Marketers are well aware of the influence that social media can have on business but a new study from BazaarVoice suggests that tweets which mention brands can affect a brand´s stock price.
The study looked at a sample of 26 million tweets in which a group of 13 brands were mentioned. The effect of Twitter mentions was rated against those brands´ stock prices and researchers concluded that the positive mentions boosted prices. However, there was no correlation between negative tweets and stock price performance, suggesting that consumers are more influenced by positive comments and recommendations than by negative reviews.
Overall, 12% of the tweets that referred to a brand were actually a product suggestion and one in five of those contained a review of at least four stars, BazaarVoice found. Moreover, the volume of retweets containing brand mentions increased from 15% in 2010 to 18% in 2011 and reached 22% in 2012. But what does that mean for brands, and how can they use these findings for their own advantage?
According to Search Engine Watch, all these statistics indicate that news on social media is travelling faster than ever and brands should be constantly on their toes and react quickly to negative mentions. But more importantly, brands should make efforts to build and maintain a positive relationship with customers and make a good first impression on those who are yet to start a relationship with the company.
However, while thanking a positive tweet is important, it is not enough. Brands need to really get into the conversation and show users that they care. Acting like a human being and not a machine is a key aspect of successful social media brand reputation management.
