My last post referenced that 96% of employed consumers say their opinion of a product brand does not change if that brand has no presence on a social networking. Buck up if that put you in a bad mood, here’s some good news from eMarketer on the expanding sphere of social network marketing. In short, not having a presence may not have a negative impact on your brand, but having one can have a positive one. One caveat, this is a bit of “it all about who you ask,” as MarketingSherpa surveyed “marketing professionals.”
Common wisdom over the past few years has been that people are interested in interacting with social network friends, not marketers. Not so, according to Anderson Analytics’ May 2009 survey—52% of social network users had become a fan or follower of a company or brand, while 46% had said something good about a brand or company on a social networking Website—double the percentage who had said something negative (23%).
In a December 2008 MarketingSherpa survey of social media marketing professionals, 92% of respondents said social media marketing was effective at influencing brand reputation and 91% said it worked for increasing brand awareness. These executives found it far less effective for generating sales leads or increasing online sales.
