Efforts to develop the online presence of your brand are not in vain.The study conducted by the University of Buffalo Administration School indicates that customers who follow a brand through social rewards visit that company more frequently, up to 5% more than those who are not followers. 

Many companies are still questioning the effectiveness of social networks, but this is because the parameters for measuring return on investment were not adequately established. However, the present study demonstrates that consumers committed to a brand through social networks are also in real life. Specifically, customers who have some type of link with the brand in Social Media visit the company a 5, 6% more favoring the company’s profit and loss account.

For the study we analyzed the data related to the activity of customers on the Facebook page, combined with the frequency of their purchases in the physical store, in this case a major company in the United States.

According to Ram Bezawada, co-author of the study and assistant professor of Marketing at the School, there are many ways to attract customers and encourage engagement, companies should strive to:

• Create a solid community that will keep you alive and allow a stable relationship with your followers. A community is not just a group of people who at some point have given their vote in favor of the brand, but must must get them to become active members.
• Encourage participation, motivate them with quality content, tailored to their needs; With which they feel identified and feel the desire to share.
• Design actions appropriate to their interests. A brand must know its audience, and adapt its strategy in order to get it to action and encourage its participation.
• Offer exclusive and personalized benefits. In this way they will feel full members and proud to belong to the community; So it will tighten its link with the brand.

In short, brands must work to strengthen ties and retain their customers and followers, so your efforts in Social Media will translate into increased economic benefit.

Would you say that your Social Media strategy is profitable? What could you do to maximize your investment?