According to a report from Ehrenherg-Bass, just 1 percent of fans of top brands engage with these companies on Facebook. Despite fans’ opt-in exposure to social media marketing content, many users ignore the posts from organizations.
While these numbers are low, Ehrenberg-Bass said that this represents a positive trend for the industry. Although such a small percentage of fans engage, the company suggests there is a higher volume of fans overall and that the channel is becoming more popular.
According to Karen Nelson-Field, numbers are similar to those of consumers or businesses affected by television commercials and other forms of mass media. The major different difference is that social media marketing requires far less financial investment.
Nonetheless, those who want to better engage their individual Facebook audiences should consider adding a variety of content types to their social mix. Sharing blog marketing posts that include images may catch fans’ interest as Brafton recently reported that image-focused social networks are rising, and visual content boosts engagement rates across mainstream social platforms.
Marketers might also focus on engaging existing clients rather to create valuable Facebook interactions. Field also found that social media marketing can be especially effective for customer retention. Since many of those Liking brands on Facebook are existing customers, social content should play more to this mindset.
Brafton recently reported that more than 27 percent of companies included in a survey from Loyalty 360 said that social media marketing was the best method of retaining customers. The channel ranked higher than other methods, including analytics and rewards programs.
