Today, CIC released its latest white paper Making Sense of IWOM – Topic Three: How Brands Can Participate in Online Communities. This white paper is the final installment in a series of three white papers, including two earlier studies, “The Role of Internet Word of Mouth in Purchase Decisions” and “How IWOM is generated and disseminated.”

The findings in this study are based on comprehensive qualitative and quantitative offline research conducted by CIC in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu. Topic 3 looks to evaluate consumer online behavior and provide suggestions for how brands can participate in online communities based on these consumer preferences. Below are some top-line findings and highlights from the study.

Do netizens want companies to listen to IWOM and participate in online communities?
The majority of netizens are positive towards companies listening to IWOM and participating in online communities.

• 52.7% of netizens interviewed responded positively to the idea of companies listening to IWOM.
• 47.2% of respondents do want companies to participate in online communities so that they can communicate with the companies directly.

About 40% of respondents are indifferent to companies listening and participation with concerns over the sincerity and motivations of companies’ listening to IWOM and participating in online communities.

How should companies participate in online communities?
Based on the research, netizens’ online communication platform preferences are as follows:

• 68% of respondents prefer to communicate with brands on third-party BBS over other platforms.
• 37.3% of respondents prefer to communicate with brands on company BBS hosted on an official website.
• 24.5% of respondents prefer to communicate with brands on a company blog hosted on an official website.
• 10.8% of respondents prefer to communicate with brands on a company blog hosted on a third-party website.

CIC recommends that companies abide by the following e-community participation principles: be transparent about their participation, use friendly behavior, avoid interrupting the community dynamic, respect efluencers’ independence and be fair in response to complaints.

What kinds of online campaigns will attract netizens’ participation?
Based on the research, CIC found consumer preferences for campaign activities and rewards.

• Entertainment-driven activities are the most attractive to netizens overall, followed by product experience activities.
• Male respondents had more passion towards communication-driven activities and lottery driven activities; female respondents preferred product experience and event-driven activities.
• Cash or gift items were the most attractive rewards to netizens, followed by opportunities to join offline activities and free product trials.
• Male netizens care more about the emotional satisfaction of being recognized during the activity; female netizens prefer more practical incentives such as financial incentives or experience opportunities.

Below is the full report:

Send me a message to jason.zhanjia@in2marcom.com if you want a PDF version.

Disclosure: CIC was my former employer from August 2006 to June 2009.