Industry Trends: The Numbers Don’t Lie – Social Media Marketing Continues to Grow
In September this year Twitter.com, Tagged.com and Ning reported serious year-over-year audience growth at 343%, 330%, and 251%, respectively. Facebook announced 39.0 million unique visitors and a growth rate of 116%, and social networking giant MySpace.com is reported to have 59.4 million unique visitors. If these statistics don’t prove the importance of social networking, consider that in the most recent presidential election Barack Obama had over 2 million supporters on Facebook and over 800 thousand supporters on MySpace. John McCain held over 600 thousand supporters on Facebook and over 200 thousand supporters on MySpace. Politics aside, you can’t argue that social media marketing is critical to utilize when you want to deliver your message.
If your business is trying to cast a wider net and attract new business, social media marketing is the avenue for you. However, you must protect your business and develop your strategy just as you would for PPC or SEO. What is critical to understand when using social media to market your business is that your identity is being established through association. In its simplest form, identity through association means becoming friends with other MySpace or Facebook users. By linking profiles with your existing customers and reaching out to your core client base, you establish who you are and how you bring something different, something special and noteworthy, to your marketplace.
Moreover, social media marketing is relatively cheap when compared to traditional advertising avenues. Aside from the startup time it takes to create a profile, social media marketing allows its members to access information freely. Due to the analytical tools available, advertisers can control advertising spend and even target demographics ensuring that their ads and are reaching the most qualified audience. Traditional marketing, relying on print advertising campaigns and commercials is costly from startup throughout the campaign’s management and often cast their net too wide and campaign success suffers.
If you’re interested in social media marketing, contact us at NetSearch Direct to discuss the best options for your business.
