A lot of companies are just getting into the idea of using social media marketing to increase their visibility, but many businesses are still afraid to take the plunge. I’ve compiled a list of articles and studies that can be used to explain why social media marketing is an effective marketing strategy for businesses.
Earlier this year, BusinessWeek published an article titled “Social Media Will Change Your Business“. It considers the need for businesses to maintain a blog, and explores how they’ve changed the face of media.
Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They’re a prerequisite. (And yes, that goes for us, too.)
The article by Forbes, “The Business Value of Social Networking“, looks at one aspect of social media, the social network. It considers the use for small to midsize businesses and the value they would gain.
We’re so early in the world of social media that I would say small and midsize businesses would do well to have representation on Facebook, LinkedIn and Pulse.
“Social Media for Business - Who’s Doing it Well & How” published on the technologically inclined site Read Write Web, explains who’s starting using social media, but also considers how they’re doing it. The article references Charlene Li, the keynote speaker at Social Media Marketing 2008.
“This is why social media is so important,” Li said, “this YouTube video recorded by ‘Brian’ resulted in the Comcast brand going down the toilet. You must understand that the power is now in the hands of consumers.”
Dell and Facebook have teamed up to offer an online resource for small businesses considering the use of social media marketing. It’s an easy read, and is full of videos that explain how to use social media tools and why they’re important.
The Forrester Analyst Group released a report that surveyed which companies expect to invest in Web 2.0 strategies and social media.
CNET News.com’s sibling site ZDNet, analyst G. Oliver Young predicts that “Enterprise 2.0″ applications–buttoned-up versions of the Web 2.0 apps we all know and love–will be a $4.6 billion industry by 2013.
On tops of news articles being published there’s been a lot of research being done on the subject of social media and it’s viability as a marketing technique. University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s Center for Marketing research released a report, “Social Media in the Inc. 500: The First Longitudinal Study“. The study compares social media adoption from 2007 to 2008 by the Inc. 500.
Cone released a study that looked beyond what companies are doing, and instead considered what consumers expect. It found that customers and prospects overwhelmingly expected companies to have a social media presence.
…93 percent of social media users believe a company should have a presence in social media, while an overwhelming 85 percent believe a company should not only be present but also interact with its consumers via social media.
If you’re willing to pay for them ($995.00 yearly subscription or approximately $400 per report) Aberdeen Group has released 2 reports:
Customer 2.0: The Business Implication of Social Media
Social Media Monitoring Proves Its Worth to the Product Development Department
These reports and articles show that the future of social media is growing, and that in time will become a staple in business marketing.
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David at Wine.com 10.17.08 at 7:07 pm
Samir - thanks for the very informative post. Social media is becoming prevalent in many industries, and I think the biggest challenge right now is measurement. Thought you’d be interested in this post on monitoring of the wine industry http://winedotcom.blogspot.com/
David
Samir Balwani 10.17.08 at 8:10 pm
Delicious | Digg | StumbleUpon | Technorati | TwitterHey David, glad you liked the post. Social media is definitely growing and metrics and measuring success are a huge problem. I actually wrote about it before, you can read the post here: Social Media Metrics