The socialisation of brands
Last week Universal McCann released Wave 5 of their yearly social media tracker survey, this time taking a closer look at brand involvement in social media and based on data from 53 markets and 37,600 respondents (as opposed to 38 markets and 23,200 respondents in Wave 4). It’s well worth downloading and reading in detail:
When Wave started as a project in 2006 we were aware that there was much debate but few facts behind the social media phenomenon. Therefore we initiated Wave with the aim of measuring the scale and impact of social media across the globe. In this time, we have researched more than 95,300 internet users in 59 countries and, if Wave has taught us anything, it is that social media stands up to the hype.
As they say:
Social networks are becoming powerful hubs of interconnected communities but it’s not just people that are connecting in the social media space. There is huge demand for a more social and interactive relationships with brands.
Almost half of the Active Internet Universe has already joined a brand community. These communities are also clearly having a huge benefit to the brands involved, driving brand loyalty, endorsement and sales.