- Jun 21, 2013
Three-quarters of younger adults follow brands on Facebook
Nearly half the population of Canada will use Facebook this year, eMarketer estimates, but research shows email remains the most popular way for internet users in the country to connect with marketers.Across age groups, internet users in Canada were more likely to subscribe to a brand’s opt-in emails than they were to follow brands on Facebook or Twitter, according to a March 2013 survey from ExactTarget. Among adults under 45, around three-quarters followed brands on the country’s most popular social network, but email subscription rates were at 90% or higher even among this age group.
Still, substantial percentages of internet users in older age groups indicated they connected with brands on Facebook. Twitter—which has a much smaller user base overall—was significantly less popular, though almost a quarter of 18- to 24-year-olds reported following brands on the microblogging service.
The reasons for connecting with brands via two of the three channels were similar: For email, internet users’ top goals were receiving discounts and promotions, along with “free stuff” and other giveaways. On Facebook, brand followers reported the same top two reasons.
Twitter users had somewhat different reasons for following brands; they were more interested in keeping up-to-date with the company’s offerings and potentially gaining access to exclusive content.
