Social Media Defined
What is Social Media? According to Wikipedia, social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many).
Three out of every four Americans access the internet, and they love sharing their ideas, photos, videos, likes and dislikes with others. Social media allows businesses to use the internet to reach a larger range of consumers easier than ever. Social media has grown drastically over the past few years, and is a highly popular medium. There are several forms of social media, including internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, wikis, podcasts, pictures, and videos.
Some Stats:
- There are 100 million videos on YouTube and people spend an average of 273.1 minutes each month watching them
- There are 4 million articles in Wikipedia
- There are 200 million blogs and 346 million people read them
- There are 1 billion tweets on twitter
- 200 million people are on FaceBook each month and add 700 million photos monthly
- 57% of internet users have joined social networks
- 93% of Americans expect companies to have a social media presence.
Some popular Social Media Sites:
Facebook Snapfish
Linkedln Digg
You Tube Metacafe
Twitter Stumbleupon
My Space Buzznet
Photobucket Propeller
Flickr Scribd
Should I consider Social Media as part of my integrated marketing strategy?
A third more fortune 500 companies used social media last year than in 2008, and this percentage is even higher among smaller companies. With the constant rise in social media users, companies are finding a huge advantage in using this marketing tool. Social Media can allow you to connect to and stay in touch with your consumer, along with promoting your business.
This article was written by Carolyn Berger, Director of Marketing and Operations at lodestar marketing group. If you have questions related to Social Media or how to improve your online marketing, please contact lodestar at digitalmarketing@lodestarmg.com.