Is there a connection between social media exposure and search behavior? A new study by GroupM Search and comScore titled, “The Influenced: Social Media, Search and the Interplay of Consideration and Consumption,” focuses on answering that question.

The study found searchers who engage with social media, especially those exposed to a brand’s influenced social media, are far more likely to search for lower-funnel terms compared to people who do not engage with social media. In addition, people exposed to a brand’s influenced social media and paid search programs are 2.8x more likely to search for that brand’s product compared to users who only saw paid search.

There was a 50 percent click-through rate (CTR) increase in paid search when people were exposed to influenced social media and paid search. This indicated people exposed to social media are more likely to click on a brand’s paid search ad compared to those exposed to the brand’s paid search alone.

Among searchers using a brand’s product name in the query, the CTR increased from 4.5 percent to 11.8 percent when users were exposed to both influenced social media and paid search around a brand.

In organic search, consumers searching on brand product terms who have been exposed to a brand’s social marketing campaign are 2.4x more likely to click on organic links leading to the advertiser’s site than the average user seeing a brand’s paid search ad alone.

“Social media-exposed consumers are far more likely to search for brand and product-related terms, and click on a brand’s paid search ad,” said Graham Mudd, vice president of comScore, Inc.

“This finding provides strong evidence that investing in social media marketing can both increase initial brand consideration and drive higher conversion rates once the consumer has decided to purchase.”