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RSSThe study found that the penetration of social media tools within brand and retailer organizations is extremely high, given the length of time these tools have been around:
| Community and Social Networking Tools Employed and Planned (% of Respondents) | ||||
|
| Anticipated Timing | |||
| Network or Tool | Today | Next 12 Months | Beyond 1 Year | No Plans to Employ |
| Facebook fan page | 86% | 10 | 3 | 1 |
| | 65 | 19 | 7 | 9 |
| Customer reviews | 55 | 26 | 13 | 6 |
| Blogs | 55 | 25 | 12 | 8 |
| Viral videos | 50 | 22 | 13 | 15 |
| Facebook connect | 43 | 31 | 10 | 16 |
| Social listening | 36 | 31 | 19 | 14 |
| Q & A | 29 | 20 | 25 | 26 |
| Community forums | 27 | 18 | 23 | 32 |
| Product suggestion box | 19 | 26 | 20 | 35 |
| Source: e-Tailing Group, September 2009 | ||||
The top three concerns of marketers and merchandisers related to social media:
- Brand degradation fear - "people can trash my products in front of large audiences"?
- Competence fear - "I am using outdated marketing/merchandising techniques"?
- Competitive fear - "customer's inclination to leave their site to find a more socially-engaging site"
These motivators, which drove the last wave of social media adoption, will also be driving the next wave in the coming year, says the study. Over the next 12 months, study respondents say they plan to adopt:
- Facebook Connect (31%)
- Social Listening Tools (31%)
- Customer Reviews (26%)
- Product Suggestions (26%)
The study also found the primary goal for adopting social media was:
- Customer engagement (39%)
- Mobilizing advocates to drive "word of mouth" (30%)
- Increasing brand loyalty (21%)
Lauren Freedman, President of the e-Tailing group, says ?"The integration of community and social networking within e-commerce has reached critical mass... failing to engage consumers via community and social media will have brand and bottom-line implications... "
Regarding advocacy and word of mouth (the #2 goal of using social media tools), the study found that Facebook is considered by brands and merchants to be the "single most effective tactic in mobilizing brand advocates and influencers to spread the word about products/services."
However, when it comes to driving sales and customer engagement, customer reviews came out on top by a wide margin, with 78% of those polled listing customer reviews as the #1 social media tool for generating sales and 61% listing customer reviews #1 in driving customer engagement.
| Top 3 Sites or Tools Expected to Yield Greatest Sales Increase (% of Respondents) | ||||
| Social Media or Tool | Total Response | % Rank 1 | % Rank 2 | % Rank3 |
| Customer reviews | 100 | 78% | 14% | 8% |
| Q & A | 43 | 16 | 49 | 35 |
| Facebook fan page | 39 | 13 | 36 | 51 |
| Viral videos | 34 | 18 | 44 | 38 |
| Community forums | 33 | 6 | 45 | 49 |
| Blogs | 30 | 10 | 47 | 43 |
| Social listening | 22 | 14 | 27 | 59 |
| Facebook connect | 19 | 26 | 32 | 42 |
| Product suggestion box | 17 | 41 | 24 | 35 |
| Twitter publishing | 14 | 7 | 57 | 36 |
| Source: e-Tailing Group, September 2009 | ||||
| Top 3 Sites or Tools Expected to Create Greatest Customer Engagement Increase (% of Respondents) | ||||
| Social Media or Tool | Total Response | % Rank 1 | % Rank 2 | % Rank3 |
| Customer reviews | 67 | 61% | 16% | 23% |
| Q & A | 46 | 20 | 50 | 30 |
| Community forums | 46 | 48 | 26 | 26 |
| Blogs | 43 | 16 | 58 | 26 |
| Facebook fan page | 42 | 31 | 43 | 26 |
| Twitter publishing | 29 | 34 | 14 | 52 |
| Product suggestion box | 27 | 22 | 30 | 48 |
| Viral videos | 24 | 12 | 38 | 50 |
| Facebook connect | 21 | 19 | 29 | 52 |
| Social listening | 6 | 33 | 17 | 50 |
| Source: e-Tailing Group, September 2009 | ||||
Darby Williams, VP of Marketing at PowerReviews, says "... we believe a new marketing baseline has been set with customer engagement and interaction taking center stage."
Please visit the e-Tailing group website here for more information about the study. In addition, A free PowerPoint presentation of survey findings is available to download directly from PowerReviews.
259 people recommend this article.
RSS FEEDS
With the current economic situation, we will see more and more consumers relying on their neighbors, friends, and social networking connections to report their experience with purchased products and services. No one wants to waste money in today's financial climate. The old fashioned, tried and proven, criteria is going to become a lot more valued. What better way to find out that instantly on the web!
The link to download the PowerPoint deck in the post above will re-direct you to the PowerReviews homepage.
If you're interested in downloading the free PPT demonstration of this study, please use the following linkL
http://www.powerreviews.com/social-study
Enjoy!
Since only 50% of retailers use social media, maybe 25% of those in the marketplace are seeing a positive sales driver.
This doesn't tell me much at all.