Most companies – big and small – dedicate a fair portion of their marketing time and budget to social media. According to a study conducted by the Center for Marketing Research at UMass Dartmouth, 88% of Fortune 500 companies are actively using Facebook and 79% are using Twitter.
So now the question is: What is a “like” worth to your business?
Is liking a company on Facebook, for example, really going influence you to buy more from them?
A recent study by comScore and Facebook showed that if the general population and/or your friend on Facebook liked Starbuck’s page, just how influenced were you to make a purchase from Starbucks? At first glance, the study pointed toward evidence that if your sphere of influence interacted with a brand, they would spend more money with that brand – as much as 8% more – and that you would transact 11% more frequently during a month’s time. But, hold on a moment, because in a Harvard Business Review’s article “What’s the Value of A Like?”, they pointed to a logical disconnect that would challenge that previous assumption.
The article asked us not to “confuse cause and consequence” and assume that following a brand led to increased purchasing. When we have positive feelings about a brand, we are more likely to purchase more from that brand regardless of giving them a “like” – more so than non-followers.
The article boldly concluded that “merely liking a brand on Facebook doesn’t change behavior or increase purchasing.” The take-away here is that “social media doesn’t work the way many marketers think it does.”
What we (at Elements) understand is that advertising containing branded content on social media has a significant impact on a decision to purchase. Using this insight, we create more successful, effective social media plans and strategies using a combination of both traditional and new approaches.
