It appears that a Facebook page breeds confidence in a company's brand. According to a Polaris Marketing Research Inc. study of U.S. consumer usage of company Facebook pages, 25 percent of Internet users agree “strongly” with the statement, “If a company has a Facebook page, it means they are interested in what customers have to say.” Another 51 percent agreed “somewhat” with this statement.

When asked how much they agreed with the statement “If a company has a Facebook page, I tend to think more highly of their products or services,” 9 percent of online Americans agreed “strongly” and another 33 percent agree “somewhat.”

“Not only is Facebook a valuable tool for gaining feedback, it appears that simply having a Facebook page can enhance consumers’ perceptions of a company’s brand.” said Polaris President Jan Carlson.

This finding, though, did not vary strongly across demographics. Only males and older respondents (50 years plus) were less likely to agree with the statement “If a company has a Facebook page, it means they are more interested in what customers have to say.” The statement “If a company has a Facebook page, I tend to think more highly of their products and services” showed no variation by respondent demographics.

Fully 53 percent of online Americans claim to have “liked” a company’s Facebook page in the past 60 days. Conversely, only 15 percent of online Americans indicate that they have “unliked” a company’s Facebook page in the past 60 days.

“Facebook is an important marketing tool for businesses," Carlson said. "In our survey, in addition to liking companies’ Facebook pages, 25 percent of online Americans had posted a comment to a company’s Facebook page, indicating that Facebook is a valuable source of consumer feedback as well."

Company Facebook page activity also varied by demographics: 

• Female respondents were significantly more likely to “like,” “unlike” and comment on a company Facebook page than their male respondent counterparts.
• Respondents under the age of 35 were significantly more likely to give feedback to companies via their Facebook pages.
• Income and ethnicity are not related to a respondents likelihood to “like,” “unlike” or comment on a company’s Facebook page.
• Respondents in the Western U.S. were least likely to “like,” “unlike” or comment on a company’s Facebook page.

Polaris conducted online surveys with a representative sample of 1,000 U.S. consumers during the week of July 18, 2011.