Why & how businesses are going social

Social Media In Business

Gayle Christopher, PhD@gchristo | http://www.gaylechristopher.com

Why & How Businesses are Going Social

Owned, Paid, and Earned Media

As of December 2011

• 800 million FB users• 100 million active Twitter users• 39 million tumblr blogs• 70 million Wordpress blogs

• Social networking accounts for 16.6% of all time spent online• 9 out of 10 US internet users visited a SN site in a month• 1 in 6 minutes online is spent on a SN site

2.4 Billion social network accounts worldwide

Also, lead generation, customer relationship management, product development

Overall, 91% of the Inc. 500 are using social media to market their brands.

paid media

Also, inbound-sourced (SEO) leads close at more than 8X those of outbound-sourced leads.

How are businesses getting social media done:

12 Reasons Businesses Should Blog

1. Search Engine Bennies2. Marketing Differentiation3. Infinite Search Life4. Virtual Sales Call5. Content Engine6. Direct Sales7. Indirect Sales8. Public Relations9. Product Development10. Crisis Management11. Customer Support12. Reach

• 52% of consumers say blogs impacted purchase decisions

• 57% of marketers have gotten new customersvia their blogs

• 42% of consumers look to content for info aboutpotential purchases

• 61% of consumers are more likely to purchase from businesses that offer custom content

• 19% of beauty buyers who made purchases based on blog posts say they stumbled on the content via search

Types of Custom Content:

Blog postsNewslettersWhite PapersPresentations/WebinarsVideosPodcastsCurated Lists/RSS feedsInfographicsApps/GamesPromotions

Examples of Effective Corporate Blogs

Starbucks (New product development, engagement, crowdsourcing)

Whole Foods (Brand image, direct sales)

Patagonia (Brand image, community engagement)

Marriott (Customer satisfaction, sales, crisis management)

Fiskars (Customer engagement, brand awareness)

Disney Parks (behind the scenes)

Flickr (community engagement)

Network Solutions Small Business (relevant, topic-specific information)

Top 10 corporate blogs 2011

Seomoz.comKissmetrics.comCompassion InternationalHubspotFlowtownArment DietrichExact TargetPlaystationRadian6WebtrendsWildfire

Source: http://socialfresh.com/top-corporate-blogs/ (based on calls to action, content, consistency, and audience)

See also: http://www.invesp.com/blog-rank/Corporate_Blogs

http://www.umassd.edu/cmr/studiesandresearch/2012inc500socialmediaupdate/

http://blog.hubspot.com/Portals/249/docs/ebooks/the_2012_state_of_inbound_marketing.pdf

http://blogs.forrester.com/interactive_marketing/2009/12/defining-earned-owned-and-paid-media.html

http://technorati.com/social-media/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2011-part1/

http://socialfresh.com/top-corporate-blogs/

http://www.invesp.com/blog-rank/Corporate_Blogs

http://www.sysmos.com

http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2012/2012_US_Digital_Future_in_Focus

http://royal.pingdom.com/2012/01/17/internet-2011-in-numbers/

Resources

Social Media In BusinessWhy & How Businesses are Going Social

Gayle Christopher, PhD@gchristo | http://www.gaylechristopher.com