CorpComms Magazine

One in five people say they like brands on social networking forums compared to only 13 per cent claiming to like or follow celebrities on sites like Facebook or Twitter, according to a new study.

The most popular activities on social networks are admittedly neither brand nor celebrity focused. Fifty-six per cent of people use these sites to view photos of friends, while a third use them to make social plans and find out about events, revealed research by the Internet Advertising Bureau, market research agency Opinion Matters, and social media consultancy RMM.  

Engaging with brands is not a priority for most consumers using the sites, with just 13 per cent giving organisations feedback on social networks and just one in ten using the forums to watch branded content such as advertisements. Moreover, only eight per cent of consumers complain about organisations on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Broadcast media seems to be a more social animal with just under a third of consumers reporting regularly listening to radio shows and television programmes where tweets are read out from listeners and viewers.

Companies are often neglecting social networks as a means of delivering good customer service. While eight per cent of respondents had made a complaint via these sites, less than two fifths of these had received a swift response. Brands may be missing an opportunity here as, of those who had been contacted by the company, 78 per cent were impressed by their reply.

Amy Kean, head of the IAB social media council, said: 'This survey uncovers the fact that whilst complaining about brands via social media isn't yet a mainstream activity, around 60 per cent of these comments were left unanswered. 

'As consumers become more acquainted with using social networks to try and get in touch with brands directly, it's important that businesses are at least aware of the negative conversations that take place. Even though responding to each and every complaint is not always relevant, being armed with this information could prove invaluable to feed into the overall communications strategy.'

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