Is it time for Social Media yet?
In early 2007 the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research ran a study on the adoption and usage of various types of social media by the 2006 Inc. 500 list of companies (the 500 fastest growing private US companies for that year). The numbers were interesting, but not necessarily astounding. However, this year the University went back to do a follow up study with the same questions asked to the same companies (209 of the companies responded, giving a potential statistical variation of +/- 5) about their 2007 usage, and the trending on those numbers is very interesting, especially if you’re wondering whether or not it’s time to ‘do something’ with social media for your business this year.
In 2006 25% of the companies that responded stated that social media was very important to their business / marketing strategy, by the second study that figure had risen to 44%, almost doubling in one year. In the original study 32% of respondents stated that social media was of little of no importance for their business, one year later that figure had declined to 20%.
When asked about their familiarity with social media technology, the numbers all rose, as you would expect after a year, with the biggest increase being a 78% increase in familiarity with online video technology (31% – 55%) and a 118% increase in familiarity with wikis (16% – 35%).
But the figures that really mean something are those that pertain to the actual adoption rates of these technologies by these fast growing companies, and here they are, for the most part, great. The corporate adoption of social networking sites increased from 27% to 49%, Online Video adoption rose from 24% to 45%, blogging more than doubled from 19% to 39%, wiki adoption rates increased from 17% to 27%, and podcasting almost doubled from 11% to 21%. The only technology asked about that didn’t wildly increase was adoption rates for message / bulletin boards / forums, which increased from 33% to 35%, but I’d say that’s because it lies more towards the mature end of the social media toolset.
So what does this mean for your business? Just because these fast growing businesses are beginning to rely more and more on social media tools, does it mean that you have to? Or conversely, could it be that the reason these companies are growing so quickly is that are adopting these social media tools, and utilizing them to help grow their business?
Whether social media is the root cause for parts of their success, the fact remains that 163 of 209 companies that responded stated that social media technologies were very or somewhat important to their company, I’d say that’s a sufficient enough percentage for you to think about how you can and should deploy social media technologies in and on behalf of your organization.
Simon Heseltine is the Director of Search at Serengeti Communications a McLean, Virginia based digital marketing agency specializing in search engines, social media, word of mouth, Blogs and RSS, digital PR, and online media & advertising for a wide range of clients in both the nonprofit and commercial sectors.
There is always an advantage for “early adopters” (added PR factor and considered on the cusp…), but nowadays it is unclear to me how any company can afford NOT to be using social media tools.
Funny, just when there all starting to blog, we’re all starting to network. Technology moves fast, let’s hope that corporate America gets Social Media before the next big thing comes and takes ITS place.
www.afpr.com
I predict the next three websites which will be aquired are:
http://www.linkedin.com (a professional networking site)
http://www.realmatch.com ( a job matching site taking share)
http://www.techcrunch.com (a popular technology blog)
Two of them have a social component. So if you plan on starting a site, try to add a social component.
@Andrew Finkle – You’re right, technology does move fast, but there are so many companies out there that move at the speed of molasses, so they’re always going to be followers, and fairly late to the party. That just gives those nimble companies that can leap in feet first the opportunity to get those ‘first to market’ benefits (or the chance to fail spectacularly) 😉
What’s so challenging is that the definition of and understanding of what social media is differs from company to company. Ask those same inc500 firms to name a social media example besides the one or two we all know, and they get very very quiet. Many of them think social media is a facebook account and the four videos their kid uploaded to YouTube. Go ahead, ask them to tell you what magnolia or socailizer is.
I’ve noticed on Facebook and other social media that most of the users are entrepreneurs, even solopreneurs. It’s like Corporate America has yet to discover social media’s value. Maybe someone should tell them.
Read by small business people, our newsletter delivers a digest of articles from the top search engine marketing experts. You will learn about:
Our newsletter is the perfect way to stay up to date with all of the latest trends, events and techniques in using search engines to grow your business and make more sales. Subscribe here. Your email address will NOT be given to third parties.
FreeFind Site Search Engine – FreeFind adds a “search this site” feature to your website, making your site easier to use. FreeFind also gives you reports showing what your visitors are searching for, enabling you to improve your site. FreeFind’s advanced site search engine and automatic site map technology can be added to your website for free.
Buy UPC Codes
Get your products listed online!
Search marketing information for small business owners.
Fetching the best small business news.
A friendly place to share small business ideas and knowledge.
Small business support through education, resources and community
The directory of the best small business sites and tools.
Copyright © 1998 – 2019 Search Engine Guide All Rights Reserved. Privacy
Research & References of Is it time for Social Media yet?|A&C Accounting And Tax Services
Source
0 Comments