The latest AC Neilsen Social Media report confirms the continuing inroads that online networking is having on consumer behaviour. How to harness this is the big question facing many businesses today.
Social media’s popularity continues to grow, connecting people with just about everything they watch and buy.
The latest Nielsen insights provide some answers on exactly how powerful this influence is on consumer behavior, both online and off.
The value of the time consumers spend online and on social networks and blogs continues to grow, most visible through the influence on purchase decisions. For instance, 60 percent of people who use three or more digital means of research for product purchases learned about a specific brand or retailer from a social networking site.
As the influence of social media – and those using social media – continues to grow, it’s crucial for traditional media, retailers, brands and advertisers to understand how different consumer segments use and share content. Nielsen’s “State of the Media: The Social Media Report – Q3 2011” presents a snapshot of the current social media landscape and audiences in the U.S. and other major markets.
One of the emerging trends is the rise in use of mobile technology in the over 55 year olds to engage in social networking (twice as many this year as last year).
Facebook reigns supreme with over 140 million unique visitors during May 2011 nearly three times the next busiest site. As a brand, Facebook was viewed for 53 billion minutes in May 2011 alone.
While 97% of users access social media (including facebook, twitter, and blog sites) from a computor, there is a growing trend emerging in the use of mobile technology with 37% of users using their phones to access social media. Watch for the dramatic rise in the use of tablets (ipads and the like) for accessing social media in the coming months and years.
Though the survey is based in the US, it has some fascinating insights that can be paralleled for our population.
Have a read of the survey here
