Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Social Media & Brand Reputation

I came across this study conducted by the Society for New Communications Research with the support of Nuance Communications. While the full report is pretty long, there were some pretty interesting findings:

Respondents were asked how often they use social media to learn about the customer care offered by the company when considering a purchase. More than 70% reported that they engage in this pre purchase behavior at least sometimes. Nineteen percent of respondents rarely use social media to learn about customer care and 9% never do.
To assess the potential influence of social media sites on user opinions as they relate to care experience, respondents were asked how often they take into consideration the quality of customer care offered when making buying decisions. Eighty-four percent said they do consider the quality of customer care at least sometimes, while 16% said they rarely or never do

Among others…

From the report – “While much more research is needed on this new topic, in short, this initial study indicates that there is a growing group of highly desirable consumers: 25-55 year-olds, college-educated, earning $100,000+ — a very powerful group in terms of buying behavior. These most savvy and sought after consumers are using social media to research companies. They will not support companies with poor customer care reputations, and finally, they will talk about all of this openly with others via multiple online vehicles. This research should serve as a wake-up call to companies: listen, respond, and improve.”

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