Everything You Wanted to Know About Social Media but Were Afraid to Ask

I’m talking up the importance of social media use, marketing and networking all day long. When new clients contact me about a Web site, social media comes up. When current clients call asking about updating, upgrading or what their next step should be with their two, three, four or 10 year old sites — yep, social media!

Technology can be very frustrating for those who do not do this every day, all day like I do. I hear hesitation in their voices when I start talking about stumbling, digging and tweeting. They think I’m nuts!

To help get everyone exposed to the topic, the tools and the benefits that social media participation can bring to your Web program, I’ve assembled a few of my favorite sites and links on the topic for your reading pleasure.

If you do nothing but review these resources, I bet you’ll be hard pressed to not see the need to embrace this wave!

• Wikipedia: Social media
• Social Media Marketing FAQ
• Social Media Will Change Your Business
• Study: Company Blogs Lead Social Media Options
• Web Site and Social Media Metrics You Should Monitor
• 8 Essential Free Social Media Monitoring Tools

Time to get “social” folks!

Your Customers Want to Interact with You!

A new study came out that reflects what I’ve been typing about for some time. Your clients, site visitors and potential customers want to communicate with you. They want to share product information and experiences. The want to have a discussion with you. They want to share their opinions and points of view about how you can better serve them.

This is the type of data, feedback and information that you need to know how to modify or move your business forward. “56% of American consumers feel both a stronger connection with, and better served by, companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.” Talk about a gold mine of potential here!

When Americans were asked about specific types of interactions:

• Companies should use social networks to solve my problems (43%)
• Companies should solicit feedback on their products and services (41%)
• Companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand (37%)
• Companies should market to consumers (25%)

For more information on this study, visit the Cone Research

Whether it be social media pages like Facebook (32%) or MySpace (27%), your own Blog or message boards, your customers want to have the ability to communicate with you. Give them that option and reap the rewards!

Social Media Attains Critical Mass

If you’ve been resisting the Social Media wave, a recent study reflects you can no longer ignore the writing on the wall. Check out these latest stats:

1. More than half of adults now relying on at least one of these so-called Web 2.0 platforms for communicating with friends, family, or colleagues on a regular basis.
2. it is clear that a fundamental shift has taken place in all of our lives about what it means to communicate in the 21st Century.
3. The percentage of U.S. adults who said they now rely on instant messaging, for example, rose to 22% this year from just 9% in 2007.
4. One out of 10 U.S. adults now publish blogs, up from just 5% a year ago.
5. The percentage of Americans of all demographic groups who say they now read a blog everyday soared between 2007 and 2008.

You can read the full overview below:

OMG! UM Finds Web 2.0 Breeding Consumers 2.0, Social Media Attains Critical Mass

Then, come back here and review my post on 25 Social Media & Networking Sites for you to get involved at and get to it!