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Archive for April, 2010

Some very interesting statistics and insights were released in the 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report for 2010 sponsored by Social Media Examiner.  The number of participants more than doubled from last years study and the report shows a significant change in how people view using social media as a marketing tool to directly connect with customers.

Even a year ago people were not sure about social media, but make no mistake – Social media is here and it’s here to stay!  As Michael Stelzner of the Social Media Examiner says “Much like email and websites first empowered businesses, social media is the next marketing wave.”

Just look at this sampling summary for their primary findings:

• Top three questions marketers wanted answered:  (1) How do I measure social media return on investment? (2) What are the social media best practices?  and (3) How do I best manage my time with social media?
• Marketers are mostly new to social media: A significant 65% of marketers surveyed have only been involved with social media marketing for a few months or less.
• How much time does it take? The majority of marketers (56%) are using social media for 6 hours or more each week, and nearly one in three invest 11 or more hours weekly.
• The top benefits of social media marketing: The number-one advantage of social media marketing (by a long shot) is generating exposure for the business indicated by 85% of all marketers, followed by increasing traffic (63%) and building new business partnerships (56%).

The above summary is merely a sampling of the information in the actual report.  In addition to the sample list above, people also wanted to know about blogging and social media, generating traffic and leads, the tools needed for social media, and especially about the time commitment. 

This report also contains graphs, charts, and is packed full  of information on social media and how others are using it to market their businesses.   It’s a great tool to use in planning your own social media marketing strategies!

Click here to receive your Free copy of this revealing report

Technorati Tags: Internet Marketing, Livvie Matthews, social media marketing

Recently I responded to a colleague, Rita Zamora’s, post discussing social media and the mistake sometimes made of thinking it’s free.  

As noted on my response, I agree it’s a mistake to pretend social media is free.  Although joining the sites  such as Twitter, Facebook,  LinkedIn, YouTube, etc are free, there is the time involved in maintaining the sites, especially when maintained well.         

However when you consider the massive amount of money spent by businesses/practices on traditional advertising/marketing, yellow page ads,   direct mail out’s that reach about 3% at best 5% of the market mailed to (makes you wonder what happened to the other 95% of their investment). and magazine ads, then you factor in how many, or should we say how few, people are actually reached with traditional advertising, the cost of budgeting money for a ongoing social media presence pales in comparison. 

Printed ads are placed in books that go out into surrounding area’s that would most likely not drive all the way to your business, therefore, much of the paid information falls into non-targeted areas. 

Add to that the fact only about 15% of the population still uses telephone books and print ads with the other 85% using online sources, you can see why creating and maintaining your online line presence is critical to your business.

With social media, you have the golden opportunity to directly target your market as you increase your business/practice exposure while ultimately creating incredible opportunities to be visible and responsive to your market.

As with anything we build, social media takes time and as noted “time is money”, but whether social media is handled “in-house” by a (paid) employee or “outsourced” to a social media specialist, social media is word of mouth advertising at it’s (targeted) best!

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Would you like to learn more about using Social Media to increase your online visibility, build profitable relationships, and grow your practice?  Livvie Matthews, a Certified Social Media Specialist, Blogger, and Speaker, is passionate about helping dentists leverage the incredible marketing power social media presents for their practice and their bottom line!  Email livvie@writebusiness.net or visit http://www.writebusiness.net/blog

Technorati Tags: Building Business, Internet Marketing, Livvie Matthews, social media marketing