By adaptive - November 14th, 2012

This week's Wednesday Update covers Twitter engagement metrics, how Facebook recommendations should fit into your marketing mix, and a look at brand adoption of Instagram. Read on!Hi all, Ho...

Hi all,

Hope everyone is well?

Plenty of activity across the social web this week…

Twitter engagement

In the past social media has been a numbers game. Success has been measured as the number of followers a brand had on Twitter or the number of ‘likes’ on their Facebook pages. However, simple quantity isn’t really a useful measurement. What is infinitely more revealing is how many of these followers are actually engaging with your brand.

SLING Digital has looked closely at which top brands are the most talked about. Their findings include: On average, 8.8% of a brand’s followers talk about or engage with them on Twitter. Over 40% of Walmart’s followers talk about them, making it the most talked about big brand, by far! Disney is the only Fortune 100 brand with >1M followers to be talked about by more than 10% of its followers.

Facebook friends

A new infographic from GetAmbassador makes for interesting reading if your business is trying to understand the dynamics of Facebook marketing. Facebook in particular is about making personal connections. Your business knows that personal recommendations can be a highly effective marketing tool. And it works, as according to the infographic, 77% of brands on Facebook have gained new customers. And Facebook out performs any other social media channel when it comes to referrals.

Using ‘social intelligence’

An article in the latest McKinsey Quarterly is required reading for any brand that wants to move its social engagement to the next level. The article clearly states: “Today, many people who have expert knowledge and shape perceptions about markets are freely exchanging data and viewpoints through social platforms. By identifying and engaging these players, employing potent Web-focused analytics to draw strategic meaning from social-media data, and channelling this information to people within the organization who need and want it, companies can develop a “social intelligence” that is forward looking, global in scope, and capable of playing out in real time.”

In Brief…

54% of top brands now active on Instagram

A new study from Simply Measured has revealed that Instagram is the new place for brands if they want to continue to expand their customer engagement. Of the brands with Instagram accounts, more and more are actively engaging fans. In August, only 26% of these brands were posting at least one photo per week. Today 34% are doing so. This focus on actively developing a richer experience has driven an increase in strong brand accounts. In August, only 17% of accounts had 10,000+ fans. Today 20% have hit this milestone. Accounts with 20,000+ have grown by 29% as well.

Complaining ain’t easy

Complaining took on a whole new meaning with the arrival of social media. Customers now have a platform to shout about their complaints, which the world will pay attention to. However, a new infographic from Zendesk shows how social media can also be your brands greatest asset when resolving customer complaints.

Which is best social or search?

If your company is looking closely at how its uses search and social media for marketing activity, the new infographic from MD Advertising will answer a number of key questions. When comparing search marketing vs. social media, search is more effective for some online objectives while social is the hands-down choice for others. For example, lead generation is better achieved through the high-visibility, low-cost methods of search marketing. This appears to be the consensus amongst both B2C and B2B marketers.

Until next time….

The Useful Social Media team.