The Nielsen Social Media Report: What Marketers Should Take From It

Nielsen's Social Media Report makes one thing clear: social platforms are no longer optional channels. They sit at the center of how Americans spend their attention — and how they decide what to buy, who to trust, and which brands deserve a second look.

The numbers carry the argument.

Where the time is going

U.S. consumers spent 121 billion minutes on social media sites in July alone — a 37% jump over the same month the year before. Sixty-three percent of that growth came from mobile: 46% of social users now connect via smartphone, another 16% via tablet. Desktop social is no longer the default. Mobile is.

Social is now a customer-service channel

One in three U.S. consumers prefers social media over phone or email for customer care. That single data point should reshape how brands staff and structure their support functions. A complaint on Twitter is not a side conversation — it is the conversation, with an audience attached.

TV and social have converged

Over a third of Twitter users have tweeted about TV content. Forty-four percent of U.S. tablet owners and 38% of smartphone owners use social platforms while watching television. The second screen is no longer secondary. For brands buying TV media, the social conversation around the broadcast is now part of the buy.

Direct response is weak. Brand building is the play.

Only 10% of social network users made an online purchase based on a social ad. Only 8% made an offline one. The lesson is not that social fails to drive sales — it is that social rarely closes the sale on its own. Social platforms build the consideration set. The transaction happens elsewhere.

The platform pecking order

Facebook leads on every device — tablet, smartphone, PC. The next tier: Blogger, Twitter, WordPress, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr, MySpace, Wikia. Some debate whether Blogger and WordPress count as social networks. Blogging has clear social mechanics — comments, shares, communities — and Nielsen's inclusion of both reflects that.

What this means for PR

Three things. First, every campaign needs a mobile-first social plan. Second, customer-care and communications functions need to share a workflow — the public complaint is now the press inquiry. Third, brands should stop measuring social by direct conversions and start measuring it by share of voice, share of conversation, and influence on the consideration set. Those are the metrics social actually moves.

Social media did not arrive. It already runs the room.