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Patriots have more online visitors, but Giants fans run up web stats

During the run up to the playoffs in December 2011, the Patriots had 644,000 unique visitors to their official website, topping the Giants’ 574,000 visitors. However, Giants fans were more engaged when visiting their team’s website, viewing nearly twice as many pages (17 page views per person) compared to Patriots visitors, and spending over 10 minutes each on average.

Super Bowl buzz: Giants fans cheer more for team, Tom Brady is MVP of social media

Fans’ excitement throughout the playoffs carried over to social media. The Giants had more buzz about their team each week, with a 59 percent share of buzz compared to the Patriots’ 41 percent of buzz volume on blogs, message boards/forums, public posts on Twitter and Facebook and online news posts.  But Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady surpassed Giants QB Eli Manning, with nearly double the amount of buzz.

For more insights on usage and trends across TV, mobile, online, and social media download Nielsen’s State of the Media: Consumer Usage Report.

Research suggests that real world interactions drive online friendships. Meanwhile, sales-oriented and depressing comments help drive friend removals. Facebook etiquette also plays a role, with updating too often, too little or having too many friends a consideration for some Facebook users.

Social media activity also plays a role in these decisions, as research indicates that men are more likely to use social media for careers/networking and dating – while women use social media for a creative outlet, to get coupons/promos or to give positive feedback. More men add friends based on business networks or physical attractiveness and women are more likely to friend based on knowing someone in real life or remove them due to offensive comments.

Below is an infographic outlining the various reasons for adding or removing Facebook friends and a breakdown of social media activity:

*Methodology: NM Incite, State of Social Media Survey (April 2011). NM Incite’s ‘State of Social Media Survey’ is based on a representative sample of 1,865 adult (18+) social media users who were recruited from the Nielsen Online Panel to take an online survey. “Social media user” is defined as participating, talking, and networking online through various platforms to share information and resources. This includes Internet forums, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, video sharing, consumer rating and other social networking websites. The survey fielded from March 31 to April 14th.

Combined with Apple’s other best-selling handsets, the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS, Apple phones accounted for nearly two-thirds of all mentions about smartphones between July through December 2011. A handful of Android phones such as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Droid Bionic, and HTC Evo series phones attracted substantial buzz leading up to the holiday shopping season, accounting for nearly a quarter of buzz.

BlackBerry models took in 10 percent of the buzz, led by the BlackBerry Bold series which was the third-most mentioned handset with over 6 percent of online buzz about these top smartphones.

Methodology: Using a list of the top 20 recently acquired smartphone handsets during the 3rd quarter, as well as a handful of recently released handsets such the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Apple’s iPhone 4S, Nielsen looked at online buzz mentioning these smartphones from July – December 2011 posted in blogs, message boards/groups, public posts on Twitter and Facebook, and online news sites.

As data has shown for prior years, the majority of buzz was posted in the days leading up to the shopping holiday, with the peak occurring on the day of the shopping event itself. In 2011 buzz about Black Friday/Cyber Monday peaked the day after Thanksgiving and made up 2.9 percent of all buzz that day, representing a 15 percent relative increase in the share of buzz compared to 2010.

Cyber Monday buzz has also increased compared year-over-year, and is likely to climb further as discussion of Cyber Week sales continues throughout the week. An interesting development this year comes from the increase in blog posts about Black Friday, which now accounts for 47 percent of all buzz mentioning it, led by the large volume of blog posts made weeks ahead of the shopping holiday.

What are consumers saying about Black Friday/Cyber Monday?

Looking more closely at what consumers are discussing about the shopping holiday through social media, NM Incite evaluated buzz about Black Friday/Cyber Monday to uncover popular topics. An overwhelming majority of buzz was neutral in tone, indicating that consumers rely on social media platforms to share information related to deals and sales both online and off.  Another 94 percent of Cyber Monday posts were neutral in tone, with consumers sharing links to sales and deal-related news. Today’s findings reflect an earlier study by NM Incite which showed that receiving deals/discounts was one of the more popular reasons Americans use social media.

NM Incite also looked at the top 10 shared links on Twitter, and found many of the more popular links were also used to share information about Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Posts from popular news sites ranked among the most shared links on Twitter , including a story from Mashable sharing the best Black Friday deals, as well as news coverage about the shopping holiday from CNN and ABC News. The most shared links included pictures on Twitpic related to Black Friday as well. Tweets sharing deals rounded out the list of most shared links on Black Friday, whereas links to deals topped the list for Cyber Monday buzz, making the deals instantly accessible on the shopping holiday.

Globally, online consumers of all ages reported that receiving discounts and special offers was their top reason for liking or following brands.  Only respondents under the age of 20 and 55-59-year-olds were less likely to follow for this reason, reporting they primarily engage with brands via social media based on friends’ recommendations.

While some may argue that consumers’ interest in discounts has faded, Nielsen data shows the desire for deals is still strong worldwide.  Across a sample of ten major markets*, nearly 40 percent of active Internet users visited Coupons/Rewards sites such as Groupon, Coupons.com and Living Social from home and work computers during September 2011.  Compared to the same month last year, visits to these sites were up in each country except the U.K., and in seven of the ten countries, daily deal site Groupon was the most-visited site in the category.

In the U.S., NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey Company, found that nearly 60 percent of social media users visit social networks to receive coupons or promotions, with 23 percent saying they do this on a weekly basis.  When comparing visitors to Social Networks and Blogs and those who visit sites that offer coupons and rewards, there is strong overlap between the two categories.  During September 2011, 43 percent of visitors to Social Networks and Blogs also visited a Coupons/Rewards site.  Additionally, 44 percent of Facebook’s audience and nearly two-thirds (63%) of Twitter’s audience visited these sites.  In fact, after email and search, Facebook was a key source of traffic to Groupon and Living Social during September – meaning Groupon’s and Living Social’s visitors came directly from Facebook – further demonstrating that social networking plays a key role in driving consumers to seek out discounts and special offers.

As the holiday shopping season approaches and with the economy still weighing on consumers’ minds, brands and advertisers should consider leveraging social media to offer consumers incentives.  Nielsen research indicates people will go for it – U.S. adults online who follow a brand or celebrity on social networking sites are 52 percent more likely than the average adult online to download an online coupon and nine percent more likely to shop online.

*Nielsen has meter-measured Internet data in 10 major markets: Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, U.K. and U.S.

How Social Moms Access Content
The social mom is highly active in accessing social networks via mobile devices. Fifty percent of all moms actively participating in social media access platforms via mobile devices, in comparison to 39 percent of females overall, and 37 percent of the overall population in general.

How Social Moms Shop
Social moms tend to be cost-conscious, being 56 percent more likely to download coupons than the general population. They are also more likely to shop online for CPG products than other product categories, with the research showing that 86 percent are more likely to shop online for cosmetics than the general public, as well as skincare products (85%), hair care goods (74%) and fragrances (68%).

Social Moms: Likes and Dislikes
The growing influence of women and moms is increasingly apparent, and so too is their level of activity in social media. Moms who actively participate in social media are 81 percent more likely to become a fan of or follow a brand online, 86 percent more likely to post a status update, and 84 percent more likely to comment or post content than the general population. The research also shows that social moms definitely aren’t shy in sharing their advice and reviews of products with others. This segment is 85 percent more likely than the general population to share frequent advice about beauty and cosmetic products, 28 percent more likely to provide frequent advice about online shopping/e-commerce and 6% more likely to post a product review online.

View full graphic with footnotes.

Social media plays an important role in how consumers discover, research, and share information about brands and products. In fact 60 percent of consumers researching products through multiple online sources learned about a specific brand or retailer through social networking sites. Active social media users are more likely to read product reviews online, and 3 out of 5 create their own reviews of products and services. Women are more likely than men to tell others about products that they like (81% of females vs. 72% of males). Overall, consumer-generated reviews and product ratings are the most preferred sources of product information among social media users.

Research shows that social media is increasingly a platform consumers use to express their loyalty to their favorite brands and products, and many seek to reap benefits from brands for helping promote their products. Among those who share their brand experiences through social media, at least 41 percent say they do so to receive discounts. When researching products, social media users are likely to trust the recommendations of their friends and family most, and results from Nielsen’s Global Online Survey indicate that 2 out of 3 respondents said they were either highly or somewhat influenced by advertising with a social context.

Social Media also plays a key role in protecting brands: 58 percent of social media users say they write product reviews to protect others from bad experiences, and nearly 1 in 4 say they share their negative experiences to “punish companies”. Many customers also use social media to engage with brands on a customer service level, with 42 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds acknowledging that they expect customer support within 12 hours of a complaint.

On the flip side, another interesting trend is the interest of consumers to act as ambassadors and advocates for brands through social media. A majority of active social networkers (53%) follow brands. These brands are increasingly recruiting their fans and followers to spread word-of-mouth recommendations about their products and services, and among consumers who write product reviews online, a majority say their share their experiences to “give recognition for a job well done” by the company. Social media users are also interested in collaborating with their favorite brands, with 60 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds saying they want to give product improvement recommendations, and another 64 percent who want to customize their products.

The social media population overall, skews slightly higher among females (55%), than males (45%). However, when comparing this demographic split to that of the population on social media sites talking about TV, this split reverses skewing higher among males (55%), than females (45%). There are several interesting demographic shifts when comparing general social media users and the portion of the population talking about TV specifically on social media. Those under age 18 account for 34 percent of the overall social media population, yet make up only 12 percent of the population on social media sites talking about TV. The opposite shift happens when focusing on the 25 – 34 year-old demographic. This age break comprises 17 percent of the overall social media population, but jumps to 29 percent of the makeup of the population on sites talking about TV. Within these age groups it’s interesting to note that, the difference in percentages across ethnic backgrounds remains relatively unchanged for African Americans, Asian, Hispanic and Whites.

When are consumers discussing TV?
TV buzz closely mimics traditional ratings patterns as well as a show’s yearly cycle.

Buzz is highest on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday coinciding with days when a lot of major shows air. TV buzz drops off on the weekend and increases once again as the middle of the week approaches.

Research shows that TV buzz nears its high during September, right before a show premieres and during its initial month. Conversations taper off slightly over the ensuing months, but increase again in January with the introduction of new and returning shows. TV buzz then seems to peak during April and May as consumers respond to show finales, and then dips again during the summer.

What are consumers discussing?

Consumers use social media to talk about a number of key TV-related topics such as winning (14%), voting (6%) and judging (6%), which highlight the appeal of and engagement consumers have with reality-based TV. Top genres fueling the most buzz are funny (10%), romance (8%) and drama (6%). Entertaining (11%), physical attractiveness (9%), fans (9%) and writers/creators (6%) round out the rest of top topics driving consumer discussion across social media.

For more on TV viewers getting social, download research and watch video from Nielsen’s Advertising Week presentations.