Stats on social media effectiveness
January 5, 2010 6:06 PM Subscribe
I'm looking for research/statistics on how social media influences consumer behavior. Please help.
So I'm looking to collect as much data/research/stats as possible on social media and how it influences consumer behavior. Lots of companies are spending lots of time and effort on social media, but is there any data so far on how it works, who it influences?
For instance, Twitter: Do people make purchasing decisions based on things they've read there? If so, is there any demographic breakdown available?
Facebook fan pages: Are retailers and brands actually making any money or creating any loyalty with these?
Any other data on how social media can move the needle?
So I'm looking to collect as much data/research/stats as possible on social media and how it influences consumer behavior. Lots of companies are spending lots of time and effort on social media, but is there any data so far on how it works, who it influences?
For instance, Twitter: Do people make purchasing decisions based on things they've read there? If so, is there any demographic breakdown available?
Facebook fan pages: Are retailers and brands actually making any money or creating any loyalty with these?
Any other data on how social media can move the needle?
Yep, it's definitely out there, though you may have to gather it on your own and/or pay for it. Here's a study on the influence of social media for purchasing decision in various topics, here's a study of the influence of social media on video watching habits
Here's a 101 from mashable on how to track social media analytics. Honestly you're better off tracking success on your own and developing your own benchmarks based on internal data. It's certainly possible to conduct a successful social media campaign, but success metrics are going to vary widely from campaign to campaign. This is what I do on a day to day basis and people definitely get caught up in 'industry averages' and things like that, so better to get a sense of what's going on in the industry, understand that it's possible, then work your own numbers from there.
Some more places to look for basic info/industry data on this kind of stuff is marketingcharts, emarketer, and forrester.
posted by jourman2 at 7:55 PM on January 5, 2010
Here's a 101 from mashable on how to track social media analytics. Honestly you're better off tracking success on your own and developing your own benchmarks based on internal data. It's certainly possible to conduct a successful social media campaign, but success metrics are going to vary widely from campaign to campaign. This is what I do on a day to day basis and people definitely get caught up in 'industry averages' and things like that, so better to get a sense of what's going on in the industry, understand that it's possible, then work your own numbers from there.
Some more places to look for basic info/industry data on this kind of stuff is marketingcharts, emarketer, and forrester.
posted by jourman2 at 7:55 PM on January 5, 2010
After I posted I found two more articles, one about how dell has done $6.5 million worth of sales via twitter and another from emarketer on tactics that social media marketers are using and where they've been successful.
Poke around, it's out there. Social media isn't drastically different from other types of media, just a slightly different tactic. You can use a lot of the tools that you'd normally use to measure media effectiveness.
posted by jourman2 at 8:01 PM on January 5, 2010
Poke around, it's out there. Social media isn't drastically different from other types of media, just a slightly different tactic. You can use a lot of the tools that you'd normally use to measure media effectiveness.
posted by jourman2 at 8:01 PM on January 5, 2010
Search around on this site. It has a lot of good information.
posted by bunny hugger at 6:04 AM on January 6, 2010
posted by bunny hugger at 6:04 AM on January 6, 2010
Check out the Feed report from Razorfish. It has a lot of great stats around online engagement as it relates to purchase decisions. However, it's important to note that their sample base is what they define as a "connected" consumer, not the average consumer. Their assertion is that today's connected consumer will become tomorrow's average consumer, which I tend to agree with, but you should just keep that in mind as you read the report. http://feed.razorfish.com/
Lots of folks (myself include) also keep links of social media statistics and case studies as they find them on del.icio.us. Check these out: http://delicious.com/tag/socialmedia+stats and http://delicious.com/tag/socialmedia+casestudies
Also I would suggest searching Slideshare.net for relevant presentations on social media, which generally include case studies.
Nthing Pew and Mashable as well.
I must also respectfully disagree with ErikaB. Most of the companies I work for (Fortune 100 companies and consumer brands you'd definitely recognize) have realized that social media is of critical importance to their business. The simplest reason is that consumer conversations are increasingly taking place in social media forums, and if brands do not participate (or at the very least listen), they run the risk of being completely shut out in the event of a crisis. United breaks guitars, Domino's pizza, and Maytag are all examples of this. Conversely, brands that have a voice in the conversation fare much better in the event of customer dissatisfaction (Southwest Air, JetBlue, Mattel). HOW the company participates in the conversation may vary, but it almost certainly doesn't require a full staff.
Good luck!
posted by designmartini at 6:41 AM on January 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
Lots of folks (myself include) also keep links of social media statistics and case studies as they find them on del.icio.us. Check these out: http://delicious.com/tag/socialmedia+stats and http://delicious.com/tag/socialmedia+casestudies
Also I would suggest searching Slideshare.net for relevant presentations on social media, which generally include case studies.
Nthing Pew and Mashable as well.
I must also respectfully disagree with ErikaB. Most of the companies I work for (Fortune 100 companies and consumer brands you'd definitely recognize) have realized that social media is of critical importance to their business. The simplest reason is that consumer conversations are increasingly taking place in social media forums, and if brands do not participate (or at the very least listen), they run the risk of being completely shut out in the event of a crisis. United breaks guitars, Domino's pizza, and Maytag are all examples of this. Conversely, brands that have a voice in the conversation fare much better in the event of customer dissatisfaction (Southwest Air, JetBlue, Mattel). HOW the company participates in the conversation may vary, but it almost certainly doesn't require a full staff.
Good luck!
posted by designmartini at 6:41 AM on January 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
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The companies that are engaging in social media are tracking those stats (quite closely, too). But they're not going to give up the data without a fight. And/or a massive fee.
The companies that I've worked for have all decided that it's more trouble than it's worth. There is some value in having something like a Facebook page, which doesn't need constant attention. There isn't a concrete way to value "loyalty," but it is presumed to have some value.
Things like Twitter, which take a full-time staff person to manage? Just not worth it.
posted by ErikaB at 7:53 PM on January 5, 2010