Firms Alter Social Tactics Due to Low Buying Impact

Marketers are refining social media strategies as research shows social media's minimal direct effect on purchasing, reports the Wall Street Journal. Companies are taking note of information like the recent Gallup poll finding that 62% of the more than 18,000 U.S. consumers questioned said social media had no influence on their buying decisions. Gallup concludes that "consumers are highly adept at tuning out brand-related Facebook and Twitter content." At the same time, brand advertisers must deal with Facebook's changed management of users' news feeds, going from a largely chronological stream to featuring items Facebook thinks users will want. As a result, brands reached just 6.5% of their fans with Facebook posts in March, down from 16% in February 2012, according to EdgeRank Checker, a social-media analytics firm. So U.S. companies, which spent $5.1 billion on social-media advertising in 2013, are beginning to shift gears. Per the WSJ story, many are no longer seeking to maximize the quantity of Facebook fans or Twitter followers as much as the quality of interactions, by tracking brand mentions for example. However, this adjusting of social marketing strategies hasn't hurt Facebook so far, according to WSJ. Facebook first quarter net income nearly tripled on a 72% increase in revenue. For more of the article, read http://online.wsj.com/articles/companies-alter-social-media-strategies-1403499658