A recent report from Constant Contact analyzed the online consumer behavior of nearly 1,500 Facebook users to see how they interact with brands. Rather than boring you with the entire report, here are the 5 key points I took away from the study:
- 78% like fewer than 10 brands: This is interesting, because that means a brand has to offer something of substance to be one of those few brands consumers are willing to follow.
- 58% like brands that they already use: This was the number one reason for why a consumer likes a brand. This is key because it contradicts the strategy of using Facebook to gain new customers. However, Facebook obviously plays into customer relations after the purchase.
- 56% more likely to recommend a brand: Echoing the previous point of post-purchase customer relations, more than half of those surveyed said they are much more likely to refer a brand to a friend after becoming a fan on Facebook.
- 13% post updates about brands they like: One of the biggest takeaways I got from this report is that very few consumers actively engage with brands on Facebook. This needs to be taken into account when brands are deciding what direction their Facebook page should go.
- 77% interact by reading posts: By a substantial margin, reading posts was the primary way consumers interact with brands. This is good news for brands that can't offer quick and easy discounts, because they can at least try to generate engaging content to fuel fan interaction.
While this survey focused on consumer brands, it's good to know that the quality of the content dictates how engaged fans will be. And although it's just one survey, there are still some very interesting lessons to take away as brands try to cut through the noise inherent to social media.