Unless a Netpop poll of 4,384 Americans is wrong, consumers are communicating online more than they devote to shopping and playing games.
Stated differently, according to slide 8 of the below presentation, of 138 million U.S. broadband users age 13 and up, 76% are using social networking to add value.
These are people, like me and maybe you, who are contributing web content through video uploading, blog publishing and commenting, wiki and bulletin board posting, virtual world simulating, microblogging, instant messaging–or otherwise sharing.
It doesn’t matter what they’re saying. The fact is they’re talking. We’re talking. Every time you add a comment to something I write, or send me a Twitter message, or email me–we’re communicating.
Social networking, on sites like MySpace and Facebook, have increased 93% since 2006. Are marketers taking notice? Are you?
Take Graham Murkett.
Graham knows what I’m talking about. In this video, he explains how he communicates with people on Facebook and laments about girlfriends…
(Graham’s on Facebook, by the way. Feel free to send him a friend request; I did.)
Reviewing the Netpop data, Jake Hird of London-based E-Consultancy opines on the tip of the iceberg, reiterating what we already know; namely, that brands have to wise up and face facts that they are no longer masters of their product.
If you want to buy a Gucci handbag but prefer the design of Prada, why should you skimp to satisfy the coffers of another brand? Don’t you want to have an increased say in a company’s product, to shift the mindset from top-down production and distribution to user generation?
Hird writes:
The growth and power of social media means that brands are becoming more heavily reliant upon consumers for survival, increasingly so in the current economic climate, therefore reaching out to brand evangelists cannot be underestimated. With the massive uptake of social media amongst consumers being used for communication, the weaker brands that fail to recognise, adapt and engage with this behavioural shift are likely to suffer.
When you add in today’s news that consumer-generated podcasting has a projected 17% market share in 2013, compared to 9 percent today, the times are changing and marketers have to keep up.
Published last weekend, here’s my list of 20 advertising and marketing strategies you can use today!
Photo credit: rabih
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