According to recent research conducted by Google, almost half of all Facebook users like a certain brand as part of their profile for one reason or another. The research showed 25% of users who liked at least one brand, did so because of the possibility of receiving discounts with that brand.
The potential for discounts proved to be the most popular reason for liking a brand, but perhaps the most startling research findings were that 18% of brand followers did so just to show their support. Other reasons to follow a brand included that users found it fun and entertaining to do so and that they wanted to hear new information about the brand as soon as they could. Google also found that 55% of Facebook users didn't follow any brands at all.
Heidi Spector of the Google retail team said of the findings; “When developing your social media strategy, keep in mind that consumers are looking primarily to receive promotions, with secondary goals of learning new information first and being entertained.”
Given the fact that in the coming years Google will try and become more and more of a competitor to Facebook, they will probably put this research to good use when devising their own place pages or profiles as part of their own take on a social media experience. Such research will also be useful to brands as they can use it to improve their strategies given the amount of analytical information carried in Facebook pages.
A potential downside has been highlighted with regards to security when choosing to like or become a friend of a brand. That is that anyone can create a profile on Facebook carrying the name of a brand and no one could tell if the page is actually the official brand that it is claiming to be. This means that anyone who then chooses to like these fake brand pages is then allowing their profile to be accessed by a stranger that they think is someone or something else they consider to be safe. Small businesses are also reported to have problems with Facebook pages as they tend to create personal profiles rather than actual pages, meaning that they are attracting friends instead of fans.
Other results of Google's research included that 18% of people only liked one or two brands and one in ten users liked between five and nine different brands.
