The study, which focuses on how to transform social media supporters into long-lasting advocates, involved an online survey with 5,000 social media users across 11 countries.

It revealed that the majority of users are actively noticing and engaging with brands via social media: 84% of all respondents said they had liked or followed a brand, and 58% said they had interacted directly with a brand. Only 19% of respondents were categorised as ‘promoters’, who are defined as being more active followers: i.e. following brands on a regular basis and interacting directly with them more often.

It was found that the highest proportion of promoters lived in emerging economies. In Brazil, 42% of social media users fell into this category, and in India this proportion was 33%. Japan had the lowest percentage of promoters, with 1%, followed by Germany and France (both 14%) and UK, Indonesia and Australia (all 15%). However, the study pointed out that cultural nuances were likely to be at play, such as a tendency towards passive advocacy in Asian countries and Japan’s “formal, more private culture”.

“Companies need to move beyond collecting likes and retweets with meaningless content,” said Thomas Crampton, global managing director, Social@Ogilvy.

“Through genuine interaction and content designed to connect with true advocates, companies can drive forward their brand, business and reputation in ways not possible before this era of social media.”