Social Media Marketing

Social Media: The World-Wide Explosion The past decade has seen the monumental explosion of social media and networking sites onto the Internet. From Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to Youtube, Bebo and Hi5; the number of social media and networking sites on the Internet is truly astounding and they are connecting people from every single city, country and continent on the globe. There is quite literally no limit to the reach of the Internet and this has facilitated immense social interaction. People can keep up to date with hundreds of friends, engage in conversation, share pictures, videos and music and reconnect with friends that they have long lost contact with. Where distances, obstacles and oceans once came in the way of communication and sharing, there are now literally hundreds of social media and networking sites making connection and reconnection possible in a way like never before. Social Media: The Statistics Social media essentially refers to the myriad of Internet-based sites that facilitate and promote social interaction and networking. In order to truly appreciate the marketing power of social media, one need only consider the following statistics: • 75% of the global consumers who go online visit social media and networking sites. • This figure has increased by a massive 24% since last year. • Each visitor spends approximately 66% more time on social media and networking sites than the previous year (from 3 hours per day to 6.5!) • 22% of the all human time is spent browsing social media and networking sites. • In July of this year (2010), Facebook announced over 500,000,000 (million) users. • LinkedIn currently has 60 million subscribers, which increased by 5 million in just 2 months. • Twitter has 110 million users • Myspace has 57 million users in the United States alone • Yelp sees over 30 million viewers per month • Tagged has 100 million registered users. So, what does this all mean? Social media has captivated the world’s attention and the number of users and time spent per day by each user is only increasing with each passing month. And what does this mean for business? Social Media Marketing and Advertising The explosion of social media and networking sites on the Internet and the vast number of people who subscribe to any of the hundreds out there has provided businesses of all sizes with an incredible opportunity to cash in on the exposure they can afford. Consider Facebook; one of the biggest of all the social networking sites to exist in the virtual domain. Facebook has over 500 million active viewers: subscribers who login and spend time on the site every day. The business that has visibility on Facebook is therefore being seen by tens, if not hundreds of millions of users on a daily basis. It is this potential for incredible exposure and the subsequent accumulation of leads that has made social media the new medium for modern marketing and advertising. The statistics have spoken: the business that does not make the jump into social media as a means for spreading their brand image and name will literally be left in the dust of its competitors.