According to new data published by Harris Interactive for The Webby Awards, a massive 68% of social media users aged 18-34 are more likely to purchase an item or check out a service if their friend has posted a recommendation about it, highlighting the impact of opinionated social sharing on brands.
As reported by eMarketer, the January polling found that, contrastingly, nearly 80% social media users aged 65 and over said the opinions shared by their friends on social media regarding products wouldn’t affect their own purchase decisions at all.
The research reveals the huge shift in how individuals have come to share opinions online, with Millennials now posting their thoughts to the digital spaice as often as those from older generations would have done face-to-face when younger. Interestingly, the majority of posts on social networks about new products and services came from women, especially those aged 44 and under.
Growing up in a digital world where a significant part of one’s social life takes place online has had an obvious effect on Millennials. Brands are thus under an increasing amount of pressure to fine-tune their social media channels in order to impress a youthful social media user base, members of which are keen to share good and bad experiences that they’ve had with brands via the multiple social media channels available.