According to Visual Objects, 62% of small businesses consider social an important part of marketing and 88% are planning on investing more in social media. But which ones are of the most interest to your small business clients and prospects?
Tag: Social Networking
Restaurants to Target the 45% of Diners Swayed by Social Media Posts
MGH, a full-service restaurant marketing agency, announced the results of a study that examined how influential a brand’s social media marketing can be when it comes to driving restaurant trial and customer loyalty.
Why Small Businesses Need Social Media
A few weeks ago, we discussed the shockingly low number of small businesses who are improving their sales through websites in, “How to Convince Small Businesses They Need Websites.” Now, Kelsey McKeon has shown with Visual Objects research that 38% of small businesses don’t even have social media accounts!
Social Networking to Take Up Larger Portion of Social Media Budgets
Marketers continue to grapple with the social media channel and how to use it effectively as a promotional tool. In addition, they must consider how to allocate their social media budget across the multiple formats that continue to evolve. A new report shows how businesses are spending their social media budgets and which industries are leading the charge.
Two out of Five Consumers Follow Retailers Through Social Networking Sites
According to a new study, the visually-appealing social media site Pinterest has become a big player in an even bigger arena, with online U.S. consumers reporting that they already follow an average of 9.3 retail companies on the site. Overall, almost two out of five (38%) online consumers follow retailers through one or more social networking sites. For retailers engaged in the social media sphere, customizing their approach with social and mobile strategies is leading to social commerce success.
Social Networks Ad Spending Forecasts Revised – Up
After suffering a slowdown along with the rest of the ad industry during the recession, social networks are on a growth trajectory this year. And this sector is growing both in the U.S. and in foreign markets. By 2011, the $2.17 billion spent on social networks in foreign markets will comprise 50.9% of global spending while the U.S. will have 49.1% or $2.09 billion of the total.
Marketers Use Social Networks to Manage Word of Mouth
The buzz about social networking is growing but some businesses have yet to see the importance of using this new tool. Last week, I mentioned that small online retailers are moving at a slow rate when it comes to social networking. A new report in McKinsey Quarterly may help reluctant business owners see the importance of using social networking effectively.
Shifts in Social Media Predicted for 2010
One of the fastest growing forms of online marketing is due to see some changes next year. While MySpace has commanded the most advertising dollars when it comes to social media, likely the result of its large user base, Facebook is expected to take the top spot in 2010. This may be because Facebook surpassed MySpace on a global basis, in 2009, with respect to the number of total visitors to its site.
Marketing to American Moms Due to Change
Marketers who are trying reach this generation’s American mom might want to update some of their assumptions. According to a white paper jointly published by Advertising Age and JWT, today’s mom is not obsessed with having it all. Survey analysts note “the second wave of feminism has wrought not only opportunities but also increased challenges, complexity and unmet expectations.”
More Marketers Channeling Social Networking Posts into Ad Campaigns
While many marketers are just beginning the process of exploring the social networking process, others are light years ahead. A recent Wall Street Journal article describes how high-tech powerhouses like IBM and Microsoft are scanning their social networking sites for consumer videos and comments that make for good ad campaign material. As writer Emily Steel points out, this strategy moves beyond the traditional practice of incorporating focus group findings into ad campaigns.
Marketers to Allocate More Resources to Social Networking in 2010
Watch for social media to lead the digital marketing pack in 2010. That’s the word from Forbes writer Jeremiah Owyang who recently attended the Forbes CMO Summit. Owyang also cautions that effective marketers will incorporate social media with other digital efforts. For example, e-mail providers such as Silverpop and Responsys are using the power of social networks to expand the reach of e-mail.
New Study Details Importance of Digital Technology in Moviegoer Awareness and Decision-Making
A newly commissioned research study of nearly 4,000 moviegoers finds that an overwhelming number of people across all age groups have fully adopted digital technologies and increasingly depend on them to gain information about new movie releases and help with their decisions about which films to see. The study found that the Internet and word-of-mouth are gaining in importance (closely following in-theater trailers and TV commercials) as a way that moviegoers discover upcoming film releases and now rank ahead of traditional methods of advertising such as billboards and newspaper ads. The importance of peer group feedback (social networking, face to face interaction, texting) in the decision-making process was also a key finding of the study, with teens and young adults especially influenced by this consumer voice.
