Social Media ---Who needs it?

The buzz about social media has grown from a buzz to a roar and it has many business owners asking the question "What if anything should I do with it"? In fact the questions flying around are dizzying... What is it? What can it do for my business? Why would I even consider social anything to my business strategy, after all its business, right? Let's look at these questions and perhaps we can come to some conclusions. First let's look at why we would even consider incorporating the social aspect into our business strategy.

Why Social Media?

A story ran back in 2005 in  Bloomberg Businessweek entitled "Social Media Will Change Your Business".

Interestingly rather than getting buried under the massive amounts of shared communication, today it continues to be read and re-read even leading to its authors updating the information and continuing to make it available to curious readers. It mentions the importance blogging has had on forming the way we share today. In fact blogging has had such an impact that it has shaped how we do business today. Let's look at the facts...

SOCIAL MEDIA FACTS:

164 MILLION - Number of active blogs.
695 MILLION - Number of Facebook users.
148+ MILLION - Number of Linkedin users.
140 MILLION - Number of tweets created each day.
2.5 BILLION - Number of visits Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn together received in one month alone.

Over 3 MILLION people are connected and auto-sharing to at least one social network.

How did blogs do all this?

As bloggers read each other, comment, and link from one page to the next, they create a global conversation. While the worldwide web records or catalogs what we have learned, the blog can track what's on our minds. Think of the implications... businesses are getting an up-to-the-minute read on what the world is thinking.

 So what does this have to do with social media?

 According to our statistics, over 3 MILLION people are connected and auto-sharing to at least one social network. Says Jeff Weiner, past senior vice-president at Yahoo, "Never in the history of market research has there been a tool like this."

eMarketer estimates that 57.5 percent of internet users, or 127 million people, will use a social network at least once a month in 2010. By 2014, nearly two-thirds of all internet users, or 164.9 million people, will be regular users of social networks.

Many think of social sharing as a form of frivolous conversation among bored and mostly young users but statistics are showing this is not so.  In business when you and your subscribers share your email marketing with online social networks, the average consumer you're reaching is 37 years old. And the top reasons for sharing: product information and recommendations...interesting!

Socially we interact, share our experience, our likes and dislikes for all the world to see. Our friends interact and do the same.  It is somewhat like the illustration from the movie "Pay It Forward". In the movie was a question raised, " Is it possible for one idea to change the world?" I believe one person sharing with another CAN change the world and social  media interaction is creating the environment where its happening.