Have you seen The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook?

This comprehensive and practical guide to the latest ideas in customer-focused marketing hands you over 200 packed pages of strategy, best practices, do's and don'ts, practical know-how, facts and figures, and ideas to optimise your marketing strategy, boost sales, market share, increase ROI and profit.

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Brands benefit from social media interaction

A recent study by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) showed that such networks are particularly effective when it comes to driving brand sentiment, enhancing consumer engagement and increasing brand loyalty.

Interactions through social media also have a profound effect on the behaviour of a customer. For instance, 90% would recommend a brand after interacting on social media, while 80% would be more inclined to buy a brand more often in the future after being exposed to a brand's social media presence.

In addition, 83% of consumers exposed to social media would help a brand by trialling one of its products.

The research, which was based on more than 4,500 quantitative survey responses via the IAB's social media pages over an eight week period, and supplemented with a further 800 research panel interviews, measures the impact of social media at various stages in the purchase funnel.

Kristin Brewe, Director of Marketing & Communications at the IAB and Chair of the Social Media Council, hailed the positive influence that social media can have on a brand's performance. "The study shows that, when trying to create deeper emotional connections with consumers, social media is an essential channel for brands," she said. "This isn't surprising since social media is the only channel where it's possible for brands and consumers to have meaningful two-way conversations, making the strength of connections that much stronger."

All brands in the research enjoyed uplift in affinity and loyalty after implementing social media campaigns to their strategies. Heinz experienced an increase in sentiment of 22%, while Twinings and Kettle saw rises of 19% and 17% respectively.

Adam Rock, managing director for TAN Media, highlighted the importance of social media for relationship building with customers: "Is now more important than ever for brands to engage in a two way conversation with consumers. Building trust and loyalty through social media is vital to the future success of business".

Social media played an important role throughout the traditional purchase funnel and delivered a clear return on investment. The IAB revealed that for every £1 spent in social media, a potential value of £3.34 could be generated.

In terms of top level awareness, brand metrics for consumers who were exposed to social media were stronger and more stable than for the consumers who were not. For example, there was a 21 point difference in likelihood to recommend Kettle between those exposed to social media and those who were not and this was less likely to fluctuate over the eight week study period.

Have you seen The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook?

This comprehensive and practical guide to the latest ideas in customer-focused marketing hands you over 200 packed pages of strategy, best practices, do's and don'ts, practical know-how, facts and figures, and ideas to optimise your marketing strategy, boost sales, market share, increase ROI and profit.

Learn the insider's tricks and techniques to turn every customers into a 'super spreader' for your brand. It's better than free advertising. Once you start this ball rolling, your brand can grow rapidly through word-of-mouth, advocacy, influencers, and customer loyalty. Super-charge your company's marketing strategy, build up your market share, and make more sales through repeat business and customer loyalty.

Find out what works - and what doesn't - and who's succeeded, and how they did it. See how the world's top brands keep their competitive edge against all odds.

The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook walks you step-by-step through the techniques, metrics, reporting, analysis, marketing models, technologies, tools and innovations for successful marketing strategies - both traditional and emerging - with expert guidance from thought leaders in every major market. Find out the best ways to gather, analyse, and act on customer data to increase profitability, build your brand, empower your customers, beat the competition, reduce churn, and increase customer profitability. This is a marketing book you simply can't afford to be without.

This book aims to hand you all the facts, figures and research data you need for the best decisions for a more profitable, more engaging marketing strategy. It also highlights all the facts, forecasts and trends identified by our experts from the global Marketing Factbook's vast database of market data, news, studies, research and articles, and presents you with an invaluable library of ideas and practical support you can call upon at will.

With The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook at your side, you'll have instant access to a true goldmine of easily adaptable and up-to-date strategies, walk-throughs, trends, research and market data, plus all the supporting arguments you need to build a solid, profitable marketing strategy.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)