• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, September 24, 2009

According to the first annual Community and Social Media Study, from the The e-tailing group five out of ten social media tools have been adopted by more than 50% percent of brands and retailers, with the Facebook Fan Page leading the way at 86%. In addition, the study found three-fourths of the  survey respondents feel brands have accelerated their use of, and commitment to, community and social media in the past six months.

The 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
Twitter	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• Competence fear - "I am using outdated marketing/merchandising techniques"?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.