Social networking is really a broad term that describes many different online media platforms that with each other represent the evolution of the internet from the static, one-way communication funnel to some dynamic, fully interactive one.
A few of the popular kinds of platforms are:
Social networks
Bookmarking sites
Blogs
Microblogs
Online review sites
Media discussing sites
Global adoption and use of social websites continues to be simply phenomenal:
Facebook has greater than 400 million active users, 50 percent who sign in every single day
YouTube video views are more than two billion each day, that is nearly double the amount prime-time audience of three major US TV systems combined
Twitter users publish greater than 50 million tweets each day, an impressive increase – as you would expect – from 2007 once they were averaging 5,000 each day
And even though social networking might have grown from the fundamental human have to connect, share, and interact, it’s evolved – very quickly – into a different way for companies to interact their clients and prospective customers.
People Wish to be Marketed to Through Social Channels
And individuals want companies to possess a presence within the social networking space. Based on a Cone Business in Social Networking study of american citizens using social networking:
93% of users believe a business must have a name in social networking
85% of users think that a business is going beyond just getting a name around the social web and really should communicate with its customers
When requested about specific kinds of interactions, Americans using places to waste time believe:
43% think that companies should use social systems to resolve my problems
41% think that companies should solicit feedback on their own services and products
37% think that companies should develop new methods for customers to communicate with their brand
25% think that companies should sell to consumers
Outstanding, is not it? One out of every four Americans wish to be marketed to through social web channels. Just when was the final time you heard anybody state that they thought about being marketed to?
But…You need to Understand it properly
You must have a method. It must integrate various high-value social networking channels together, as well as your social networking strategy must integrate together with your other offline and online marketing efforts.
Your strategy needs to pay attention to an easy number of steps with regards to the conversations which are happening – concerning the services and products your company sells, regarding your brand, contributing to your competitors – in social web channels:
The first step – pay attention to the conversation
Second step – join the conversation
Third step – lead the conversation
That’s the way you leverage the viral nature of social web and take advantage of the brand new word-of-mouth: word of web.
The last word of caution: don’t do it yourself – a minimum of away from the beginning. Your window of chance continues to be open for you personally so that you can build communities of loyal fans around your company before your competitors does. However that window is closing fast as more local companies jump into social networking.
