Shaw & Todd - Advertising and Marketing Communications

I’m being asked this question all the time, so I thought I’d again jot a few words down on the subject. The super-short answer is a resounding ‘YES!’. This thing we call social media is simply too widespread to be ignored (or avoided). It’s now yet another media tactic that needs to be utilized, whether you are delivering a message, soliciting feedback or trying to ascertain what people are saying about you. More and more B-to-Bers are going the viral video route (with mixed results; more on that in a future blog). But social media is so much more than creating a funny video and posting it to YouTube (more on that in a later post, as well).

A couple weeks ago, Boston-based communications group Cone released the results of a study they conducted that gauged whether Americans expect companies to have a presence in social media.

Some highlights:

• 43% said companies should use social networks to solve customers’ problems
  
• 41% said companies should solicit feedback on their products and services
  
• 37% said companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand
• Men are twice as likely as women to interact with companies via social media

There’s also a great presentation that Universal McCann made available awhile back that surveyed 17,000 Internet users from 29 countries. Some more interesting nuggets can be mined from this one, such as:

• 44% of people surveyed have a blog (compared to 28% in 2006)
• 57.5% have a page on a social network (compared to 27% in 2006)
• 69% visit brands’ official websites for product information
• 82% prefer to search for information on a search engine or to read people’s comments on personal profiles on social networks like Facebook

Stuff to sink your teeth into, to be sure.  Moral of the story? Get social media on your radar immediately. If you don’t know where or how to start, you can always contact Shaw & Todd.