I get a lot of different reactions when I tell people I work in Social Media.
“You get paid to play on Facebook all day?” (sort of)
“You must watch a lot of YoutTube videos.” (not as many as you’d think)
“Did you hear about the…” (yes, last week)
But one of the most common reactions is probably similar to the incredulous disbelief of the first guy who had LASIK.
“You’re going to shine a laser into my eye to make me see again? Riiiiiight.”
Social Media professionals are constantly faced with the hurdle of justifying the industry and it’s value as a key part of marketing strategy. Like many new technologies, much of the older generation of executives write Social Media off as a time waster for children. Even brands that do get into Social Media often under-fund and de-prioritize their efforts.
Why is this? Could it be that today’s decision makers still think in terms of myspance and refer to Facebook as “the Facebook.” I think it’s even simpler than that: people don’t understand the ROI of Social Media.
The connection between fans, follows and sales figures is not always transparent. Luckily for people like me, that connection is the subject of much research and study.
In one such study conducted by Chadwick Martin Bailey, Facebook users 18 and over were found to be 56 percent more likely than non fans to recommend brands they liked on Facebook to their friends, and 51 percent more likely to buy products from that brand.
The same holds true for Twitter. In sister study by the same agency, Twitter users were 60 percent more likely to recommend a brand they follow and 50 percent more like to buy that brand’s products.
When you consider the user base for both networks (Facebook has over 800 million while Twitter has about 100 million active users), the implications of those statistics are hard to ignore.
Soical Media isn’t just a pastime for kids or a way to reconnect with old school mates anymore. It is vital part of every successful marketing strategy.
A blog post by:
BRIAN DIGGELMANN
Brian is a Social Interactor at No Limit and swears he isn’t addicted to lolcats–he can stop looking anytime he wants.
