Quick Study: Facebook Users Receive More, Give Less; Robust Sites Lift In-Store Sales; Social Media and Software Industry

â–¶ Facebook Users Receiveth More, Giveth Less: A Feb. 2012 Pew Internet study that combines server logs of Facebook activity with survey data finds that over one month, 40% of average Facebook users made a friend request, but 63% received at least one request. Study highlights include:

• Users press the “like” button next to friends’ content an average of 14 times, but had their content “liked” an average of 20 times.

• Users sent nine personal messages, but received 12.

• 12% of users tagged a friend in a photo, but 35% were themselves tagged in a photo.

• Pew attributes more Facebook “receptions” to a segment of power users, who specialize in different Facebook activities and contribute much more than the typical user does.

Source: Pew Internet

â–¶ Robust Web Sites Work: Searching for a reason to beef up your site? According to an Accenture/comScore/dunnhumbyUSA study released in Feb. 2012, visitors to consumer packaged goods brand Web sites spend 37% more money than non-visitors on the brand in retail stores. In addition, brand Web site visitors are heavier buyers within a brand’s product category, spending 53% more than non-visitors on the category in retail stores. Study highlights include:

• The most important Web site features include compelling brand value messaging, frequent content updates and engaging content such as promotions, philanthropic appeals, product demonstrations, surveys and downloadable applications and games.

• Engagement with the brand does not translate to exclusivity, as brand Web site visitors are also highly engaged in the category as a whole, purchasing 58% more units in the category.

• Brand Web site visitors have more purchase occasions than non-visitors for both the brand and the category, making 35% more purchase trips for the brand and 39% more in the overall category.

Source: Accenture/comScore/dunnhumbyUSA

â–¶ Software Execs Like Social Media—They Just Don’t Use It Much: A survey of more than 100 marketing executives in North America by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) and Lopez Research finds that while 90% of the executives within that industry use social media for marketing and communications—and three-quarters believe it has a positive impact on their business—slightly more than half (54.5%) say their team spends less than 10 hours per week investing in social media. Other highlights:

• 65% of respondents cited social media as an area in which they would like to invest more spending, and over 70% indicated they expect to increase their use of both Twitter and LinkedIn in the year ahead.

• Communicators are beginning to apply the same ROI metrics to social media that they do for other efforts, both offline and online.

• Nearly 60% say that less than 5% of their deals begin through social network interactions.

Source: SIIA/Lopez Research