Viper Marketing & Communications Group

Social Media Directly Linked to Purchasing Decisions

- News article posted on Tuesday 06 Sep 2011 at 09:51 by Jim Hardcastle

Research commissioned by IBM has found an increasing trend toward consumers taking influence from social media when making purchasing decisions.

Consumers will validate their buying choices using the views of like-minded shoppers through services such as Twitter and Facebook on company specific pages, according to the study.

50 per cent of respondents aged 16 through 64 with internet access used social networks as a tool to aid shopping decisions.

35 per cent stated they would use social media platforms to read reviews, or rank products and services.

25 per cent of these adults thought it was 'important' to be able to use social media to assist with purchasing decisions.

57 per cent said that they will most likely 'follow' a retailer or brand on a social network to receive free trials or discount promotions.

Read the full article here

- Posted on Tuesday 06 Sep 2011 at 09:51 by Jim Hardcastle