Fun Facts To Know and Tell About Social Media: 2011

As we enter the new year, I wanted to share some "fun facts to know and tell" as well as some personal observations on how social media is impacting marketing and businesses:

Social media and mobile devices have become a common way that people engage with each other and with brands; brand marketers need to be proactive about leveraging this accelerating trend

• There are now over 500M Facebook users (with more than 200 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices)
• There are over 90 million tweets per day on Twitter with millions of comments, complaints and recommendation about brands
• Every weekday, there are about 7.5 million people who tune into Oprah vs. 43 million people who play a Zynga game
• P&G in 2020 decided to shift the bulk of its daytime advertising from soaps--the format it invented--to social media marketing campaigns
• Online advertising is predicted to set a new record in 2011, growing 14 percent to $51.9 billion, up from $45.6 billion in 2010

Social media now involves much more than just the marketing function…it’s about the whole business (i.e. customer support, product development, etc)

• Leading companies who have been pioneers on social media (such as Dell, Ford and Starbucks) are now integrating social media into all facets of business (including crisis management)
• A recent global survey indicated only 29 percent of companies even have a social media policy – this is a very dangerous position for a company to be in given the damage one untrained employee can now do to a company (even with the best of intentions)

Social media is turning into a major “listening platform” for brand.

• Technology is enabling us to convert millions of online comments into an on-going tool to measure consumer sentiment (and dig into the “why” and source of this sentiment) in close to real time....check out www.Netbase.com to learn more about how this works (Disclosure: I'm on the Netbase board of directors).
• While this will NOT replace the importance of in-depth consumer understanding (such as in-home visits and user testing), it will definitely enhance understanding of what’s happening in the marketplace

All companies should have a global game plan and strategy to stay ahead of the curve in the rapidly evolving social media space

• The game plan needs to be integrated into overall business strategy (not just marketing); companies need to consider social media as a primary way of listening and responding to their target consumers (as well as monitoring what’s happening with competition and category) as a core competency
•  Companies need to make a time and budget commitment to developing a strategic framework, in-depth training and robust online tools to ensure their teams are prepared for managing their brands (both offense and defense) using social media platforms. 
• And now from a word from our sponsors (i.e. me)....if you want to find out more about how to do this, I'd invite you to check out www.socialmediaexecutiveseminars.com to see how we develop customized seminars for clients to make sure their senior management knows how to use social media strategically to build their business.

I think we're just getting warmed up on how social media is going to impact how we live our lives and manage our brands...just look how far we've come in just the past two years.  I'm looking forward to seeing how social media continues to evolve and changes to meet the needs of the marketplace.

As a marketing colleague of mine likes to say, "Buckle up, we're going off road!".  Here's to all of us enjoying the ride.