Social Media Marketing Critical To Business Success – Part I

Posted by Louis Del Monte on 4/20/09 • Categorized as Social Media

Part 1: What is Social Media Marketing?

There is an old saying: “If you live long enough, what’s old becomes new again!” That saying generally referred to fashions, but it is also becoming true of Social Media Marketing.

Most businesses back in the 1950’s relied heavily on “word of mouth”. Of course, there were also several significant advertising mediums available, such as newspaper, radio, direct mail, and the new embryonic media called television. However, “word of month” played a significant role and for some businesses was their life blood.

In today’s high-tech world, “word of mouth” still plays a significant role.

Let’s look at some recent statistics:

• Recommendations from family and friends totally outweigh other consumer touch-points when it comes to influencing purchases (ZenithOptimedia, AdAge, April, 2008)
• 86.9% of respondents said they would trust a friend’s recommendation over a review by a critic, while 83.8% said they would trust user reviews over a critic. (Marketing Sherpa, July 2007)
• Consumers say that word of mouth is still the number one influencer in their apparel (34.3%) and electronics (44.4%) purchases (Retail Advertising and Marketing Association/BIGresearch Study, November 2008)
• According to a global Nielsen survey of 26,486 Internet users in 47 markets, consumer recommendations are the most credible form of advertising among 78% of the study’s respondents. (Nielsen, “Word-of-Mouth the Most Powerful Selling Tool”, October 2007)

Undeniably, on the Internet, “word of mouth” has become “word of mouse” and a critical element in influencing the decisions people make. For example, comScore and the Kelsey Group reported that reviews generated by fellow consumers on Internet shopping sites had a greater influence than those generated by professionals (comScore/The Kelsey Group, October 2007).

What does “word of mouth” have to do with Social Media Marketing?

Actually, it has everything to do with Social Media Marketing. Just consider the results of JupiterResearch. Online social network users were three times more likely to trust their peers’ opinions over advertising when making purchase decisions. (“Social Networking Sites: Defining Advertising Opportunities in a Competitive Landscape,” JupiterResearch, March 2007).

What is Social Media Marketing?

From my view point, Social Medial Marketing is a form of Internet marketing which seeks to achieve branding, marketing communication, and sales through:

• Participation in social media sites – such as Facebook, MySpace, Classmates.com, YouTube, Flickr, iBlogBusiness, iBizRadio, LinkedIn, and Digg
• Utilization of social media – such as blogs, micro-blogs (like Twitter), audio/video media & podcasts, and public bookmarks

Now, we are ready to address the key question: Why is Social Media Marketing critical to business success? Stay tuned for Part 2, which addresses this question.