Q3 Data Launch: Radical evolution in how consumers engage with brands

GlobalWebIndex Q3 2013 data is now available to our clients in PRO Platform. The new data set demonstrates that social media is driving radical change in how consumers are engaging with brands.

The fastest growing brand behaviours include “retweeting a branded micro-blog post”, up 28% since Q1 2013, followed by “uploading photo / video to a branded social network page/group” and “sharing content in a branded community” – both up 22%. This demonstrates that the big impact for brands from social media is users sharing branded content, underlining the power of human distribution and making it clear why content should be at the heart of every future brand strategy.

In a broader sense, there is a rise in brand engagement across the board, showing that users are becoming increasingly comfortable with a more involved relationship with brands. We believe this is a direct result of the socialisation of the internet, making brands more accessible and human.

Conversely, the only declining engagement (although still the highest reach) is “Visiting a branded website”, which fell 7%. This is a telling sign of the changing nature of how brands will be engaged online. Increasingly this will be via portable assets such as apps or content, conversation or presence on 3^rd party platforms. Owned properties are declining in importance.