DreamGrow Social Media

Social media will dominate small business marketing within a year

Within 12 months, a full 82 percent of businesses will be using social media to promote their brand and the goods and services they offer consumers. Findings indicate that even though marketers will be turning more and more to social media for brand-building, many are still unsure how to begin or measure the effectiveness of this burgeoning media. For small business owners, the choice is clear — jump on the social media bandwagon or be left behind. via Social media will dominate small business marketing within a year.

51% of U.S. Web surfers use social networking sites

More than half of all adult Internet users in the United States either visit or maintain a profile on at least one social networking site, according to a study conducted by Forrester Research.

Forrester says that the growth of users who consume social media such as podcasts, videos and blogs has grown almost as dramatically as social networking Web site users. The survey classified a full 73% of online U.S. adults as spectators, a big increase from the 48% that it classified as such in 2007. Additionally, the number of users who consume no social media has fallen from 44% in 2007 to 18% this year.

via 51% of U.S. Web surfers use social networking sites, says survey ( – Internet – Software ).

WPP’s Martin Sorrell on marketing

“We know that consumers spend 20 per cent of their time online – we also know that our clients only spend 12-13 per cent of their budget worldwide online, that’s a disconnect that has to be eradicated,” says Sorrell, speaking recently at an American Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Singapore. “And in our view, it will be eradicated, let’s say, over the next five years or so.”

Furthermore, surveys have found that client companies prize, above all, insights about consumers, which in turn drive the value of quantitatively-measurable products and services.

For these reasons, Sorrell says he wants quantitative businesses (such as direct marketing, digital and interactive media, and consumer insight) to make up at least half of future revenues.

via Business success; WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell.

Do Friends Influence Purchases in a Social Network?

There are three distinct groups of users with very different behavior. The low-status group (48% of users) are not well connected, show limited interaction with other members and are unaffected by social pressure. The middle-status group (40% users) is moderately connected, show reasonable non-purchase activity on the site and have a strong and positive effect due to friends’ purchases. In other words, this group exhibits “keeping up with the Joneses” behavior. On average, their revenue increases by 5% due to this social influence. The high-status group (12% users) is well connected and very active on the site, and shows a significant negative effect due to friends’ purchases. In other words, this group differentiates itself from others by lowering their purchase and strongly pursuing non-purchase related activities. This social influence leads to almost 14% drop in the revenue of this group. PDF by Raghuram Iyengar, Sangman Han, Sunil Gupta, February 26, 2009.

Lead

Stand up in front of strangers.
Propose an idea that might fail.
Challenge the status quo.
Resist the urge to settle.

via Seths Blog: Thanks for leading.

Study Measures the Chatter of the News Cycle

For the most part, the traditional news outlets lead and the blogs follow, typically by 2.5 hours, according to a new computer analysis of news articles and commentary on the Web during the last three months of the 2008 presidential campaign.

The finding was one of several in a study that Internet experts say is the first time the Web has been used to track — and try to measure — the news cycle, the process by which information becomes news, competes for attention and fades. via Study Measures the Chatter of the News Cycle – NYTimes.com.

PDF: Meme-tracking and the Dynamics of the News Cycle [Tracking new topics, ideas, and “memes” across the Web has been an issue of considerable interest. Recent work has developed methods for tracking topic shifts over long time scales, as well as abrupt spikes in the appearance of particular named entities.]

Online retailers point to new phase for Facebook

A new wave of sophisticated e-commerce applications is appearing on Facebook, a sign that the world’s largest social network could rapidly emerge as a big destination for online shopping.  via FT.com / Technology – Online retailers point to new phase for Facebook.

An interview with Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt

Few would dispute that Google sits at the center of the Internet. As the leader in search, Google is now the Internet’s premier brand and the planet’s most potent free service. Managing that commanding position falls largely to seasoned technology executive Eric Schmidt, who in 2001 was tapped for the CEO post by Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. via An interview with Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt – McKinsey Quarterly – Strategy – Innovation .

What the FK is Social Media: One Year Later

Two-thirds of US marketers use social media

The CMO Survey was based on a poll of 511 senior marketers by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, in conjunction with the American Marketing Association.

It found that 65.4% of companies are using social networks like Facebook as part of their efforts to connect with consumers.

This compared with 52.3% utilising video- and photo-sharing sites like YouTube and Flicker, 50.9% writing corporate blogs, and 44.4% with a presence on “microblogging” services like Twitter.

Top marketing officers are turning to new and often unproven strategies that focus on the Internet, partnerships, new markets, new products and services to help their companies.

via Two-thirds of US marketers use social media – WARC News – WARC.com.