Archive for August 2, 2011

Every month I read countless research reports and blog posts on interesting social media metrics. Instead of having them sit on my desk or in a bookmarks folder in my browser, I wanted to pass them along because social media continues to evolve at a rapid clip and it is very easy to lose sight of key metrics or research data that can help make more informed decisions.

Below are 30 of the top stats I have seen over the past few months that can help you either sell social media to the higher ups in your company or help you in securing additional resources for your company’s social program.

• 5 percent of online shoppers note that social media influenced them to visit a retailer’s website (Foresee)
• 82 percent of 18-29 year olds utilize a form of social networking (Pew)
• 42 percent of American internet users over 18 actively use Wikipedia (Pew)
• 40% of corporate Twitter accounts engage in some kind of customer service (Burson-Marsteller)
• In 2011 marketers will increase their social media usage by 75 percent (Brian Solis)
• 48 percent of consumers combine social media and search engines in their buying process (GroupM)
• 10.5 percent of CMOs say social marketing efforts are effectively integrated into their overall marketing strategy (MarketingProfs)
• 97 percent of the top US charities utilize Facebook in their marketing efforts (UMass Dartmouth)
• Of all social networks, YouTube has the highest Net Promoter Score with 50 percent of users saying they would recommend it to a friend (MarketingProfs)
• ~140 Million Tweets are sent each day (Twitter)
• 24 percent of adults have posted a review of a product they have purchased (HubSpot)
• 41 percent of the companies report that there is no staff dedicated to social media (Useful Social Media)
• 89 percent of companies note that social media will become a useful cog in their marketing mix moving forward (Useful Social Media)
• 35 percent of small businesses utilize social media in their marketing mix (eMarketer)
• Facebook expects to bring n $4.05 billion in ad revenues this year (eMarketer)
• Facebook is the leading social network for nine out of 13 Asia-Pacific countries (Edelman)
• One out of every six minutes spent online is on a social network (comScore)
• 73 percent of the US internet population visits Facebook each month (comScore)
• 62 percent of Facebook users between 35-54 years of age have liked a brand (eMarketer)
• 64 percent of Twitter users are female (Pew)
• 85 percent of LinkedIn users are Caucasian (Pew)
• 47 percent of journalists will use Twitter as a source for a story (Digital Journalism Study)
• Less than 3 percent of micro businesses utilize Twitter (Vistaprint)
• 61.2 percent of Facebooking females list themselves as married less than a year, compared to 44.3 percent of males (AdAge)
• The average media site integrated with Facebook has seen a 300 percent increase in referral traffic (Search Engine Land)
• 61 percent of Facebook users who have liked a brand note that they are more likely to purchase from that brand (AllFacebook)
• 96 percent of Americans use Facebook (Business Insider)
• 80 percent of social media marketers are using the platforms to increase brand awareness (eMarketer)
• Only 8 percent of US internet users utilize Twitter despite having a 92 percent awareness level (Edison Research)
• 46 million Americans check their social media profiles daily (Edison Research)

By Jeff Esposito

How Do You Begin to Understand Shopping Habits of a Generation That Can’t Make Up Its Own Mind?

They shop with friends, are in love with the deli section and are just as likely to do their grocery shopping at Target or Walmart as Kroger and Safeway.

Millennials, the 80 million people now aged 16 to 34, have buying and brand preferences that in many cases diverge sharply from their parents. But millennials need help from friends and family in making just about any decision, including which restaurant to eat at. They’ll use technology (social and mobile) to gather opinions. Sixty-eight percent won’t make a major decision without running it by their network first. How do you begin to understand the shopping habits of a generation that has never had to make up its own mind about anything?

You start with lots of surveys.

AdAgeStat got an exclusive look at some early findings from a new report by Barkley in partnership with Boston Consulting Group and Service Management Group. The report had one of the larger samples of millennials that we’ve seen outside of Pew reports, coupled with a sizable sample of older consumers to provide some content. Some of the findings confirm things we already suspect: high adoption rates of technology, hugely more likely to have active online profiles with lots of updated content, etc. Let’s focus on some trends that are sure to get the attention of marketers still figuring out how to win over this new crowd.

For one, the report gives more evidence that supercenters are here to stay. Mass retailers like Target and Walmart are preferred by 32% of millennials, about the same score as traditional grocery chains, such as Kroger and Safeway (34%). Compare that with older generations (those 35 and up) for which the traditional chains still rule, by a margin of 44% to 27%.

Millennials also apparently don’t like to go to the store alone, with the report noting that they “prefer to be with others when shopping and often to so with family, spouses and partners, or friends.” But this is not a predictable group, with their shopping habits more “need-based and experimental than older generations,” the report states. Millennials also want a “wide variety of deli foods,” with nearly 60% rating it as a key criteria compared to less than 50% for older generations. Millennials are also looking for exotic foods, child-friendly stores, samples of new foods to try, creative menu ideas and online ordering systems.

One caveat with most of the millennial and other generational data coming out these days: It’s hard to tell how balanced issues of life-stage vs. issues of actual differences between millennials in their 20s, gen-Xers in their 20s, boomers in their 20s are.

Some other quick findings:

• Millennials were more in tune with retail brands such as Walmart Supercenter, Kroger, SuperTarget, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Costco. Non-millennials were more tied to big grocery chains like Publix and Aldi, and interestingly, where millennials tend to be a better fit with Costco, non-millennials tend toward Sam’s Club.
• All generations are using Facebook these days, but millennials tend to have more friends
• Millennials, who are often characterized as having flexible loyalties at best, love them some reward and loyalty programs.
• Millennials prefer brands with a well-developed social- and mobile-media presence.

By: Matt Carmichael, E.J. Schultz