People Really Like Brands On Facebook...When They Do It Right [Chart]

According to a recent article on Ad Week, the average consumer has 29 brand friends on various social networking sites. That might not sound like a lot, but when you consider that a year ago that number was just 7, it suddenly seems like a huge increase. How many brands on Facebook do you keep up with each week? To me, this stat confirms two trends, which you’re probably following if you track branding in social media.

First, more and more people and brands are using social media as a way to communicate customer service issues. Brands on Facebook and Twitter are using “social customer service” now more than ever. Secondly, maybe brands on Facebook and Twitter are simply starting to get it right when it comes to content and engagement.

If you look at the ‘social shortcomings’ section of this chart below, you’ll see there is still a lot of work to be done when it comes to brands on Facebook and on social media in general. Consumers are still skeptical in a lot of areas, but at the same time, we are apparently following and “liking” brands regardless. Perhaps it’s just to get the online deals they promote.

Facebook’s Graph Search feature puts a lot of weight on Facebook likes, so now more than ever brands on Facebook need to reevaluate their strategies to keep consumers happy, and to keep new people “liking” their pages. Obviously, everyone knows by now that begging people to like your page isn’t the way to go for long term success. Instead, finding ways to keep your audience engaged through your consistent, creative content is a strategy that seems to work well for brands who are in this for the long-term. This simple yet effective chart (which I’m hesitant to call an infographic) is provided by The Curve Report from NBC Universal Integrated Media and is based on their research.