Today’s chart examines how much recommendations from social media have come to challenge the traditional power of word-of-mouth among Millennials.
Crucially, in MEA and LatAm recommendations on social are now as or more important than word-of-mouth. In Europe and North America, however, word-of-mouth brand discovery takes the lead, with the latter region having it as the most popular form of brand discovery of all, beating even search engines (41%) and TV ads (37%). Perhaps more surprisingly, the tech-savvy Millennials of APAC are still more likely to discover brands through in-person recommendations than comments on social media.
Social media offers speed and virality in expanding organic brand awareness, but it’s clear that the assurance of an in-person recommendation from friends or family still holds sway over many Millennials, particularly in North America.
