Social media users' brand-love limited, wrath unlimited

This year's Cone New Media Study contains some interesting findings around the limit of a consumer's brand loyalty on social media. Cone's study found that while millions of brands are accessible on social platforms, just five brands can command the loyalty and trust of your average social media user at any one time.

"With the world's most loved brands a click of the mouse away, new media users still choose to demonstrate affinity (e.g., "like" on Facebook, "follow" on Twitter or subscribe to an RSS feed) for an average of only 4.6 companies online, making this club one of the most exclusive to which a company can hope to gain access," says Cone.

Consumers are fickle and, while tempting them to Like or Follow a brand may be as easy as offering discounts and promotions, unless they have good reason to sick they are likely to walk on. To this end, social media marketing must engage punters with compelling content and an ongoing,conversation.

And, be aware that the flow of information on social media sites isn't always positive. The wrath of a dissatisfied social media user can travel far and wide. Cone found that over half of dissatisfied consumers (58%) remove their support on Facebook and Twitter.

Worse still, some unhappy social media users will use every social outlet possible to make sure the world and his dog know about a blunder.