With tools like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Digg, even century old business practices are becoming non-existent. Investors are losing focus on industry trade shows and franchise publications for new information, and are beginning to turn more to their social networks and blogs. This is also coming in a time where marketing budgets are beginning to be cut. Social networks allow for a company to have a never ending reach to their clientele.
A recent study by the Aberdeen Group stated that companies in 2009 plan on increasing their social media marketing budget by 63 percent. 93 percent of American’s expect companies to have a social media presence and are using social media to participate in conversation to engage with brands as well as reviewing and referring others within their social media networks.
Even large corporations are beginning to experiment with viral marketing tactics. Burger King began a social marketing experiment with Facebook in early 2009. They started a promotion where if you drop 10 Facebook friends, you will receive a free Whopper. Burger King created the application that actually notified the friends that were dropped and in the end, the Whopper sandwich “proved to be stronger than 223,906 friendships.” You can view the statistics at www.WhopperSacrifice.com. Jeff Benjamin, the award-winning creator of Burger King’s online viral campaign, has started a growing trend for online marketing. He has shown that people can effectively market your product for free if you give them the inspiration and tools. However, some brands are perfect for viral marketing while some other brands need to stick with customary ways of online marketing.
Twitter has become the most talked about word on the internet. However, most businesses don’t understand why or how twitter may be important. Twitter can be utilized in various ways, but you have to understand the core concept of twitter. Twitter is a micro-blogging and essentially two-way form of communication that is open to the public. It’s a constant stream of communication from you to your consumer and also on a personal level. Twitter can also be a great market research tool for your company and your entire industry. A lot of companies are beginning to do a lot of innovative marketing tactics that bring 100s of thousands of visitors to their site. Church’s Chicken tempted followers on twitter by giving away one dollar to every person that began to follow them. Almost every major company in the United States has a twitter page to follow updates.
Here’s a random sample of companies using Twitter as part of their social media marketing efforts:
- Amazon
- Dell
- Woot
- MTV Music Video Awards
- Mac Rumors
- ESPN
- Carnival Cruise lines
- Intel Software
- CNN
- Delta Airlines
Source: http://libertybelltelecom.com/blog/2009/07/03/social-media-is-changing-the-way-of-business/
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