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"On Twitter, Facebook, and dozens of other social sites, normal consumers often choose to keep tabs on the brands they love.\nIn fact, many brands have highly optimized their marketing and PR strategies to accommodate that behavior, even going to far as to do one-to-one CRM (that's customer or consumer relationship management) through avenues such as Facebook and Twitter.\nAs social CRM specialists Get Satisfaction found, many consumers who follow brands online are only in it for the perks. Around 40% of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter users in a recent study said they followed brands to get access to discounts and special deals.\n\nSEE ALSO: The Biggest Brands on Facebook [INFOGRAPHIC]\nAnother common response in the same survey indicated that many consumers will follow a brand if they are current customers. And creating interesting, entertaining content online is another great way for brands to earn followers and fans on social services.\nCheck out this infographic from Get Satisfaction and design shop Column Five for more details on why and how ordinary folks follow brands online.\nClick image to see full-size version.\n\n[source: Get Satisfaction blog]\nTop image courtesy of iStockphoto user Ridofranz."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/06/30/why-people-follow-brands/>