Social Media Presence Mandatory For Brands In India: Research

According to a new research, social media has become a more-than-important component in the life of a brand manager or advertiser.

Waggener Edstrom Communications (WE), an integrated communications agency recently conducted a survey asking respondents their association with their favorite brand over the social media & the response is overwhelmingly positive. Titled ‘Content Matters: The Impact of Brand Storytelling Online in 2014’, the study spanned across 2200 consumers dispersed across a wide age gap of 15 to 60 years & the agency found a unanimous pattern across the demographic.
What did WE find out?
97% of the Indian respondents enthusiastically follow their favorite brands on social channels. 72% of the Indian consumers surveyed, follow their favorite healthcare brand on social media. This is very high as compared to the global average of just 48%. Interestingly, Indian travel & tourism segment doesn’t have that high a following at just 68%, but nonetheless, companies involved in this line of business too, have benefited from an active presence on the social web.
The phenomenon of actively seeking out brands & their respective pages or accounts is a direct result of the growing prominence of social media portals. But this survey dispels the notion that social media users visit these portals just to interact on a personal level, shared Stephen Tracy, APAC Lead at Waggener Edstrom’s Insight & Analytics (I&A) Practice,
“Across all markets and business sectors, we found that consumers who are exposed to brand content regularly through social channels spend more on products and services than those that don’t. Indian consumers who engage with their favorite healthcare brands online spend 187% more than those that don’t.”
The role played by social media portals in pushing brand popularity cannot be refuted. But the survey clearly shows how deeply enamored, social media users in India are about their favorite bands. No wonder that social media marketing (SMM) has witnessed a surge in the recent times. What do you think?