The Social Media Explosion
In today’s economy, consumers are becoming more and more frustrated, the value of the dollar continues to shrink as debt continues to rise, and companies are cutting expenses by laying off thousands of people every day,. And as more and more people lose their jobs, they are turning to social media to vent and to take their minds off their troubles.
As a result, the world of social media is exploding at an exponential rate. Social media not only gives people the chance to air their opinions and share commentary with others, it also gives companies, politicians, celebrities, and other previously unreachable people a way to communicate directly with the public. The presidential campaign last year is a perfect example of how social media is changing the world. The Obama campaign, in particular, was easily able to connect with voters using social media as a way to listen to their concerns and respond to questions.
What can PR firms learn from the success of the Obama campaign? Brand managers can easily see that with marketing budgets growing tighter and tighter, it’s more important than ever for marketers to get the biggest bang for their buck, and social media is just the ticket.
A recent DeLoitte & Touche survey disclosed that 36% of Internet users read personal content created by other people. MySpace is widely held to be a haven for teenagers, but in reality, more than 67% of the people using MySpace are age 26 or older. The average blogger is about 37 years old, and 38% of Facebook users are older than 35. And Facebook’s demographic, which is growing faster than any other social media site, has accelerated to a growth rate of more than 276% over the past six months! Clearly the phenomenon that is social media is never going to go away.
Perhaps the most exciting and promising feature of the growing popularity of social media is that even after the recession is over, Americans will never go back to their blind trust of general marketing being force-fed to them through traditional media outlets. By forming relationships with other consumers and sharing information about companies and brands, they have become personally involved in those brands, and they like having that input. Developing a solid social media marketing strategy now is essential for marketing firms who want to be able to leverage that strategy onward into the future as the global community continues to expand.
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