All that most businesses really want to know about Social Media is how to use this latest and greatest toy to make more money selling products or services.

Performics, a Publicis-owned unit, wanted to find out the same thing so it conducted an online survey of U.S. consumers who access at least one social network regularly. The objective: to determine what kind of impact social networking has on the purchase process.

Here’s what they found out, from 3011 consumers:

• 34% have used a search engine to find information on a product/service/brand after seeing an advertisement on a social networking site
• 30% have learned about a new product, service and/or brand from a social networking site
• 27% are receptive to invitations to events, special offers or promotions from advertisers communicated to me through social networking sites
• 25% have gone directly to an online retailer or ecommerce site after learning about a product/service/brand via a social networking site
• 25% have recommended a product/service/brand to their friends via a social networking site
• 20% have discussed products/services/brands on social networking sites after seeing an ad elsewhere

If you’d like to tap into this social revenue stream but are not sure where to start, grab the free ebook on “Adventures Into The Unknown World of Social Media” from http://MarketersFears.com

Tags: consumer research, money, social media