Celebrity endorsers still are powerful forces for brands to use to support themselves, according to a new study by The Nielsen Company, But more importantly, the research seems to indicate that those who respond to celebrity endorsers on social media are themselves far more likely to follow and respond to brands on social media.
In analyzing the results of that study, the Center for Media Research concluded: “Celebrities can be valuable to advertisers, but so too can the people who follow them on social media websites, says a study from Nielsen’s NetView Internet usage from 3rd quarter 2010 and @Plan Release 4 2010. According to the study 64% of adult U.S. Internet users who follow a celebrity also follow a brand, which means the celebrity follower is four times more likely to follow a brand than the average U.S. adult online.”
Apparently the Nielsen research also noted that followers of celebrities were also much more likely than the overall population to engage their social media contacts with their opinions and advice about things like movies, music or TV shows.
This could suggest that celebrity endorsers can have an even more profound impact on a brand because their followers are influencers in the social media domain, which is where word of mouth is increasingly playing out.
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