Not only are social fans more likely to buy and recommend brands, but their friends are also likely to follow suit. So says new research from Morpace finds that more than two-thirds of Facebook users would take a Facebook friend’s referral of a product or service seriously enough to consider actually purchasing it.
White Facebook users were generally least likely to become a fan of brands and retailers, while Hispanics were most likely to become fans in all the categories studied by Morpace.
One-half of Hispanic respondents said Facebook was a good tool for researching new products, compared with 46% of Asians, 44% of African-Americans and only 31% of whites.
According to Edelman’s recent trust barometer, 75% of consumers don’t believe their peers will give them good advice or information about a company. Last year that number was 55%.