#1: 50% of Small Businesses Say Lead Generation is Biggest Benefit of Social Networking
- 50%: Generating leads
- 45%: Keeping up with the industry
- 44%: Monitoring online conversation
- 38%: Finding vendors/suppliers
#2: Online Forum Users Are Enthusiastic Brand Advocates
- 79.2% of forum contributors help a friend or family member make a decision about a product purchase – compared with 47.6% of non-contributors and 53.8% overall.
- 65% of forum contributors share advice (offline and in person) based on information that they’ve read online – compared with 35% of non-contributors and 40.8% overall.
- 57.7% of forum contributors proactively recommend someone make a particular purchase – compared with 16.9% of non-contributors and 24.9% overall.
#3: Only 47% of Companies Experimenting With Social Media
- 47% of brands are still in the experimental phase, meaning they “exhibit lots of social activity with little connection or integration with each other.”
- 24% are community ghost towns, meaning there is no engagement and very few members with no return visitors.
- 20% show a cohesive strategy and typically had robust engagement tools and multiple activities with an active participation from their community.
- 9% show community overload with multiple messages to the same audience, most likely causing confusion and diluting the message.
Of the 135 communities they examined, only:
- 44 have a community manager. A community manager acts as the face of the community. Without one, there is no cohesive bond between the community sponsors and its members.
- 44 allow social networking. This practice allows community members to connect with each other and find shared interests, thus promoting further connection.
- 35 offer social bookmarking. This best practice gives community members a tool to personalize and aggregate their online experience at the brand’s destination site.
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