IZEA CMO Ryan Schram will be speaking at the Orlando Public Library on September 27, 2012 at noon. Here is a sneak peek at what he’ll be discussing.
What is Social Media
Is it the platforms like Facebook and Twitter? Or is it media such as pictures, posts and check-ins? In truth, it’s both. The platforms provide the distribution for the media format, giving it visibility and scale. It is this scale that makes social media relevant to business and marketers.
Who are the Players?
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are the three largest social media networks. Facebook receives 20% of all the page views on the web and has over 900 million active users. Twitter has approximately 500 millions accounts and gets 175 million tweets per day. YouTube gets about 2 billion views a daily and handles 10% of all internet traffic.
Some of the emerging social networks making an impact are Google+, Tumblr and Pinterest. Google+, similar to Facebook, allows for social interaction in the form of status updates. It also makes categorizing your friends, family and acquaintances a breeze. Tumblr is a microblogging site whose content is mostly images and animated gifs. Pinterest is an image sharing tool which can link you directly to a recipe, blog post, or other spot on the internet.
Media on the Go
Smart phones and tablets are changing our cultural landscape. U.S. adults are now spending more media time on mobile devices than newspapers and magazines combined. Sixty-one percent of smartphone users make local searches from their device. Other people use their mobile devices to compare in-store prices with those online, read product reviews, or look for coupons. All of this is happening while they are out and about. If you don’t have a mobile marketing strategy you are going to get left behind.
How can this benefit you? Mobile coupon offers from check-ins are a good incentive for customers. Or perhaps change your policy to a price matching strategy. Keep up with review sites. See what you’re doing right and what areas need improvement.
How to Utilize Social Media for Your Business
First things first: What do you want to accomplish? What are your social media goals? Do you want to gain exposure for the business, increase traffic or improve SEO? Maybe you’re more advanced and want to generate qualified leads or improve sales? Maybe you simply want to reduce marketing expenses?
Take the time decide what you want to do, first. As you get more advanced, add new goals. See our previous blog post on creating a social media plan. Your business may not need all of every network. Look at where your customers are and go to the ones that make the most sense.
In the Orlando area and want to learn more? Come see Ryan speak at the Orlando Public Library on September 27, 2012 from noon to 1p.m. Bring your bagged lunch and cozy up for a free lunchtime seminar. Dessert provided! If you’re not in the area, download the 2012 State of Social Media Sponsorship Study for more insights.
