o first off, a pretty busy weekend with a bit more alcohol than i would have asked for, but it was a blast. Friday was spent at 0bar with friends over drinks. I noticed that the girls were really camera trigger happy (I know, it’s a girl’s thing, guys just find it a little weird to be snapping at each other so happily). Don’t get me wrong, its not a bad thing, it’s a fantastic thing that females like to take pictures for memories and to carry on building stronger relationships with their friends. It was at that point of being still slightly sober that i got inspired for this post. Females are generally known to be the more social creature among humans. They articulate and share their thoughts and expressions better than guys can.
Amazingly, i remembered this study done and pulled it out (yes, on the same night after my 4th shot which was a damn 151) The study which compared the differences between men and women on social networking sites basically says that women spend more time building and nurturing relationships. while men just seek relationships.
So, what? Well, for starters, i think as a marketing or PR professional, this would be good news. We now know that females are more likely to share news, widget or apps with each other more than men. I would like to believe such a behavior to be universally true. David Eddings’ book had a statement that went something like “the bond between females transcends political, religious or racial discriminations…” (But I can’t be sure, it’s just so diverse in Asia).
From Michael’s post, we know China has a huge potential, especially in the 18-24 age group. Great news if I were to build a relationship between this age group of consumers and my brand. I wish there were gender differences in that study!
So to build relationships with your consumers, we know social networking sites are a good way to build relationships. But what products would be more appealing? Would a company selling men’s shaving products do well compared to a female’s facial products company using a social networking site?As I’ve mentioned, 28 people in your Friendster group is not a success, its a laughable joke.
There are other medium besides social networking sites in social Media. How about second life, or MYRL. From this post, it would be interesting to note that females can account for quite a high number of being early adopters to social sites.
So are females easier to target to spread the message through social networking sites? I think it boils down to 3 factors. Firstly, the target audience (duh…). Secondly, the content and purpose of the message and lastly the level of possible interaction on the social networking site between your brand and the targeted consumers.
If any1 has got any interesting and successful gender specific communications or marketing campaigns to share, please do so!!!
For the next post, I’m going to attempt to show one particular growing industry in Singapore which can not only use more of social media, but can bypass the cultural barriers that might be present when importing ideas from the west! Stay tuned!!
social networks are the latest rave in marketing medias. You can get feedback from ur target market, update them with latest happenings, reach out to new customers and wtf its FREE!! check out this example ; http://www.facebook.com/Contiki?ref=s
Hello Mark!
Actually I beg to differ about females being more likely to share blogging tips/widgets etc with others than men. Come on, guys who are tech savvy would be just as likely to share about these new tech applications with their friends!
I do think it’s about the form in which the message is communicated (if you want to talk about gender differences). What would appeal more to the women could be design specific messages; whilst to men it could be factual or more technical. Then again, you have to consider age differences as well – and which target market you are looking at!
what do you think?
Sheryl:
I can’t agree more, thats the beauty of it, call me Singaporean, but I love the fact that its a low costs medium.
As a marketing or PR professional, i think the costs is so easy to justify with its wide reach!
summerloving:
Yup, i do agree with your point. Early adopters like the ones u mentioned about tech bloggers would appeal to male readers due to the nature of the content. As for age groups, i guess social media would appeal more to a target audience of below 35 although i cant be sure.
However, if we’re talking on solely social networking sites, i still think it appeals to women more than men. Although now that i have your female perspective, would you think in a Singaporean context, females spend more time on social networking sites and tend to seek to build relationships? as compared to men who just wanna find friends?
Hmm… I disagree too. From the time i started blogging and engaged in social networks years back, I find that there are alot of males more than females. Most of the A-lister bloggers (in US) are alot of guys. Look at Seth Godin, Jeremiah, Scoble, Brian Solis etc etc… I am struggling to find 3 highly popular female bloggers as I type this.
Hmmm…. Maybe i should have started with social networking sites only include sites like Facebook, Hifive, Myspace, etc. haha, I never considered the blogosphere as i was typing this.
Regardless, yes, i agree in terms of the blogosphere that various communities have stronger male presence. Tech blogs are usually male dominated, but i think lifestyle bloggers like Xiaxue with a high following are worth mentioning. I guess like summerlove said, the content of the message would appeal to different genders.
So now I’m a little confused. I understand blogs are definitely a site where there is social activity, but when we use the term “social networking sites”, does it include the blogosphere as well? Pardon my ignorance!