First jobs and promotions drive consumer tech purchases says ‘Content Matters 2016’ report

At what life stages do consumers upgrade their mobiles and tablets? When do they search for information about eating out and travel, what months of the year do consumers search for financial products?

The 2016 ‘Content Matters’ report, released at a roundtable conducted by PRmoment India and WE Communications in Delhi and Mumbai, has answers to these questions across seven sectors including finance and banking, automobiles, travel and tourism, mobile devices and tablets and consumer electronics. The roundtable was attended by firms from the BSFI, healthcare, travel and tourism and beauty products.

Key Findings

WhatsApp is the top social media channel for sharing content followed closely by Facebook. Last year, WhatsApp did not figure in the top channels for content sharing.

According to Siddharth Sankhe, analytics and insights lead for south east Asia and India, Indian consumers are also more likely to promote their favourite brands than European consumers.

Heena Kanal, head -corporate communications & Global Centre of Excellence for PR for Marico who attended the roundtable in Mumbai said that in order to engage with consumers its important to be authentic to your brand values and demonstrate to the consumer that you have the right to be there.

Life Stages

When it comes to life stages, first jobs and promotions are main reasons for changing or upgrading a brand. This is strongly seen in categories such as mobile devices and tables. Interestingly, promotions are the biggest cause for upgrading a car:

For travel and tourism, the biggest reason for search is getting married. Poonam Thakur head, PR and corporate communications at OYO Rooms who attended the roundtable said that,  "Marriage indeed is the most-popular use-case for planning travel - in fact it generates other kinds of holidays like honeymoon, bachelors' and bachelorette trips. There are also other niche categories such as solo travel and all-women travel that have become a focus for content marketing."

Days of the week and buying

According to the content matters report, consumers search with the intention to buy peaks from Friday to Sunday, with maximum searches on Saturday for categories such as restaurants and travel tourism.

The exception is categories such as finance and banking. Consumers typically such for financial information with an intent to buy on Mondays:

Time of the day

When it comes to time of the day, the 5 PM to midnight accounts for one third of the traffic; again the exception is finance where the search takes place between 10.30 AM and 1.00 PM.

Information

In India, word of mouth is a major source of information for potential consumers. For categories such as mobile devices and healthcare this is the main source of information for buying decisions.

Commenting on this, Nitin Thakur, director - brand & communication, Max India Limited, said that, “Marketers need to shift from collecting fans to connecting with them. Satisfied customers and patients do provide positive word of mouth if you can convince them that they are important to you and their experiences matter.”

Carolyn Camoens, senior vice president, south east Asia, WE Communications said that for healthcare the content should address the issue of transparency so that a consumer can be fully informed of key factors such as cost of healthcare and the right doctor.

Keeping storytelling simple 

Carolyn also pointed to the need to keep our stories simple, giving the example of how GE Healthcare gave an MRI machine to an archeological dig to highlight the depth of information possible. This story appeared in the National Geographic allowing GE to share the benefits of an MRI machine to a wider audience.

Sharing her insights around storytelling, Indu Anand, head of communications, BAE Systems India said that, " The company uses Facebook and Twitter for current and future employee engagement. She also said that the narrative for BAE Systems is about protecting national  security and people, and keeping critical information and infrastructure secure. The ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government of India provides a great framework for the BAE Systems story in India.

The report is based on a study of 900 consumer respondents from Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru.