• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, February 9, 2017

According to a new report by Sean Casey, President, Nielsen Social, “…social media is one of the biggest opportunities that companies across industries have to connect directly to consumers… social media users can be pretty receptive says the report, especially heavy users, who spend over 3 hours per day on social media…”

“Surprisingly, the heavy social media user group isn’t Millennials, says the report. Generation X (ages 35-49) spends the most time on social media: almost 7 hours per week versus Millennials, who come in second, spending just over 6 hours per week. Females, 25% of whose time online is spent on social media (vs.19% of males), reaching across cultures… likely to be on Facebook on Sundays via smartphone, while watching primetime.”

“The most important part of winning them over is understanding where and how to connect with them successfully, says Casey. 39% percent of heavy social users believe that finding out about products and services is an important reason for using a social network. Companies (should) make it easy for potential brand advocates to find information about their products and services… in the form of unbiased customer reviews.

35% of heavy users cite special discounts as important, such as access to exclusive offers and coupons. And above all else, brands need to make it easy for potential advocates to show their support. 29% of heavy users actually find supporting their favorite companies or brands somewhat to very important, so they need content that’s easy to find and easy to share on Facebook and Twitter.

(Concerning) television, the industry should be courting this same group, female Gen-Xers, to be potential advocates (… 61% of unique Facebook users who are interacting about something TV-related on Facebook are female).

And when it comes to connecting with social TV audiences, … using multiple devices at once is the new normal, and reaching out while this group is watching TV is vital to capturing their attention,” says the report. “putting a lot of thought into keywords and phrases…  should include program names as well as characters’, actors’ or athletes’ names... what female Gen-Xers are watching when is going to be key to finding them,” concludes Casey.

For additional information from Nielsen, please visit here.