Do you find yourself telling almost everyone about the great pub that gives outstanding service and serves the best parmas? Or how about tweeting an unforgettable experience with the friendliest sales staff on a weekend shopping trip?

If you do, then you’re part of the 43% of Australians who will actively recommend brands that they like to others. The Australian Brand Engagement Study, commissioned by Encoder Public Relations, also found that Australians are strong brand loyals, with 43% agreeing that they stick with brands that they know and trust as opposed to trailing a new brand.

The study, which was done on Encoder PR’s latest research tool, The Audience Planner, analysed media usage, attitudes to marketing and consumer behaviour towards media and content to determine internet platform usage, awareness to advertising and brand loyalty. Audience Planner, launched yesterday, will have the capability to inform brand communication planning processes and enhance the effectiveness of consumer engagement strategy by pinpointing behaviours of target consumers.

According to Daniel Young, general manager of Encoder PR, the effectiveness of PR and customer engagement programs is largely determined by how well a brand understands its target consumer and the way they consume media.

“Different types of consumers will interact with media in different ways and the brand engagement strategy needs to reflect that,” says Young.

Young also acknowledges the difficulty for brands to “reach and engage specific audience groups” due to the current fragmented media environment and advocates the need for marketers to consider all forms of media, including social media and internet channels.

Audience Planner segments digital users into six different lifestyle types:

1. Influencers – passionate social networkers who blog, have a strong online presence and want as many people as possible to hear their online voice
2. Knowledge seekers – internet users who speak to like-minded people and research through websites and forums to gain knowledge and make learned decisions
3. Aspirers – strong mobile device users who want to do more of everything and to create a personal space online
4. Communicators – individuals who express themselves via various social media channels, face to face or even through mobile usage
5. Networkers – bargain seekers who are happy to talk to brands about what they want, though not out there to voice opinions
6. Functionals – emails, news, sports and weather are the main reasons to go online and communication and self-expression is kept to a minimal on the internet

“Researching and understanding your specific audiences and the choices they are making about all forms of media is key” says Young.