There have been numerous debates over the effectiveness of social media. Debates have occurred highlighting the fact that while most social media applications are free or are at least very cost effective, time is not. In addition, what is the most effective approach to build a fan base to garner interest, support and apply influence to turn interested fans to customers.
An article in eMarketer Daily highlights some interesting statistics:
How Many Companies by Size are using Social Media:
- Small businesses - 44%
- Medium businesses - 36%
- Large businesses - 23%
Small companies have embraced social media as it is viewed as a cost effective marketing tool. Yet frustration has mounted as business owners are not getting preferred results. A social media strategy should be thoroughly defined and integrated with all other marketing initiatives and synced up with the business plan for optimum performance and ROI.
Which Social Media Applications are Used the Most:
- Facebook - there are over 3.5 million minutes are spent on this site a day. 70% of Facebook users are outside the US with a gender ratio of 55% female users and 45% male users.
- The average Facebook users has 130 friends, sends eight friend requests per month, writes 25 comments each month and likes 2 pages each month.
- Twitter - with 30 million users in the US with a gender ratio of 55% female users and 45% male users.
- Twitter users use Twitter to: 42% learn about products and services, 41% to provide opinions about products/services, and 31% to ask for opinions about products/services.
- LinkedIn - has 17 million users and is the 48th most visited site on the Internet just below flickr, match.com and Apple with a gender ratio of 52% female and 48% male.
Sources: Quantcast and Webolutions
Marketing continues to evolve with numerous options to business owners to promote business and increase customer base. It is ever more important to define a social media strategy targeted to business goals and demographics. 5 steps to building a smart strategy:
- Ensure that the social media strategy is integrated with overall marketing initiatives.
- Identify the three social meeting applications that support business demographics
- Research three competitors on the sites and identify what they are doing well and what they are not providing.
- Create a plan to differentiate and influence your fan base with consistency and value.
- Define a Return on Investment (ROI) strategy to ensure that goals are being met.
To evaluate how some businesses have met with success check out TechCrunch blog highlights: "How Social Media Drives New Business: Six Case Studies."
Sandy Williams - Sandy is the founder of Strategic Marketing Innovators, a full service strategic marketing firm. Her twelve year corporate marketing ...
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