With the numbers of social media users projected to continue to rise steadily, climbing to over 1.75 billion by the end of the year (an increase of more than 12 percent, as projected by eMarketer), comments about a business on these platforms can have a significant impact on perception and, subsequently, play a role in determining the popularity or notoriety of a business.
Media-moderating mogul mention, in a newly released study of postings about companies, uncovered some interesting trends, offering potential insight for businesses that keep a finger on the pattern of mentions in posts, pins, and tweets.
The most striking numbers revolve around the nature of mentions on social media: They are overwhelmingly neutral (over 75 percent), generated by users requesting some type of customer service – asking questions or looking for assistance. The data regarding the positive and negative comments comprising the remaining twenty-five percent shows that positive comments out-numbered negative by a margin of more than a three-to-one.
That people are turning to social media for help with customer service not only provides some relief from the worry of negative postings (especially given the ratio of positive-to-negative mentions), but also opens the door for companies to respond more quickly to customer concerns and requests, presenting an opportunity to turn neutral into positive.
The study also found that certain days of the week saw a greater volume of postings. Thursdays and Tuesdays were the most active, with 15.8% and 15.7% of company mentions going out on those days, respectively. Numbers of weekly online mentions begin declining of Fridays and continuing through the weekend, dropping from slightly over 15% to 12% on Saturday before falling to about 11% Sunday. Monday say a significant rebound in weekly mentions, spiking back to 14.4%.
Reference:
eMarketer. “Company Mentions on Social Channels Peak on Thursdays,” June 19, 2014.
