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Waltmorey
Pinellas Park, Florida, United States
I founded Core Business Solutions with the goal of helping business owners improve operating results, add value, and recapture the energy and passion that was present when the business was new. We also have the expertise to assist start-up companies create the foundational structure needed to provide the best opportunity for the business to grow and prosper in uncertain economic times. Our goal is to help the business entrepreneur/owner, through mentoring and coaching, develop or enhance managerial skills while providing that independent and objective advice and expertise usually provided by a board of directors.
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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Social Media: It's Not A Fad, It's a Fact

This past week Curt Middlebrook and I conducted a seminar on Social Media which was the second seminar we've conducted on the subject with new specific information. I think we can all agree that it's obvious that Social Media is the biggest shift in how we communicate and conduct business since the Industrial Revolution. If that's true, what facts about Social Media's growth and influence, can really confirm this premise?
During the development of this second Social Media Marketing Seminar, I discovered some amazing and startling facts that can help put these changes into perspective.

By the end of 2010, Generation Y will outnumber the baby boomers. Now Generation Y is defined as:the Millennial Generation or Generation Next or Net Generation, is a term used to describe the demographic cohort following Generation X. Its members are often referred to as Millennials or Echo Boomers and were born about 1974 to the mid 1980's . And at last count, Baby Boomers numbered 112 million and dropping. Plus 96% of Gen Y's have joined a Social Network! Generations X & Y consider email passe'.

One in 8 couples married since 2004 in the US met through Social Media. Romance that starts in the local bar or at a party or a work place is soon to be replaced by Social Media connections, friends and a tribe of twitter followers? Sacrilege!?

LinkedIn facts: On average, a new user joins LinkedIn every second, it has almost 50 million users and every Fortune 500 company is on LinkedIn. For you new position seekers out there, here's something to get your attention: 80% of employers use LinkedIn as their " primary tool to recruit employees."

We all know the growth of Social Media has been fast, but how fast? Here are some facts that speak to this. It took 38 years for radio to reach 50 million users. For TV, it took 13 years for 50 million people to watch it regularly. The Internet took just 4 years to reach 50 million users and IPODS took just 3 years. But, FaceBook took just 9 months to add 100 million users! In fact, if FaceBook was a country, it would be the 4th largest in population behind China, India and the US and FaceBook has over 200 million users in the US alone!

Now get this, the fastest growing segment or demographic on FaceBook is females age 55-65 years old! It's not just for college students and the Gen Y's anymore. Hulu has grown from 68 million streams of TV shows in April 2008 to 373 million in April 2009. Plus 90% of people who can TiVo ads, do TiVo the ads.

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world with over 100 million video's posted. A full 25% of Americans have said they watched a short video this past month....On Their Phone! The cell phone will be the marketing tool of choice, the interface that will be used to reach consumers.

Twitter is also changing the speed and reach of our communications world. Eighty percent of Twitter traffic is by cell phone. Imagine what that means to your business if your customer has a bad experience with your product or service. If they spread their concerns about your business virally through Twitter? How many more people now know about it? With that in mind, think about this- Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres have more Followers on Twitter than the population of Ireland, Panama and Norway....Combined! That's called true marketing reach! So what can this also mean? Think about it this way: "What happens in Vegas stays on FaceBook, Flickr, LinkedIn, DIGG, My Space, YouTube and Twitter!" Word of Mouth is now World of Mouth.

Wikipedia has over 13 million articles and studies have shown it is more accurate than the Encyclopedia Britannica and 78% of the articles are non-English! In fact, if you were paid $1 for every time an article was posted on Wikipedia, you'd make $156 per hour!

There are over 200 million Blogs and 54% of bloggers have added content daily. Twenty Four of the 25 largest newspapers have experienced record circulation declines. Only 18% of traditional ad campaigns produce a positive return on investment. 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations and only 14% trust the recommendations of ads. As much as 1.5 million pieces of content (web links, photo's, notes, video's, blogs and news stories, etc.) are shared on FaceBook.....Daily!!

What does this all mean? Social Media is not a fad. Social Media is a fundamental shift in how we communicate. We no longer search for the news and information, now the news and information finds us! Every company and sole proprietor needs to get involved in Social Media Marketing.

I encourage all Core Business Solutions clients and show them how to be active on as many Social Media platforms as they can. It's not just a way to promote your business or your brand.

Along with a good Blog, Social Media sites provide you a tool to:

  1. Expose your expertise in your business segment
  2. Allow restaurants to announce their specials, daily or even hourly
  3. Let retailers announce their new discounts
  4. Have New products unveiled
  5. Display a Blog for a business to display its professional knowledge of its target market
  6. Exhibit the expertise a customer can expect from business
  7. Even display video's and photo's that can be posted to help educate your prospects or customers

Social Media- It's not a Fad, It's a Fact!

I hope this provides you new food for thought and some points to ponder to help your business. I welcome your comments and feedback.

In a few weeks another Core Business Solutions Advice blog article will be published.

All The Very Best...Always,

Walt Morey -
Executive Business Advisor Accredited by the Institute for Independent Business
www.corebizsolution.com

1 comments:

Liz Lopez said...

Great blog!

The impact of social media is evident in business. This is because social media has reached consumers on a deep level. The key to Social Media and it's current "frenzy" is that it is redefining and reshaping relationships.

The seemingly casual bond between a retailer and shopper is being changed. Buyers and Clients are becoming "fans". Customers want to feel part of the "virtual family". The lines between family, friends, aqcuaintances and business contacts are being blurred as Social media is evolving how we communincate and interact. It is also shifting how much contact we expect, both from our Facebook "Friends" and the places where we spend our money.

Blogging has given everyone with internet access a voice. People (who are synonymous with consumers) speak their minds and expect to be heard. Conversely, they expect to receive. They seek out social portals with which to more deeply connect with the brands that make them feel good. Just look at how many fans Toyota has on Facebook.

Consumers expect more than quality products and services at fair prices. Social media has hit upon a senstive nerve in consumers. It has provided the forum to statisfy the ultimate craving - a relationship that tells them they matter.

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