It’s not news that people search social media for reviews on purchases, hotels, restaurants and such, or that they ask their friends for recommendations. According to the Nielsen Trust in Advertising report, 83% of consumers world-wide trust recommendations from friends and family. 66% said they trust consumer opinions posted online.
So, it makes sense that when consumers are planning a milestone, like getting married, having a baby, big financial investments like cars and homes, even taking a vacation, they look to social media for recommendations.
I just read the Sprout Social Q4 Index for 2017, and it’s got some very interesting data, especially if you’re a marketer.
The report is based on data from 357,000 public social profiles (171,000 Facebook; 134,000 Twitter; 52,000 Instagram) of continually active accounts. They analyzed more than 5.7 billion messages sent and received between Q3 2016 and Q3 2017.
There’s lot of good information here, as you’re planning your winter marketing campaigns. Download and read the full report here to drill in deep. Here are some things that I got from the report.
Why do people include a brand name in their social posts?
When you got the new Google Pixel or the iPhone X for your birthday. Did you share it on your favorite social networks to show off? Yeah, you probably did. Did you go there when you had an issue with screen freeze, or when you needed an app for something? I bet you did. Did you mention the brand? Yep. You did, and that, my friend, is User Generated Content.
User Generated Content (UGC)
According to the Sprout Social study, 41% of Millennials want to have their content shared by the brand, while only 23% of GenX and Baby Boomers do. Why the difference? It could simply be that millennials are digital natives and boomers are not. I’d love to hear your theories on this. As a boomer who tends to act more like a millennial in such things, I don’t get it.
According to this infographic from AdWeek, Millennials prefer UGC with people in the image, where Boomers focus on product details. Interesting. Why do you think that is?
Let’s face it, it’s fun to see your photo or review used by a brand you love. It makes us feel valued and respected. Then we…
