4 in 10 “Friended” A Brand On Facebook Or MySpace

November 11, 2009 | Willis Wee

Razorfish has recently released findings from its study that explored how technology is changing the way consumers engage with brands.

The information shared would be useful to businesses on social media, especially in understanding how and why Internet users interact with a brand.

A total of 1,000 people were involved in the study.

Catch the data below.

The Data

40% “friended” a brand on Facebook or MySpace: 40.10% to be exact. If this number can be generalized, this percentage represents more than a 100 million people out of Facebook’s 300 million users.

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People follow and friend a brand for exclusive promotion and offers: For people who’re using Twitter, Facebook or MySpace as a marketing tool, this insight will be useful. While offering exclusive discounts can entice consumers to follow your brand, entertaining updates is also a big reason why they do it. Find charm in being interesting and you will gain genuine supporters of your brand.

Collecting followers is one thing and retaining them is another. Don’t chase your followers away by being unresponsive or totally boring. Spend more time engaging them than the time used for pushing your product.

25% followed a brand on Twitter: This is less than what I have expected, but it is still a good proportion of people. If the forecast is right, Twitter should have about 18 million US users by the end of 2009. When generalized, that would translate to about 5 million tweeps following a brand.

Conclusion

Businesses are invading social sites but users are okay with it as long as they bring value to them, which can be through exclusive promotions, valuable news and information and entertaining interactions.

Social media is playing a big part in shaping the future of marketing but the tricky question is: Can it generate monetary revenue for a business?

So far, only Dell was able to share solid revenue numbers.

Should money be the yardstick? In my opinion, no.

Intangible gains like branding and relationships extend beyond the online world and they are definitely more important for your success in the long term. That is why you see more companies using Twitter as their main online customer service platform, rather than a selling channel. Great if there are immediate profits but never ever put these gains as second priority.