Social media marketing relies on sophisticated forms of word-of-mouth, a medium highly trusted by most consumers. But even social media users prefer face-to-face communication to give and receive information about products and services.
A survey conducted by BIGresearch for the Retail Advertising & Marketing Association (RAMA) found that in-person communication was social media users’ top impetus to start an online search for a specific item. Social media users were even more influenced by face-to-face word-of-mouth than average adults.
The power of traditional word-of-mouth held across all age groups, except that 18- to 34-year-olds were more likely to search online because of something they had seen on cable television, which was a smaller force among older users.
Online communities such as MySpace and Facebook influenced less than one-quarter of social media users to search for a product or service. Men were marginally more likely than women to report such an influence; age had a larger effect. Among the 18-to-34 group, nearly three in 10 searched because of social networks, compared with less than 20% of 35- to 54-year-olds and 15.3% of those 55 and older.
Social media users are particularly attractive to marketers because they are more likely to both look for and give purchase advice than the general population.
RAMA found that, just as when they are getting information, social media users prefer giving information face-to-face. More than 71% communicated about a service, product or brand in person after an online search, compared with only 21.6% who spread the word via sites such as MySpace or Facebook. Not all digital communication was shunned, however; about one-half used e-mail to tell others what they had found.
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Check out today’s other article, “Gen Y Goes for Online Banking.”