Social media marketing

Rewind the clock 10 years and reviews, recommendations and endorsements tended to come in three forms: advertising, where we knew who footed the bill; press, where we could judge the relative positions of the red-tops versus broadsheets; and friends and family, who looked you in the eye as they told you the merits of one product over another.

Today, however, consumers face an onslaught of complex messages from multiple directions and across multiple devices. Facebook tells you what your friends like before they do. Brands compete for your attention on your Twitter feed and supermarkets offer coupons in exchange for comments. Moreover, a persuasive review on Amazon or TripAdvisor from someone you don’t even know will probably influence your opinion more than a friend or family member. This transformation in how we absorb and share information isn’t a problem in itself. Social media has been empowering and liberating in a multitude of ways. YouGov to conduct two online surveys to find out about consumer engagement with social media platforms. Here’s what they found…

Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are all past the half-way tipping point in terms of consumer use, with less than half of respondents using none of these three platforms. Facebook is the largest social network by some considerable margin, with 72% saying they have used it in the last three months. Just under one in three (31%) used Twitter in the same period, while 17% used LinkedIn. Usage is high too, with more people saying they access

Facebook and Twitter several times a day, although LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and MySpace are all used much less. But while Facebook is clearly embedded in the lives of most online adults, it is predominantly used for communication with family, friends and colleagues. The primary reason for using Twitter is to keep up-to-date with the latest news, while for LinkedIn, it is for professional promotion.

The role of review sites The role of customer review sites in the purchasing journey is where it gets most exciting for organisations, with two thirds of consumers 65% of customers are reading a review before making a purchase. The most visited review site is Amazon.co.uk, with three in four respondents having used it in the last three months, while one in three has used TripAdvisor.