Fans on social media networks more likely to purchase

This article was originally published on 10 November, 2011

In our e-newsletter last week, we featured an article about how Twitter and Facebook users who follow companies are more likely to buy from those brands, and in turn more likely to recommend them to their friends.

Although it didn’t come as a shock to us that a user is more likely to make a purchase from the brands they follow, the high level of brand loyalty was surprising. The study into the habits of Twitter users found that over half of men (55 per cent) and 45 per cent of women were more likely to purchase from a company they followed. Followers on Twitter are more likely to recommend a few (42 per cent) or many (18 per cent) of the brands they follow to their friends.

The reasons why Twitter users choose to follow a brand included the fact that they were already a customer (64 per cent), to receive brand information first (61 per cent), for discounts or promotions (48 per cent) or to receive exclusive content (36 per cent). The study also found that Twitter followers tended to be younger, with 26 per cent of users under the age of 35 following brands, compared with 17 per cent of those aged 35-49 and 13 per cent of those aged 50+.

These findings were mirrored in separate research into the Facebook habits of some 1,500 consumers. The research found that respondents were more likely to recommend companies to their friends after becoming fans themselves, and that they were more likely to purchase products or services from brands after becoming fans.

With the introduction of Google+ for brands this week, which is Google’s attempt to take on the dominance of Twitter and Facebook, there’s now another major player on the social network scene offering companies a new way to connect with fans of what they do – and potentially – turn those fans into loyal customers.

Social commerce is growing rapidly – nearly half of Twitter followers and a little under a third of Facebook users have been active for less than one year. Our own research indicates that users generally are getting more active with brands on social networks, with one third interacting with companies more this year than last.

What this tells us is that web users generally don’t mind being marketed to, providing that they have agreed to the nature of contact, and perhaps most importantly with any aspect of social commerce, the content is relevant to them.