Is social media here to stay? One need only ride the subway or step inside a doctor’s waiting room to see 9 out of 10 people with eyes transfixed on a smartphone. With Facebook engaging more than 800 million monthly active users worldwide and earning more than 3 billion dollars in annual ad revenue, there‟s no doubt that social media infiltrates our lives and affects our behavior.
Social Media recommendations DO improve a brand’s perception.
However, it’s best not to think of social media as another sales channel to aggressively monetize. If you think of it in those terms, you’re probably going to scare people away. You are likely going to come across to your audience as pushing your products.
— Richard Branson
Although it’s a very hackneyed phrase, social media marketing is about a conversation. It’s also about staying “top of mind” with your customers and potential customers. The likelihood that someone’s going to hear about your product or services at the same minute that they need that particular product or service on a social media channel is unlikely (that’s for SEO and/or PPC), but if they like or follow your brand, and you make a consistently good impression, they are likely to remember you when the purchasing time comes.
A Pew Internet Project report concluded, “Whatever language we use to describe it, the beating heart of the Internet has always been its ability to leverage our social connections. Social networking sites like Facebook struck a powerful chord at the right time with the right technology, but the actions they enable are nothing new.”
Social networks are used to find local businesses
In 4 years the role of social networks moved from anecdotal to nontrivial in helping people find information about local businesses
Localeze/15miles/comScore, Feb. 2012
Online orders via social media are larger on average
Social media appears to drive less bargain-seeking “transactional” shoppers than other digital channels
ClearSaleing, Feb. 2012
