Report: 78% of Customers Want Marketers to Use Social Media to Forge Connections

Despite some of the challenges associated with social media, new research shows that people still believe in its power to connect customers with brands.

Sprout Social recently conducted the “Creating Connection: What Consumers Want from Brands in a Divided Society” report and discovered that 91 percent of people believe in social media’s power to connect people with one another. Specifically, 78 percent of customers would like to see companies use social media to help people connect with each other.

When asked which communication channels give companies the best opportunity to connect with customers, survey respondents ranked social media as number one. Fostering connections on social media also appears to strengthen relationships between customers and businesses: when customers feel connected to brands, more than half of them (57 percent) say they increase their spending with that company, and 76 percent choose them over competitors.

Millennials and Social Media Marketing

When it comes to utilizing social media to reach out to customers, previous research shows that marketers are more likely to resonate with millennials through this tactic.

Visual Objects recently held a survey to determine how social media helps businesses drive website traffic. Statistics showed that millennials (90 percent) are far and wide more likely to click through a business’s website from social media compared to their counterparts – Gen Xers (80 percent) and baby boomers (61 percent).

Millennials use social media “more often than older generations,” according to the researchers, which ultimately means they use it more frequently to reach out to companies.