Think Social Media Doesn’t Matter? Think again!
A New Study by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research found that consumers are twice as likely to make purchases from brands that they follow on facebook(51% more likely to buy) or twitter(67% more likely to buy). (via Econsultancy Blog)
Facebook Twitter Report
Still think social media is over-rated and over-hyped?
Today we found out from analytics service Hitwise(via techcrunch) that Facebook.com received more U.S. traffic than google.com.
For the critics and naysayers – who think social media is just a fad and will soon be forgotten, you can no longer dispute the reality of the numbers. According to the Nielsen Wire, in January alone the average person spent 7 hours on facebook, compared with 2 hours on google. It doesn’t get more sticky than that folks.
To top that off, facebook is naturally viral. If you build an app or a fan page, and it’s fun, educational, or entertaining people will share it, and you can easily get your brand in front of millions more people than you could had you only done search engine marketing, banner ads on popular websites, ads on adwords or other pay per click search engines, etc..
Why do people buy from brands on facebook, or twitter? One word: Trust.
If you go around asking people to trust you and buy your products (i.e. conventional marketing and advertising) the statistic is it takes at least 7-12 views of your ad to move a buyer to action, if they are even movable. If a friend who’s already built a level of trust were to refer the same product it would take much less to persuade the user to try that product or service.
This is why blogging is so popular and why many bloggers make good income. Bloggers don’t get rich from adsense ads, or from selling ads on their site, though some can make good money off those. They make their money from reviewing products and services. Whether someone paid them for the review or they get an affiliate payment based on sales, they make money. Blogs with a lot of good content build trust, and therefore readers are more likely to buy from a trusted blogger than from a product creator they don’t know.
Lets dig deeper into that study, shall we?
Of the 1500 consumers surveyed in the study, 60 % of people on facebook and 79% on twitter were more likely to recommend a brand after they’ve followed a company. This builds trust, because instead of you trying to sell something, your customers’ friends are selling it for you.
Why is twitter coming out a bit ahead? It’s simply that they are different networks with different paradigms. Twitter is about sharing little micro-moments with friends, family, and colleagues. Facebook’s fan pages on the other hand are about showing appreciation, or interacting with the brand.
For instance a fan page can be used as a FAQ, or as a place for customers to show their appreciation, or distaste – which you can address publicly for others who might be experiencing the same dissatisfaction, and by addressing it publicly it shows that you care about your customers which paints you in a better light. An alternative would be for you not to have a page, then when someone does have a bad experience they might create a negative page about your company thus spreading negativity and ire. One way or another your company’s products or services will likely end up being mentioned in social media, by being proactive you can make that a positive experience for people, or let others control the fate of your reputation – ultimately it’s your choice.
One key component of the success or failure of a brand on facebook or twitter is it’s involvement. It’s obviously not possible for every business, especially small businesses to staff social media coordinators, but someone must step up and be the voice of the company. I recommend when you do reach the stage where you can afford one, that you must hire a good PR person who has special emphasis in social media.
Having a facebook page with no updates, or a twitter account with no tweets will not get your brand out there. Also it can’t all be about yourself, and your products, there needs to be a feeling of connection with your followers and fans. People want to know there’s a real person behind the account, and it’s not just retweets or aggregated content being rechurned.
Your social media portfolio needs to focus on more than just making sales. It’s about building your brand. I like to use a 30/30/40 rule. That is to say 30% products/services, 30% customer service, and 40% interesting and engagine content Ultimately it’s the interesting news stories, or content that will get your followers to share you with their friends. In the age of information overload, every little bit or byte online is vieing for attention, and with so much to do or see – you need to stand out and keep viewers attention. If you fail to engage your followers, and keep their interest they will unfollow and it’ll be twice as hard to get them to re-follow. Twitterers and facebookers need to know that they are an important part of your business.
One person asked me via twitter what’s the big deal about social media, doesn’t all media include people and therefore make it social?
My response was that with regular old school media, I could be watching a broadcast, and that’s it. It’s single sided, there’s no flip-side. In the world of 2.0 old media is boring, and dieing – take the Newspaper industry for example. Today some news shows integrate social media to the point that they will broadcast interesting tweets live, or answer user questions as they come in.
The bottom line is this: Social media isn’t the media, it’s the social, it’s the interaction. Media isn’t new, video isn’t new, sharing stuff via email isn’t new – but having a way to leave a small comment on a company’s twitter account and having them address you publicly is a big deal. A lot of it’s also about the feeling of importance one gets when someone famous, or a famous brand actually reaches out to you, or someone you know and personally answers their questions.
Hopefully if you’re still on the line about taking your company social, this blog post will move you in the right direction, and if you still don’t think social matters – leave me a comment as to why and I’ll be sure to address it for you.
Like this blog post? Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Facebook!
Related articles by Zemanta
- Hitwise: People get their news from Facebook and Google – not Twitter (venturebeat.com)
- How Can Social Media Benefit Marketing? (ricksrss.com)
- Facebook traffic tops Google for the week (money.cnn.com)
- Facebook and Twitter Making a Major Impact on Purchase Decisions [STATS] (mashable.com)
- 18 reasons a social media snake oil salesman might want out (directmarketingobservations.com)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=c1f69611-47ef-4a2b-b9b7-359ee596f524)
When you look at Facebook toppling Google in terms of hits then you will realise that social media is here to stay and a top priority for business!
Article on this here – http://www.in-business.org.uk/forum/showthread….
When you look at Facebook toppling Google in terms of hits then you will realise that social media is here to stay and a top priority for business!
Article on this here – http://www.in-business.org.uk/forum/showthread….
[...] work for all companies. It’s easy to think if you’re in B2B that you don’t need facebook or twitter and can just deal with linked-in, but some B2B can actually gain more from Twitter than a B2C can. [...]
[...] sharing features of it and the news feed are what set it apart as something more, and the nature of social media adopters to be in it for networking with friends, colleagues, and more rather than just looking for [...]
Hi Patrick
Great post!
I 100% agree that social-media marketing is a force to be reckoned with. After all, people do business with people (or 'brands') they like and trust, and social media provides the bridge between companies and consumers.