Friday, April 8, 2011

Get Into The Swim or Go Down the Drain



     We've talked about reasons why your company needs to be business/social media active.  
     What follows are some stats from http://blog.hubspot.com/, a marketing blog.  Put down your coffee, because if you don't, you're likely to spill it on yourself.  Get into the swim, or go down the drain.
  • 78% of Internet users conduct product research online. That means your website stands a good chance of being a prospect's "first impression." That also means your new business card isn't a business card—it's Google.
  • In the past year, Web-based email usage dropped a staggering 59% among young people who prefer to communicate via text, instant messaging, and social networks. Web-based email usage has been on the decline among ALL Internet users under the age of 55. And by the way, today's kids are tomorrow's customers—and they're probably not going to be reading your email.
  • 78% of business people use their mobile device to check email.  So that means pretty much everybody that can check email on a mobile device, does. Is your email newsletter optimized for mobile devices?
  • 91% of email users have unsubscribed from a company email they previously opted-in to. We're getting savvier with technology and less patient with unwanted solicitations. And it's just so easy to hit 'delete'.
  • 57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog. Blogging is good. Intrusive ads are bad. 
  • 41% of business-to-business companies and 67% of business-to-consumer companies have acquired a customer through Facebook. If this stat doesn't poke a hole in the "Facebook is not useful for B2B companies" myth, I don't know what will.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Social Media is Dead!




     Yes, you read that headline correctly.  Social media is dead, and we have no less an authority than actor James Franco to thank for this startling bit of news.  Franco has dropped Twitter after a couple of months of use.  He tells Politico that "Social media is over.  Still up there.  Going down.  You heard it here first."
     Well!  At least we have one less thing to worry about with the demise of social media!  I, and other writers, and businesses, can now move on to more rewarding things.
     I hate to tell you, James - can I call you Jimmy? - but social media/business social media is not dead.         True, sometime in the future, the medium carrying the media will undoubtedly change, but the media will not.  The telegraph was the social media of its day, followed by the telephone.  Now, wireless and instantaneous and cheap communication has taken the place of the telephone.  Businesses use more social media than ever, and those that don't are finding their businesses inexplicably slowing down.  You have to stay in touch to be in touch.
     So, Jimmy, while you wait for that telegram to arrive at your door announcing your next hosting gig on the Academy Awards, you can at least take solace in the fact (as we all can) that Miley Cyrus has resumed Twitter for the first time since 2009, when she quit it because it was interfering in her private life.
     To paraphrase an old saying - Social Media is Dead - Long Live Social (and business) Media!