Study Offers New Insights into Email Usage, Facebook Fan Value and Twitter
INDIANAPOLIS – A new study released by ExactTarget and CoTweet finds that consumers’ increased usage of social media directly corresponds to more face-to-face interactions.
Featured in Social Mythbusting, the seventh report in the Subscribers, Fans and Followers research series from ExactTarget and CoTweet, the finding is one of many new insights into commonly held misconceptions about interactive marketing on email, Facebook and Twitter.
“Social media is not a zero sum game where an increase or decrease of activity in one channel only happens when there’s a corresponding increase or decrease in activity in another channel,” said Jeff Rohrs, principal, ExactTarget’s Marketing Research and Education Group. “Far from making people less social in the physical world, social media seems to encourage more in-person contacts.”
Key findings of the research include:
– While only 17% of consumers are more likely to purchase after becoming a fan of brand on Facebook, the greater value comes from consumers serving as brand advocates.
– Celebrities’ hiatus from Twitter is not affecting the success of the channel.
– Despite reports of email usage declining, consumers’ mobile use of email and desktop clients are increasing.
“Marketers must change the lens through which they view new data, findings and reports in the interactive industry to get an accurate view of what, when and how their consumers are using online channels,” said Tim Kopp, ExactTarget’s chief marketing officer. “The Social Mythbusting report provides marketers a comprehensive look at the latest data and offers new insight into how to make the most of online interactions.”
Social Mythbusting is the seventh research brief in ExactTarget’s and CoTweet’s Subscribers, Fans & Followers research series. The series provides marketers exclusive insight into how U.S. consumers interact with brands online based on a series of focus groups, interviews and surveys conducted in March and April. For more information about the study and to access an interactive application of the Subscribers, Fans & Followers data, visit www.ExactTarget.com/sff.
About ExactTarget
ExactTarget is a leading global provider of on-demand email marketing and interactive marketing solutions. The company’s Interactive Marketing Hub TM technology provides organizations a single solution to connect with customers via email, integrated text messaging, landing pages and social media. Supported by collaborative global services teams, ExactTarget’s technology integrates with more sales and marketing information systems than any other in the industry, including Salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Omniture and Webtrends among many others. ExactTarget powers permission-based multichannel communications for thousands of organizations around the world including Expedia.com, Best Buy, Aurora Fashions, Papa John’s, CareerBuilder.com, Gannett Co., Inc., The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, The Home Depot and Wellpoint, Inc. For more information, visit www.exacttarget.com or call 1-866-EMAILET.
