Are you one of the 1,463,130 people who have viewed the Social Media Revolution video by Erik Qualman on YouTube? If not, there's a link to it at the bottom of this article. I encourage you to watch it, its only 4mins. The stats of social media usage in this video are amazing!
Understanding what this truly means presents an unparalleled opportunity for marketers to be successful with their online marketing in the new decade. Here are some key stats and quotes from the video:
1. If Facebook was a country it would now be the 3rd largest country (updated stat).
2. The fastest growing demographic on Facebook are 55-65 year old females.
3. Youtube is the 2nd largest search engine.
4. There are 200 million bloggers.
5. 54% of bloggers post content or tweet daily.
6. 34% of bloggers post opinions about products and services.
7. People care more about how their social graph ranks products or services, than how Google ranks them.
8. 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations. Only 14% trust advertisements.
9. "Social media isn't a fad it's a fundamental shift in the way we communicate."
10. Social media is about listening first, selling second.
As a marketer what do these stats mean to you?
We can clearly conclude that the trend is towards more time using social media, and less time watching TV, listening to the radio or reading a newspaper. To a traditional marketer this would mean a shift in where you advertise or promote your product and services. And this is what many marketers are doing. The last point I mentioned above is the key to successful social media marketing...
Listening First, Selling Second!
The trend towards social media means that people are now communicating your message not you! People are talking about your company or industry regardless of what you're doing.
So what should you do?
The new marketer, the Inbound Marketing marketer listens, responds and builds relationships before selling or promoting. They take the time to understand how social media, has changed marketing psychology. The successful marketer of the new decade uses social media to:
1. Listen to what consumers' needs and frustrations are.
2. Respond to the questions, problems, issues and unhappy customers personally.
3. Build relationships , trust and respect with their audience. So when they promote their product or service it is of interest and value to their audience.
If you're thinking your product is too niche, your target audience isn't using social media or your business is too small. Check out the link to the Social Media Revolution (link below) and look at the growth of social media. How long will it take for your target audience to start using social media, 1 year or 5 years?
"Social media isn't a fad it's a fundamental shift in the way we communicate." Erik Qualman
What are your thoughts on social media marketing? Have you started? Are you having success? Please share your thoughts in the comments section. Thank you for reading.
The view the Social Media Revolution video click here.
