Comments on: Social Media Works for Business, Study Says

By: Spotlight Ideas » Top 250 Blog Posts – Advertising, Marketing, Digital, Media and PR

Thu, 13 May 2010 15:09:12 +0000

[...] Social Media Works for Business, Study Says – Marketing Profs – Mar ‘10 [...]

By: Paul Chaney

Paul Chaney — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:20:49 +0000

I’m 100% on board with you there. Social media is about people. It puts them in the forefront. It’s what makes this medium unique.

By: Paul Chaney

Paul Chaney — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:12:26 +0000

With 40% of all social media interactions being routed through Facebook, it is certainly evolving into a place where it lays claim to ownership of the new Web. From an operating system standpoint. With the new version of Facebook Connect being what it is, that number will only get larger.

By: Paul Chaney

Paul Chaney — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:07:44 +0000

I’m with you there Harry. Social and search go together like peanut butter and jelly.

By: John

John — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:33:04 +0000

I have seen some really great examples of small businesses using social media really well and others that don’t do so well. The ones that do well are engaging with their audience, not just advertising to them. It has to have personality, no matter how big or small the brand is otherwise it is about as exciting as just another ad on tv.

By: Paul Chaney

Paul Chaney — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 04:06:41 +0000

Kevin, I refuse to have cold water thrown on this little bit of good news. Rather, I remain optimistic that the 51% will turn into 61, then 71, and so on.

By: Paul Chaney

Paul Chaney — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 04:03:50 +0000

Shonali, what you suggest is exactly what I tell people in seminars — ID goals and objectives, then determine which tools are most appropriate to use. We get the “cart before the horse” all too often. (Throwing in a little overused cliche of my own. Heh.)

By: Paul Chaney

Paul Chaney — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 04:00:51 +0000

Results are key to be sure. As such, measurement is required. You have to “inspect what you expect.”

By: Paul Chaney

Paul Chaney — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:27:54 +0000

Thanks Lucila. I appreciate the kind words. It is nice to have numbers that validate what we all know (at least hope) to be true.

By: Web Social, últimas investigaciones confirman su influencia en las ventas.

Web Social, últimas investigaciones confirman su influencia en las ventas. — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:16:39 +0000

[...] Los hechos indican que los medios de comunicación social trabajan para las empresas. Los consumidores que se concentran ahí, esperan que usted esté allí, y te recompensará con su atención y el clientelismo. Se necesita decir más? fuente: MarketingProfs [...]

By: Andrew Billmann

Andrew Billmann — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:36:04 +0000

Has anyone come to the conclusion–after 10 to 15 years of observing online marketing and online business practices–that just when you think you have it figured out, it all changes? From AOL to Geocities to Napster to MySpace, isn’t it obvious?

If businesses have their way (and they always do), Facebook will evolve into a giant online tradeshow. Heck, it’s practically that way now.

Isn’t it ironic that we destroy the very things we seek?

By: Kevin Horne

Kevin Horne — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:19:00 +0000

“It has become commonplace for brands to have a presence on these and other social media sites. Those that don’t face obsolescence.”

Stop it. Please.

51% of Facebook fans are more likely to buy etc etc … means 49% are not.

By: harry hallman

harry hallman — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:22:16 +0000

Thanks Paul. The study should help a little in explaining why brands should be using social media.

Another good reason to use SM is the effect it has on search engine optimization. The more digital footprints the better.

By: Shonali Burke

Shonali Burke — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:17:33 +0000

For those of us who already drink the Kool-Aid (I’ll never understand why *that* became the drink of choice!), yes, this is great for reinforcement and will help with the presentations, teaching, blogging, yadda yadda yadda (another delightful Americanism I’ve picked up).

The one thing I would love folks to focus on is the end result rather than the tools, because I see far too much angst over “how do I do this on Twitter” or “how do I do that on Facebook”… you know what I’m talking about. So to Adriel’s point, it’s critical we teach people to identify their goals and measurable objectives (and yes, I’m obsessed with those two words), work backwards from there, and then identify the mix of social media platforms they’ll add in to their overall marketing mix.

That’s not rocket science – another phrase we seem to beat into the ground – it’s not new, and for the most part, it’s commonsense. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone did it?!

Thanks for a good read, Paul.

By: Andrew B. Clark

Andrew B. Clark — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:51:41 +0000

I like this report for two reasons – 1. it sums up without statistics and analytics the RELATIONSHIP social media has with revenue generation; and 2. it offers a (albeit brief) a great “best practices” for companies looking to utilize social media for marketing.

Is the research/study comprehensive or deep? No, but this site isn’t Neilsen or Forrester.

Social media is about building that relationship and “being where the consumers are.” Today, for many companies, that’s going to be in the outlined social media channels.

Thanks, Paul, for offering the outline. Now it’s up to us marketers to apply it to our customers’ marketing goals and needs to form viable case studies in support.

Thanks for the post!

Andrew B. Clark

By: Anthony Baggett

Anthony Baggett — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 08:01:40 +0000

Certainly, it isn’t the holy grail of SM research, but hey, we have to start somewhere. I welcome any attempt to apply measurement to the medium.

I do think there is a value in this case, even eliciting the “oh sure” type of reaction, since a well developed FB strategy would seek to elicit the response AND keep it. Unfortunately in the trade show analogy, the customer has only temporary exposure to the company and its message with very little engagement after everyone’s gone home.

By: Adriel

Adriel — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:03:04 +0000

It’s neat to see results of a survey of intent but I’d be more interested to see whether it really makes a difference on the bottom line.

I’m sure customers surveyed after seeing a vendor’s tradeshow booth would show a similar boost in “oh sure, I’d recommend those guys someday” type of answer. Does that = massive improvement in referrals and sales? You’d have to try to measure it to find out.

You’d have to close the loop on sales and see exactly how many sales are Facebook fans/friends of fans and try to determine if it made a real difference to bring in the sale or not.

By: Lucila

Lucila — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:12:26 +0000

Nice to read a report that finally validates what we where talking about!! Lot of us trusted on social media profiles almost blindly or by examples or case studies. But when you com across someone you have to get to see your point of view numbers are ussually a great tool.
I also liked the list of tips you described, Paul. It’s short and clear, straight to the point… I love it!

By: Bill Pollak

Bill Pollak — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:01:28 +0000

What I missed when I first looked at this was that this was a measure of likelihood of buying or recommending *after* engaging as a Facebook fan or Twitter follower. So the relationship with the brand gets reinforced and strengthened by Facebook and Twitter. I buy that. Thanks!

By: Bill Pollak

Bill Pollak — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:59:10 +0000

Hi. I didn’t read the article as carefully as I should have before writing the comment above. You could have me some embarrassment by disapproving the comment and not publishing it.

Thanks.

By: Paul Chaney

Paul Chaney — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:47:50 +0000

Good point Bill. Well-taken. I’m not sure the cause-effect scenario is as clear-cut as you suggest, but I’m not going to deny that there isn’t a relationship. Chicken-egg. Regardless, my main message to brands is that they need to be actively engaged in social media, as it provides their loyal customers with yet another avenue by which to engage with them.

By: Bill Pollak

Bill Pollak — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:41:32 +0000

The assumption of this article is that the engagement of these audiences with these brands was *caused* by their having a presence in Facebook or Twitter. But it seems to me that the connection with the brands existed before the brands Facebook pages or a presence in Twitter. We know that there are people who identify strongly with certain brands and that associating themselves with these brands says something about them that they want to convey to other people (or enhances their personal brands, to put it another way). So of course the Twitter followers and Facebook fans will be more likely to buy or recommend than those who don’t follow the brands on Twitter or Facebook; but Facebook and Twitter are effects, not causes.