A new consumer study done by Goldstar found that consumers are spending a lot of money on live entertainment after hearing about it on social media. In fact, when asked how they spend money based on social recommendations, 80 percent answered live entertainment, followed by travel at 64 percent and food at 62 percent.
Jim McCarthy, CEO of Goldstar said in a statement that:
We live in a highly mobile, social world where traditional marketing, including online marketing, just doesn’t have the impact it once did. Word-of-mouth has always been the most effective means of marketing anything and now, more than ever, word of mouth happens in social channels. Our data shows very convincingly that the live entertainment industry has a lot to gain from this reality.
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Of course marketers know that consumers are on social media and recommending things, but the numbers were higher than Goldstar thought they’d be. Like, 92 percent of consumers say they were inspired to know more about an event after they heard through social media that their friend bought tickets to it. And it goes for products, too: 84 percent say they are inspired to know more about a product or service they heard about in the same way.
McCarthy says that:
This isn’t about a ‘share’ button. This is about event discovery based on what people you know and care about are actually doing. The value of that kind of information is orders of magnitude higher than even the most targeted ad.
So if you want someone to watch an event or go to one, it’s pretty simple. Post it on Facebook.