Brands that use Facebook are responding to more inquiries from their fans, and they're doing it in record time, according to new data from Socialbakers.
On average, brands answered 55% of the questions posed by their Facebook fans in the fourth quarter of 2012, up from 48% in 3Q12 and 30% in 2Q12.
Those increases occurred even as the volume of questions posted on Facebook brand pages grew an average of 26% between 2Q12 and 4Q12.
Also, brands are responding to questions more quickly. The average time taken to respond to a Facebook query fell to 13.7 hours in 4Q12, down from 19.5 hours in 3Q12 and 20.9 hours in 2Q12.
Below, additional findings from Socialbakers' new report based on data for the fourth quarter of 2012.
Brands that are socially devoted meet the following criteria, according to Socialbakers:
- Open to their fans (their Facebook page has an open wall).
- Respond to fans' questions (respond to at least 65% of questions).
- Communicate in a timely fashion.
Across most of the industries studied, brands became more socially devoted in the second half of 2012, with airline and finance brands leading the way.
Airlines brands responded to 74.1% of questions posed by their fans in the fourth quarter, up from 55.0% six months earlier. Finance brands were second with a response rate of 72.3% (up from 46.4% in 2Q12), followed telecom brands with 71.0% (up from 60.4%), and fashion brands with 56.7% (up from 24.9%).
Less likely to respond in 4Q12 were automotive brands with a response rate of 30.0% (up from 5.2%), and alcohol brands with 29.7% (up from 4.9%).
About the data: Findings are based on data from 14 thousand Facebook brand Pages gathered via Socialbakers' analytical platform in the fourth quarter of 2012.
