Among social networkers who engage with brands on social media, 41% say they typically discover or find out about new products, brands or services by seeing ads on social networks. That’s according to results from a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Wildfire, which found social ads to be a more common discovery source for these social networkers than online search (34%), email ads (31%), and online videos (22%), among other online sources.
(TV ranks as the top offline source by which online Americans discovering new brands, according to separate Forrester research cited in the study, a finding that aligns with separate research from Ipsos.)
Meanwhile, so-called “social media brand engagers” often leverage social media when researching purchases. 37% say they turn to social media when researching brands, products or services they are considering buying or using, putting social slightly behind search engines (40%) for research, but ahead of retailer websites (33%), manufacturer or brand websites (27%), and consumer review websites (27%). Read the rest at MarketingCharts.
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