Brand Perception of Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin via Perceptual Mapping

Perceptual Mapping is something I learned from Proff. Uday Bhate in my Business Intelligence class and it is pretty interesting. It is a way to get consumer insight from the consumer by having them actually draw on a map. Perceptual mapping helps to communicate the relationship between competitors and the criteria used by consumers while making purchase decisions. Perceptual maps, being simple graphic figures, can pave the path towards strategic thinking and trigger discussions. Rating scales provide the data required for perceptual mapping. These rating scales will have the subjects of the map described on the basis of selected attributes. The term of validity of the map depends on the overall set of attributes as well as the subjects.

The Map has the following Characteristics:

1) Pair-wise distances between product alternatives directly indicate how close or far apart the products are in the minds of customers.

2) A vector on the map indicates both magnitude and direction in the Euclidean space. Vectors are usually used to geometrically denote attributes of the perceptual maps.

3) The axes of the map are a special set of vectors suggesting the underlying dimensions that best characterize how customers differentiate between alternatives.

Objective: of this blog post is to study in very simple terms how the three stalwarts of the social media space – Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin are perceived by a common user (SIBM Students).

Purpose: of carrying out this analysis is to debate whether there is a gap in the respective company’s desired positioning vis-à-vis the actual perception.

Method: Perceptual Maps are easy to interpret graphs that visually display the perceptions of customers about a brand. I have used this technique to display the relative position of Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin across certain key attributes.

Analysis by way of Perceptual Maps:

Attribute 1: Social Networking
Attribute 2: Professional Networking

Results:

• Facebook scores average on personal networking as well as professional networking.
• Facebook users tend to look for and interact more with old friends/acquaintances.
• As less popularity among users twitter score less on social as well as professional networking.
• Twitter users are more open to making new friends – who had been total strangers till they met on Twitter.
• Linkedin’s perception is that of a business/professional networking site. That’s how it has been officially positioned as well.
• Linkedin users also prefer to use this mode for social networking too.

Conclusion:

In the end with the help of perceptual mapping we can draw the meaningful conclusion about the perceptions of the people means what the people think about a particular brand. And with the help of the same companies can target the particular customers where they feel that they are lagging in a particular segment. According to my view, facebook is more about friends and family whom we know reasonably well and would have met some time in life. LinkedIn is basically about professional networking, primarily about ex and present colleagues. It’s a boon for corporate recruiters. Twitter is all about conversations, opinions, creativity, humour and brevity, content rules and it is a boon for celebrities.

So, on the basis of above findings we can say the perceptual mapping is the very powerful tool for analysing people’s perception in today’s era.

Submitted By:

Amit Kumar
12011
SIBM-Bangalore