Social Networking Study: Two Thirds of Marketers Now Use Social Media

A recent study from the Association of National Advertisers cited on Mashable.com reveals that “66 percent of marketers have now used social media in some capacity in 2009.” Not only does this report support the idea that “everyone is doing it” but it also confirms the idea that the “Big Four” Social Networks continue to dominate the marketplace.

Among social networks being embraced by all marketers, the top sites used are:

• Facebook (74 percent)
• YouTube (65 percent)
• Twitter (63 percent)
• LinkedIn (60 percent)

The report also explores the online marketing effectiveness of newer media platforms as follows:

• Search engine marketing (SEM) (65 percent)
• Own Web site (59 percent)
• Search engine optimization (SEO) (55 percent)
• E-mail marketing (45 percent)

Without a doubt, this study and its findings should be shared and incorporated into your marketing planning.  Use the information to convince non-believers that social networking is, indeed, here to stay!

 

A 3-Month Review

so we have been discussing social media marketing for 3 months. Seems like a good tie to see how we are doing. Bring your successes, questions, challenges and get your social media plan back on track.

If you came to the Chmaber of Commerce lunch you had the chance to take the quiz. If not, here is the What’s Your Social Marketing IQ? quiz.

 

The Big Four–An E-Retailer’s Guide to Social Network Marketing

Great article in this month’s Internet Retailer magazine that gives current stats on Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and YouTube. Read the article here. By the way, if you do not subscribe to Internet Retailer, you may want to look at the web site once in a while as it has some great articles on trends and issues for anyone selling on the web.

 

Online Collaboration Tools

At yesterday’s session of Biz Talk, we discussed online collaboration tools. Online tools can be a great time saver, allow for easy collaborative efforts and are often free! What could be better? A great resource is the mind map created by Robin Good and can be found here:

http://www.mindmeister.com/12213323

I did a search for “online collaboration tools” and this was the first entry in Google. It struck me that this was a fabulous way to get awareness for his web site Mastering New Media and a technique anyone could use. It doesn’t require any skill, just some hard work deciding on a topic and researching it.

Creating a mind map of information, with or without web site links, could be a great resource that can draw visitors to your site and awareness of your business. This is just one more way the small business owner can bring traffic to a web site by using freely available Web 2.0 applications.

The question is: How can you build something similar using MindMeister, eHow, Squidoo, HubPages or other tools to bring greater awareness of your business? Why not share your ideas with us! Is there another tool that we should be aware of? Let us know!

 

Tips for Postcard Mailing Campaigns

OK, this is a bit off-topic for our series on social media marekting, but postcards are a great marketing tool for small businesses so I wanted to share this audio on postcard mailing tips.

 

Windsor Biz Talk on Twitter!

Anyone who wants to join the conversation and practice their Twitter skills is encouraged to send tweets to #wbizt. Search for tweets with this hashtag . . . or include this in any system you have for tracking tweets.

 

Is Social Media Marketing Right for Your Business?

We have spent several sessions on social media marketing. It is all the buzz these days, and it is easy to get caught up in the hype. Here is one of the best articles I have seen on evaluating social media marketing for your small business. Be sure to read the part on how much time you need to devote to this . . . pretty eye opening for a business owner with limited time.

This will be a great starting point for a disucssion at our next windsor Biz Talk session. See you there!

 

Social Media- The Steps to Success

Today we talked about the steps in the process to have success with social media marketing. Take a look at the presentation and be sure to watch the video (a  great example of a viral video). Next session–July 21– we will take a look at Twitter.

The link to the video is:
http://www.stservicemovie.com

 

Social Media Step One

We had a small turnout on Tuesday for our first step in social media marketing but I also heard from a few others who wanted to come but just couldn’t make it. This is just the first step, so plenty of time for anyone interested to join us on this journey.

If you couldn’t make the session, you may review the Social Media Marketing–The Start slides. Also, download and print the social media checklist.

Please review this presentation prior to our next session on July 7. The PowerPoint includes some resources we are using, as well as action items for you to work on before our next meeting.

Please respond to this post if you have questions.

 

Getting Started with Social Media Marketing

Our June 16 Biz Talk will be the start of a series of sessions on getting started with social media marketing. If you are struggling with how to make sense of Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace, Twitter, etc. and not sure what to do, how to start, or if it is worth the time,  you should join us! We will begin with an overview of what is social media marketing (it is a lot more than just Facebook!) and talk about ways to use it PROFITABLY.

• How to identify which approaches are right for your audience
• How to listen before you jump in
• How social media marketing is entirely different than regular marketing
• How to build your strategy and how to keep it going

Social media marketing can be very useful and profitable. It can also be a way to waste a lot of time with little or no return. The difference is developing a strategy, sticking to it, and tracking your results–not just jumping on the latest trend.

Despite what you might read, social media marketing is new and still evolving. Sure there are lots of guidelines, but there are many more questions. So why not join the Biz Talk group where we can all learn, implement, share and profit.

Our June 16 meeting will focus on defining social media marketing and give you action items to work on for session two. Subsequent sessions will build on foundation, so we encourage you to attend all the sessions, regardless of your experience with social media marketing.

See you on June 16!