the original goal of 100 respondents, despite both access to the audience and repeated exposure to the survey. The lack of respondents and the type of sampling used to obtain respondents are both limitations of this study, as sampling was nonprobable. Due to the 75 small sample size and sampling methods, generalizability to the general population is not possible with these results. Thus, recommendations for future research include a larger sample size in addition to further research such as focus groups and surveys to both identify social media behavior and uses as well as to test the types of contests, prizes and messaging that are most effective to drive engagement and loyalty to brands online with the teen audience. Also, as the author’s survey found, teens need incentives to motivate them to action. Considering the low level of response to this survey by teens, and the overwhelming support for rewards as motivators for action, it is suggested that future research include some type of incentive for participation. It is also recommended that future research include a larger sample of men in addition to respondents from different regions of the country besides California. 76 Chapter Eleven: Recommendations for Developing Strategic Online Brand Engagement Plans As the brand case studies demonstrated, there are several successful strategies and tactics that brands are already using to engage with audiences online. Through primary and secondary research, additional strategies and tactics have been identified that will help brands develop engagement strategies to connect with this key audience online. The goal is to build and reinforce loyalty through the creation of brand advocates and evangelists. The following recommendations are for brands considering social media engagement for the first time, as well as brands that want to improve their social media strategy with the teen audience: 1. Strategy: Humanize the Brand Tactics: Put a face on the brand by creating a spokesperson to exemplify the brand. Who should the audience think of when they think of a brand? Who personifies the brand? A celebrity? Model? An unknown but “average” teen consumer? Think of someone teens can relate to easily, or aspire to be like. One of the best examples of this strategy is DKNYPRGirl. It is easier for the audience to engage with a recognizable and real person/personality, than an unidentified brand manager. Teens are not stupid and they appreciate authentic thoughts and contributions from a real person engaging in conversation about their favorite brand; authentic and organic communication will go a lot further than an intern retweeting posts for this audience. 2. Strategy: Bring the Brand to the Audience Tactics: It is imperative that brands make it easy for the audience to interact and engage. Brands should have links displayed clearly on websites and they should install 77 widgets that display blog posts, Tweets, and Facebook posts in real-time so that visitors to the site can see that the brand is actively engaging audiences at that very moment; this will encourage them to get involved in the conversation, even if they are just spectators at first. Another good example of bringing the brand to the audience is having a Facebook or in-app store. By bringing the store to the source of the messaging, users will be able to connect with the story of the brand and the product simultaneously. Similarly, creating a mobile app, if appropriate, is another successful way to reach key audiences. As mobile is predicted to be the future platform of choice for social media use, it would be beneficial for brands that have or can seamlessly develop communication that is mobile-app appropriate, to consider developing a brand engagement strategy for mobile communications on various platforms, such as IOS and Android (eModeration). Whether social media is viewed simply as another platform for brand engagement or the way of the future for connection, the reality is that the teen audience does not know life without social media. If brands intend on engaging with this audience, they need to go where their audience is. If they aren’t on Twitter, for example, brands should not spend a large amount of resources on developing a Twitter strategy. If they are on Facebook, however, it is appropriate to spend more time and resources on Facebook. Pink Nation does an excellent job of this by spending the majority of their efforts on Facebook and the app, updating the Twitter feed less because this platform has a much smaller following and less engagement from audiences, especially their target audience. 78 3. Strategy: Give Teens the Power Tactics: This is one of the most essential strategies for creating and growing engagement with teens. Like Victoria’s Secret did with Pink Nation and the collegiate line, an essential way to keep the teen market coming back is to give them power. There are many ways to give teens power: brands can motivate teens to start a movement to get products at their schools or for their favorite teams, like Victoria’s Secret. Additionally, brands can also create products based on user suggestions, like Nike and Victoria’s Secret. By allowing them to take control of the products they can buy or implementing changes based on their suggestions, teens will feel that the brand is on their side, and that they have played a role in creating it, resulting in natural brand loyalty and advocacy. Another consideration with regard to power is whether or not it is appropriate for the brand to manage the community or try to blend in. Brands must consider if they always be the conversation starter? Should they be allowed to remove or alter content on the platforms? Should they actively seek out target community members and “follow” or “friend” them on different platforms? When considering social media and content management, it is important to consider exactly how much power should and can be given to community members. The author’s recommendation for these circumstances is: brands should take control when the equity and identity of the brand is at stake; with this in mind, considerations should also be made with respect to tone, conversation flow and topics, as well as the happiness and safety of community members. 79 4. Strategy: Listen to the Audiences Tactics: Brand managers should not be limited to direct engagement, but also search feeds on Twitter, blogs, YouTube and Facebook to see what audiences are saying about the brand. If desired changes are feasible, make them by directing communications to new platforms, responding to audiences directly, or changing the tone of the conversation. Even if the brand chooses not to correspond on certain platforms, they need to know what is being said about the brand on these platforms. It is important to know where and how the intended and unintended audiences are talking about the brand so that they can develop a response if necessary. It’s imperative that the brand communication and image is controlled and positive to avoid brand hijacking. Whether brands like it or not, engagement will happen with or without their input; they must ensure that they remain in control of the brand positioning and communication. 5. Strategy: Partner with Influencers Tactics: The author’s survey found that peers were considered the most influential factor for teens in using social media and in developing brand loyalty. According to the Ipsos Loyalty study previously cited, “four in ten (41 percent) online Canadians are influenced when those in their social network “like” or “promote” a brand or product” (Ipsos Loyalty). The study also found that this influence was much higher among younger audiences. This means that if a peer or influencer likes a brand, a teen is more likely to like that brand as well. Once teens “like” the brand, the brand can then tell their story and encourage engagement with the audience. 80 As social media taps into our need to belong, it also serves the psychological desire to be similar to our peers. By encouraging the influencers to like the brand, they will in-turn influence those who want to belong and “be cool” through organic Word of Mouth (WOM) campaigns communication and brand advocacy. Monitoring services like Kred can be used to evaluate social media influencers based on their Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ interactions through the number of retweets, replies and shares the user receives to posts. (Schonfeld). This service helps to identify influencers that are not necessarily famous or powerful, but have power and influence over a certain social group or audience. Brands should consider finding and engaging the dominant voice(s) in the crowd and create partnerships with other related brands. In addition to engaging influential members of social circles, brands should consider partnering with other brands that are influential with the teen audience. From celebrities to retail to technology, brand partnerships can be used to leverage the brand identities and access the teen audience, which can be hard to reach and attract. An example of a successful brand partnership to engage the teen audience was demonstrated by Pose and Levis. By partnering with the fashion app Pose as an official brand, Levi’s has access to a large audience of primarily teenaged fashion enthusiasts. Levi’s can control the communication and multimedia images, as well as gain insight and feedback from a targeted yet hard to reach consumer audience, without having to create their own app. Pose on the other hand, benefits from having a successful and established brand on the platform. 81 6. Strategy: 24/7 Screens: Engagement Doesn’t Take Weekends Off Tactics: This is arguably one of the most important lessons for any brand that wants to engage with audiences online. Consumers do not take weekends, holidays or vacations off from social media engagement: they are always on, all of the time. Therefore, it is important to have strategies and structure in place to ensure that customer service and satisfaction are always being met, and that engagement stays up and positive. Two simple ways to ensure that consumers feel connected to the brand are to pre-set Tweets to send at a certain time for customers across the country or world to read at times appropriate to their location/time zone, or promoting Tweets so that they stay at the top of users’ feeds when they access Twitter. Additionally, brands should have an automated response system or at least a strategy for responding to Tweets containing keywords that indicate a problem or a positive affirmation; this way, a consumer will not go two or three days without a response to a Tweet he or she sent on a Friday night. Brand Channel has found that “users are more likely to engage…on Sundays. Between Monday and Saturday, engagement rates decline” and “user engagement rates peak between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.” (Brand Channel). It is important that brands continue to provide content for audiences, especially when they are looking for it. 7. Strategy: Talk the talk. Tactics: It is imperative that both the language and tone used to communicate with teens online are relatable, believable and understandable. Do not use words or concepts that are unfamiliar, and make sure that conversation is created around situations that are relevant to the audience, like applying for college, dating, sports, homework, etc. 82 As Millennial generation researcher and blogger, Carol Philips, stated, “brands make poor friends” (eModeration 4). When a brand uses social media in the wrong way they risk “at best, brand invisibility- simply not being noticed by teens, or ignored; at worst, a lasting lack of credibility by doing something considered to be deeply ‘uncool’” (eModeration 4). Brands must balance appropriateness and to ensure that they maintain the trust of parents of teens online, while also keeping teens happy by treating –and speaking to them—as adults (eModeration 4). 8. Strategy: Be Authentic. Be Original. Tactics: The theme of authentic, organic communication is prevalent in social media, but it is especially necessary when dealing with teen audiences. Teens want new and relevant information, but they also do not want to feel as if an adult is interacting with them or telling them what to do. It is extremely important that brands interact with teen audiences in a way that seems natural and authentic. For example, when posting on Facebook or Twitter, if a conversation is started, the tone should be friendly and interesting, as well as inviting to new participants. 9. Strategy: Keep the “Social” in “Social Media” Tactics: While it is important to always listen, it is equally important to contribute regularly to the conversation. If brand representatives never respond to Tweets, or Facebook comments, the brand’s engagement will drop dramatically, especially when dealing with the teen audience. Engagement must be ongoing: keep the conversation current and constant. Teens will quickly lose interest and find a more exciting brand if the conversation becomes infrequent or boring: keep content fresh and exciting. 83 10. Strategy: Remember the Brand Mantra. Tactics: Stay true to the brand’s identity and help reinforce brand equity by ensuring that the engagement strategies are aligned with the mantra of the brand. Nike does an excellent job of this through their campaigns and events, by supporting the future of athletes and athletics through the combination of online and offline events that stay true to the physical experience of the brand. It is important that social media engagement be an extension of the engagement and equity that already exists for the brand. Engagement should feel authentic and organic for the consumer and the brand; it is risky for brand equity and potentially harmful to the reputation of the brand to misuse social media platforms. Social media is potentially more powerful than traditional media as content is instantly sharable and can reach a variety of different audiences faster and be skewed by readers in the dissemination process. Thus, as will all communication, put the brand equity and consumer first: do not communicate in a manner, whether in tone or content, that could potentially harm the brand. The golden rule: do not put anything online that you wouldn’t put in a press release. 84 Conclusion Research has demonstrated that social media is a vital platform for developing brand loyalty and creating brand advocates and evangelists. As social media remains a “third space,” and the primary source of entertainment and information for the teen audience and beyond, its power to promote brand loyalty should not be overlooked nor underestimated. The basis for brand loyalty and advocate creation is interaction between the brand and the target audience(s). The process of using social media to create brand advocates begins with a quality interaction that leaves a positive and resulting impression on the current or target consumer, this cycle is shown in Figure 3. Whether the consumer is interacting directly with the brand, or witnessing an interaction between the brand and other consumers, the tone and resulting brand impression from the interaction is critical in building brand loyalty and encouraging future engagement. Brands must remember that brand loyalty creation can happen even if the target audience isn’t talking or “liking” back. According to a recent study from Forrester Research, almost 70% of consumers are just “watchers,” meaning that they do not participate in conversations or even “like” pages or posts, but they are watching the interactions on brands’ pages as well as consuming the pushed communication from the brand (Dembosky). It is important that all communication promote positive brand associations, for both the active and inactive consumers. If a “watcher” observes a brand consistently responding to questions and comments from users, creating sharable content, and offering contests with attractive 85 rewards, this current or potential consumer could be left with a positive association and an increased sense of loyalty to the brand. It takes more than one positive experience with the brand to create loyalty, but once brand loyalty has been established, how does it translate to advocacy with the teen audience? With a constant flow of information, messages and images, it takes more than a successful and reliable product to move inventory: consumers need a reason to stay loyal to brands. In the world of Web 2.0, two-way communication has taken center stage. Brands cannot push a status or Tweet once or twice a week to their audience and consider this engagement anymore. Communication is happening every day, all day, thus brand communication needs to be continuous as well as authentic, interesting, and exciting. Additionally, brands must be aware that any communication, whether offline or online, has the potential to become social. Brands need to engage in the conversation with teens, while keeping the tone positive and the topics relevant to the audience. Additionally, with Web 2.0, content should be sharable in order to reach new audiences and expand the brand’s reach. Multimedia should be a key part of this sharable communication. Just as the author’s survey found that YouTube is second only to Facebook of most used websites among teens, other research has supported the use of multimedia in engagement to capture the interest of audiences and promote sharing (PRSA International Conference). In addition to identifying ways to get the teen audience to engage, another goal for brands is to create incentives for audiences to become and stay loyal. It is important to give audiences a reason to keep coming back to the brand through intrinsic or extrinsic 86 motivation, or a combination of both. One of the most influential conclusions from the author’s survey is that audiences today, in particular the teen audience, need an incentive to act. The incentives of choice for the teen audience are extrinsic rewards in the form of contests, giveaways, and special deals. Bottom line: teens want free stuff. To create loyal brand advocates, especially among teens, brands need to use a combination of extrinsic incentives as well as loyalty-building communication to motivate the audience. The pressure for successful engagement and loyalty creation strategies is greatest for retail, as this is the sector teens are most interested in engaging with. Nike, DKNY and Victoria’s Secret offer examples of engagement strategies that have helped to encourage peer-to-peer marketing online, which has been identified as one of the most ideal forms of influence to encourage engagement and loyalty with brands among the teen audience. By working with community influencers and other relevant brands, these three brands constantly work to create and grow engagement through peer influence on their many platforms. As research and the author’s survey have shown, peer-to-peer marketing and influence play a tremendous role in the development of brand loyalty, as teens strive to “fit in” with peers. By using peers to motivate brand loyalty, brands are simultaneously offering teens the extrinsic motivator of “fitting in” with their peers. Brands need to value the role of peer influencers as brand advocates, particularly with the teen audience. While celebrity endorsement has been a staple tactic of marketing and public relations promotion, there is arguably more value in using peers as advocates. These peer influencers are not only helping teens identify trends and brands, but also to 87 find organic and reliable sources of information. According to Jennifer Hyman, co- founder of the “Netflix of fashion,” Rent The Runway: The next phase of "Social 2.0" is about differentiating the people you trust from those you don't trust as much and having people you trust help you comb through the massive selection we have on the Web. We don't have a search problem anymore. What we have now is a browsing problem. We think that this is going to be fixed through organic social communities (Bosker). In addition to partnering with influencers in social circles, it is also important to consider partnering with influencers that have a large reach among desired and target audiences. This includes bloggers, vloggers (YouTube influencers), and other brands and platforms that are successful at engaging the teen audience. For example, Pose has become a springboard app for brands that want to target the teen audience but haven’t been successful on other social media platforms, as well as brands that have lost their relevancy with this audience. Brands such as Gap and Bath and Body Works have partnered with Pose due to its large teen consumer base. It is much more efficient for brands to partner with social media platforms that have access to their target audience, than to try and create their own platforms, such as apps, or launch extensive marketing campaigns that could get lost in daily communication and advertising. By using existing social media platforms to leverage the brand such as Foursquare and Pinterest, brands can access target audiences faster, cheaper, and with more direct influence than ever before. Social media has helped brands in general increase sales and reputation: social media users claim that they trust brands that are on social media more and the majority state that content on brands’ social media profiles influences their purchasing decisions (Social5). 88 While social media offers the potential for brands to access new audiences, it is imperative for brands to remember that they must continue to tell their stories as they would in traditional media and offline, just like Nike, DKNY and Victoria’s Secret. Brands must work to create “relevant, engaging and rewarding experiences” for the consumer online (Brand Channel). Without a doubt these three brands will continue to maintain strong brand equity with the loyalty of strong advocates behind them as they have realized the importance of knowing their audiences; creating opportunities for their audiences to have control and influence; and providing new and exciting experiences and information. Nike, Victoria’s Secret and DKNY demonstrate the benefits of engagement experiences on social media that reinforce the brand’s mantra while creating authentic content and experiences for the audience. While the social media strategies of these three brands are very different, they all work to meet the needs and wants of their audiences, and in turn create loyal brand advocates. How do we know that their strategies are working? Revenues are up, and the brands continue to be household names. Organic content is created and shared on the brands’ social media platforms that are popular among all audiences, including teens. With these considerations in mind, in addition to the recommendations for developing teen brand advocates, there is a huge potential for brands to successfully develop teens into loyal brand advocates and evangelists. It takes time build a successful online engagement strategy, but by keeping the needs and wants of consumer at the forefront of the brand strategy, it is possible. If brands remain loyal to the consumers’ experience with the brand both online and offline, brand advocacy is sure to follow. It is 89 important to remember that brand loyalty and advocacy must be based on engagement that is consistently aligned with the personality of the brand, while upholding the reputation of the brand. It is imperative to remember that social engagement strategies should remain true to the brand mantra and support brand equity at all times. It is not worth engaging on social media if the outcome does not build brand equity. Ultimately, social media engagement is an extension of public relations efforts. Social media engagement should be used to extend the brand to reach target audiences of potential and current consumers online, while keeping internal and external stakeholders in mind at all times. 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Please choose the option that best describes you:  All the time (1)  Several times a day (2)  Several times a week (3)  Once a week (4)  A few times a month (5)  Hardly ever (6) Q3 Which of the following social media sites do you or have you used (please check all that apply):  Twitter (1)  Facebook (2)  MySpace (3)  Tumblr (4)  YouTube (5)  Flickr (6)  Technorati (7)  Digg (8)  Other (9) ____________________ Q4 Do you use any social media mobile apps (i.e. Instagram or Pose)?  Yes (1)  No (2) 99 Q5 How do you primarily access social media? Please choose all of the options that are relevant to you:  On my cell phone (1)  On my computer (2)  On a handheld game or music device (iPod, MP3 player, PSP) (3)  On a computer at school (4)  On a friend's computer (5)  On computers at a library or at free internet cafes (6) Q6 Do the following factors influence your reason for using social media? Absolutely (1) Mostly (2) Neither Yes/Nor No (3) Somewhat (4) Not At All (5) To connect with family (1)      To connect with friends (2)      To make new friends (3)      To see what is popular with my peers (4)      To connect/follow my favorite brands or products (5)      To connect with my favorite actors or artists (6)      100 Q7 Do you have a favorite brand(s)? Please choose the statement that best describes you:  Yes! I have at least 5-10 favorite brands (1)  Yes. A few brands that I love (2)  Not really. I just buy what I like/need (3)  No! I don't care about that kind of stuff (4) Q8 How loyal do you consider yourself to be to any brands? (Loyal meaning you consistently buy the same brand because you love or respect it, and consciously choose not to buy another brand that makes the same or a similar product.)  Very loyal (1)  Pretty loyal (2)  Neither loyal, nor disloyal (3)  Somewhat loyal (4)  Not loyal at all (5) Q9 Which of the following has been the most influential in your development of brand loyalty to particular brands?  Parents (1)  Friends (2)  Entertainment (TV/movies) (3)  Social media (4)  Celebrities (5) Q10 Do you follow brands on social media? Please choose the statement that best describes you:  Yes! I love to “like” their pages on Facebook and talk with them on Twitter (1)  Sometimes. I’ve liked a couple of my favorite brands’ pages (2)  Not really. Maybe I’ve looked at a brand’s Twitter feed (3)  No, I never have (4) Q11 I do (or would) interact with brands on social media to (choose all that apply):  learn about promotions, contests, or special deals (1)  have input on products and to learn about future products (2)  communicate ideas, requests, or problems with the brand or products (3)  show support for the company/brands/products (4)  be similar to friends or family that engage with the same brand(s) (5) 101 Q12 Please rank the following categories of brands that you are most likely to interact with on social media? Please rank the following (type in 1-6, with 1 being the most likely, 6 being the least likely): ______ Technology (including computers/cell phones) (1) ______ Entertainment (including video games) (2) ______ Sports/athletics (3) ______ Clothing/apparel (including shoes/accessories) (4) ______ Automotive (5) ______ Food (6) Q13 Gender  Male (1)  Female (2) Q14 Age (please fill in) Q15 State  Alabama (1)  Alaska (2)  Arizona (3)  Arkansas (4)  California (5)  Colorado (6)  Connecticut (7)  Delaware (8)  Florida (9)  Georgia (10)  Hawaii (11)  Idaho (12)  Illinois (13)  Indiana (14)  Iowa (15)  Kansas (16)  Kentucky (17)  Louisianna (18)  Maine (19)  Maryland (20)  Massachusetts (21)  Michigan (22)  Minnesota (23) 102  Mississippi (24)  Missouri (25)  Montana (26)  Nebraska (27)  Nevada (28)  New Hampshire (29)  New Jersey (30)  New Mexico (31)  New York (32)  North Carolina (33)  North Dakota (34)  Ohio (35)  Oklahoma (36)  Oregon (37)  Pennsylvania (38)  Rhode Island (39)  South Carolina (40)  South Dakota (41)  Tennessee (42)  Texas (43)  Utah (44)  Vermont (45)  Virginia (46)  Washington (47)  West Virginia (48)  Wisconsin (49)  Wyoming (50)

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This paper examines the influence of social media on the creation and development of brand loyalty among teens. By understanding the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators for brand loyalty, marketers and public relations professionals will better understand how to connect with and influence this key audience. The overriding hypothesis motivating primary and secondary research is that if brands are successfully able to develop brand loyalty in teens between the ages of 13 and 18, then when these consumers reach the critical buying age of 18 to 24, their purchasing motivation will be influenced by the brand loyalty they developed as teens. Additionally, strong brand loyalty can develop into brand evangelism, which encourages organic and influential peer-to-peer marketing and word of mouth campaigns motivated by teens' desire to fit in and be liked by peers.

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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

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Asset Metadata

Creator Savage, Jennifer (author)

Core Title Creating brand evangelists in the 21st century: using brand engagement through social media to develop brand loyalty in teens

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Publication Date 04/26/2012

Defense Date 03/26/2012

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag brand,brand advocates,brand evangelists,branding,engagement,OAI-PMH Harvest,social media,teens

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Floto, Jennifer D. (committee chair), Jackson, Laura Min (committee member), Le Veque, Matthew (committee member)

Creator Email jennyxsavage@yahoo.com,jesavage@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-14134

Unique identifier UC11290241

Identifier usctheses-c3-14134 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-SavageJenn-665.pdf

Dmrecord 14134

Document Type Thesis

Rights Savage, Jennifer

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA