Social media lead generation 'not yet mainstream'

Sales lead generation via social media is yet to become a mainstream technique in brand marketing, new research has revealed.

According to a study by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), only 12.7 per cent of people give organisations feedback on social networks, and only 11.2 per cent use these sites to watch branded content such as TV advertising.

However, the survey of 1,000 internet users did find that 20.3 per cent of people follow brands on social media, a greater number than do likewise with celebrities (13.4 per cent).

The study also revealed that companies are failing to provide a good level of customer service through websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Of the 7.7 per cent of people who had complained about a brand on a social network or forum, fewer than 40 per cent had received a prompt response.

Amy Kean, head of the IAB social media council, said it is important that businesses are aware of the "negative conversations" that take place on social media platforms.

"Even though responding to each and every complaint is not always relevant, being armed with this information could prove invaluable to feed into the overall communications strategy," she said.

It was recently announced that PayPal is to launch a Facebook-integrated service to make it easier for consumers to purchase goods on the social network.

Written by Julian Poulter