CONTENTYou work so hard to craft that perfect piece of content and post it on social media. Hooray! Lots of people click on it.  That’s sure to get people to like your page, visit you more often, and hopefully remember where they got it, right?  Well, maybe not.

If you’re not one of the major brands, it’s tough enough to get people to click on your content.  It’s even harder for them to remember where it came from.  A new study by Frank Magid in conjunction with Digital Content Next found that 43% of the time people aren’t aware of who published the content they’re reading.

Better news for big brands, since the study says 57% of the time, people are aware of the brand and the credibility of the brand may play a significant part of why they clicked.  Tougher for new entrants or less well-known companies to get their message out there… and have people remember where they got it.

While 57% is the average, it varies greatly by content category.

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Since so many people don’t know the source of what they’re reading, it’s pretty important it’s branded properly and overtly.

“It’s critical for premium publishers to strongly brand their content on social to create trusted relationships with new audiences and solidify existing ones. –  DCN CEO Jason Kint.

The research finds that more than 70% of consumers access more content from brands when they are active on social media.  In other words, social is additive and doesn’t seem to take away from content on site.  In fact, it dramatically aids with discovery of content.  But I’ll bet you know that instinctively already, right?

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