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Part 2:  Why is Social Media Marketing critical to business success?
All the buzz about social media would be a “so what” if it weren’t for the incredible reach of social media. According to WebProNews March 18, 2008, social media has a mass communication reach similar to television. 

Let’s look at the statistics:

• The top 25 social media networks delivered over 155 million unique visitors in Feb. 2008 (70% came from MySpace, Facebook, and Classmates.com).  If add YouTube and Flckr you get another 60 million.  This leads to a grand total 215 unique viewers
• Monthly unique TV viewers in Feb. 2008 was approximately 200 million

In addition, depending on the social network, each unique visitor is looking at 1000’s of pages per month.  The analogy to TV is a relatively good one.  The social media audience is loyal, large and habit-oriented just like TV.  In fact, according to Media Post, November 25, 2008: 

• Demography of users closely mirrors the U.S. population, with over half the Internet users visiting social media sites
• Although 15-34-year-olds account for a significant portion of the visitors, social networking sites are now reaching more than half of 35- to-44-year-olds and more than a third of those ages 45-54

What does Social Media Marketing have to do with business success?

This is best answered by looking at looking at the research Cone/Opinion Research Corporation published in September 2008.  Their findings are delineated below:

• 93 percent of social media users believe a company should have a presence in social media
• 85 percent believe a company should not only be present but also interact with its consumers via social media
• 56 percent of users feel both a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment

Couple the above findings with the power of “word of mouse” and you have the perfect storm, namely the convergence of marketing, advertising, and public relations.

This, of course, begs another question:  How can I harness the power of Social Media Marketing?  Stay tuned for Part 3 on May 5th, which addresses this question.