Brands Rushing To Social Partly Out of Fear: Study

Retailers and brands that sell online are stampeding into social media, a new survey finds—some for fear of looking less modern than their competitors, and others out of concern that they may be getting bad-mouthed without their knowledge.

According to the survey, fielded by multichannel retail consultant The E-tailing Group and consumer review platform PowerReviews, a surprising number of social media tools have achieved wide adoption by brands and retailers in the relatively short time they’ve been available. Eighty-six percent of the brands and merchants who responded to the “Community and Social media Study” poll said they now use a Facebook fan page.

Fifty-five percent each reported using customer reviews on their Web sites and writing or working with blogs, while 50% of those questioned said they have uploaded video content in the hope of sending it viral.

Asked to select the best reasons why their companies have adopted social media, survey respondents most often pointed to fear of being unaware that their brand was being harmed in the blogosphere: or, as the survey’s choices put it, “People can trash my products in front of large audiences,” a worry rated“greatest concern” by 49% of respondents.

The second most commonly cited reason for adopting social media: fear that their online persona will look less than competent. (“I am using outdated marketing/ merchandising techniques.” (Thirty-four percent of those polled named this as their top concern.)

And third on the list of social-media rationales: competitive fear (“Customers might leave my site to find a more socially engaging site”—a top concern for 26% of respondents.

Aside from producing an increase in sales, the study found, the respondents most often (39%) cited “greater customer engagement” as their primary goal in deploying social media. Following that, the two goals most often chosen from a list of possible aims were “mobilizing advocates to drive word of mouth” (30%) and “increasing brand loyalty” (21%).

Three-quarters of the 177 brands and retailers polled said they believe brands have accelerated their use of community and social media tools in the last six months.

Results also suggest that quickening pace will continue and will expand to take in other social media tools. Over the coming year, 31% of respondents said, their companies will adopt Facebook Connect, which allows users to post content into Facebook directly from third-party sites. The same proportion said they will deploy social listening tools, while 26% will add customer reviews and another 26% will add product suggestions to their Web sites.

“The integration of community and social networking within e-commerce has reached critical mass,” said Lauren Freedman, president of The E-tailing Group. “Customer engagement has become a metric to be reckoned with, where failing to engage consumers via community and social media will have brand and bottom-line implications.”