Celebrities do good things for brands and online ads, according to separate findings from Nielsen and Brand Affinity Technologies (BAT). While their positive influence is a bit indirect for brands and online activities, it’s a lot more straightforward for social media ad campaigns.
According to a recent survey from Nielsen, fans of celebrities are a valuable asset to brands and advertisers, as 64 percent of adult U.S. Internet users who follow a celebrity also follow a brand – “this means the celebrity follower is four times more likely to follow a brand than the average U.S. adult online.”
Nielsen also found that these fans of celebrities are also more likely to offer advice and opinions to their fellow online consumers, especially when it comes to entertainment topics.
When it comes to movies, for instance, 31.7 percent of celebrity fans/followers provide their two cents online, making them 44 percent more likely to do so than the average online user. Meanwhile, 28.1 percent share their takes on music (56 percent more likely) and 27.6 percent share their thoughts on TV programs (34 percent more likely).
Going further down the list, Nielsen reveals that 24.3 percent of these celebrity fans/followers share their perspectives on websites/Internet content and services, 19 percent share about food and beverages, 18.5 percent share about electronics, 17.9 percent share about computer hardware/software, 17.6 percent share about books, 16 percent share about restaurants or bars, and 15.6 percent share about video games.
This kind of activity for celebrity fans/followers carries over into transactions and purchases. They also were seen to be a lot more likely to comment/post on social networking sites, view consumer-generated video and visit a social networking site than the average Internet user.
According to the study from Brand Affinity Technologies (BAT), which analyzed more than 200 Facebook and Twitter endorsements with similar Facebook ads that didn’t feature celebrities, in the same time period, endorsed messages delivered performance lifts of more than 50 percent – on the low end.
“If regular Facebook ads were the automobiles along an interstate highway, celebrity-endorsed social media would be like throwing Formula One cars into the mix,” said Ryan Steelberg, CEO of BAT. “They’re all going to move brand marketers from point A to point B, but the celebrity endorsed ads will do it with drastically greater effect. This data reveals that with social media endorsements, brands will reap greater rewards from their spend.”
Drew Brees, Snoop Dogg and Nick Swisher were among the celebrities and pro athletes who were endorsing the campaigns studied by BAT. Among the findings was that endorsed Facebook ads led to a 50 percent improvement in cost per action when compared to non-endorsed Facebook ads.
Also, click-through rates were 21 times higher with endorsed Facebook ads, and 17 times higher for Twitter ads.
Endorsed Twitter ads also led to a 72 percent boost in CPA over non-endorsed Facebook ads.
As much as some of us might hate to give them even more attention, it’s clear that celebrities can do wonders for online brands and campaigns.
Sources:</strong
http://www.brandaffinity.net/pressandnews_viewrelease?article=030911
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