Social Media and Online Customer Trends [Infographic]

Strategy Plan One

June 19, 2012 

Social Media and E-commerce

Social media use and e-commerce have strong business connections.  Where are the trends heading?  Are online sales trends through social media on an exponential growth track or on a realistic, small growth trend similar to non social media linked sales?

Here is an interesting infographic from Gloople, and the highlights:

• Only 9% of commerce currently generated online
• 60% of consumers shop online quarterly
• By 2015, 50% of companies will generate online sales through social media or mobile apps
• Estimated: 192 Million consumers will shop online by 2016
• Big Jump: Ave. annual online spending by consumers in 2016 over $2,000
• Big Online Sales globally – estimated to exceed $400 Billion annually by 2016

Social Media Consumer Trends:

• 20% online purchases within a social media site
• 40% of Twitter Users search for products & services via Twitter
• 12% of consumers made purchases due to info found on Twitter
• 75% more likely to purchase if a friend endorses through social media
• 34% more likely to share purchase info on social media site than on an e-commerce site
• 77% of online shoppers use reviews
• 81% receive online advice on products & services

Social Media Commerce Facts and Statistics

• 700 Billion minutes / month spent on Facebook
• 6.5% click through rate on Facebook walls
• Don’t forget Google+ …now at 170 M users
• Pinterest now accounting for 3.6% of referral traffic
• Pinterest click through rate 3 times more than Google+
• 65% of global top 100 companies have a Twitter account

Here are some additional Social Media articles, blogs and infographics:

• Social Media Use, From the Employer Perspective [infographic]
• Twitter Statistics Showing Exponential Growth [infographic]
• Digital Marketing – Conversion Opportunities for Business
• Social Media Buttons for Targeting Your Business Audience [infographic]
• Social Media Statistics on the Fortune 500 Companies [infographic]
• Social Media Statistics on Pinterest – Traffic and Online Sales Impacts

Strategy Plan One

http://strategyplanone.com

Business information, resources and tips for the entrepreneur

© 2012 Strategy Plan One

Social Media Statistics and Impacts on Business [Infographic]

Strategy Plan One

May 16, 2012

Social Media Statistics

An interesting infographic from Pagemodo has just been released, illustrating the statistics and impacts of social media on businesses.  Here are some highlights of their survey:

• 53% use Social Media for business / 47% do not
• 19% use Facebook, 15% use LinkedIn, 4% use Twitter
• 12% of respondents say social media is a must in business marketing
• 33% of businesses use metrics to measure Return on Investment from social media activities

What is the biggest benefits:

• 88% of Brands indicate exposure as one of the biggest benefits
• 72% claim increased traffic from social media marketing is the biggest 
• 62% of marketers state improved search rank is the best benefit 
• Dell claims a 300% traffic improvement with social media 

Strategy Plan One

http://strategyplanone.com

Business information, resources and tips for the entrepreneur

Use of Social Media for Marketing, and Other Marketing Activities

Strategy Plan One

May 4, 2012 

Use of Social Media for Marketing

Gone is the traditional method of advertising in the newspaper and radio and in with current social media marketing and advertising platforms.  Or are those methods gone?

For sure social media is in and it continues to grow exponentially.  Just when you thought user bases were leveling out, a new interest in a platform keeps the level of growth consistent.  It seems every week a new wave of more interesting social media platforms emerge.  However, business owners must not forget the other forms of marketing that would add value to the marketing mix.

Social media marketing involves the promotion and attention of your business, and engagement between users of social media platforms and your business’ products and services.  The use of social media for marketing would be the purpose of gaining traffic and attention to your business.

Whether through short bursts of information using Twitter or detailed Facebook or LinkedIn pages, the absolute benefit to businesses using social media, is that information can be shared quickly across massive audiences.  It has been a business to consumer and business to business trend over the past era, but not known if this marketing trend will be long-lasting.  If it will be long-lasting, social media marketing may evolve as fast as the whole social media industry itself is evolving.

Marketing Activities – Considerations other than Social Media

Marketing plans could be chalked full of a mix of marketing activities, new and traditional forms.  An entrepreneur should dig into developing activities that would be applicable to promoting and getting out the appropriate message on their own product and service mix.  Yes, social media may work to a certain extent, but may not be the best avenue for local, personal marketing for example.  Entrepreneurs may have to consider forms of advertising and that promote products and service in person, such as trade shows, and promotional events.  Differing from social media marketing, trade show events give you the ability to showcase products and services to masses of potential customers, with colourful, interactive displays manned by representatives (actual people) promoting the business.

Marketing Plans

When developing detailed business and marketing plans, consider the mix the marketing activities based on your intended audience, and what type of method you will use to effectively engage with your audience and raise attention.  You may find social media works well in junction with other forms of marketing activities.  Carefully weigh your options for marketing activities and measure results from activities.  Best results may occur when revising your marketing activities mix.

Strategy Plan One

http://strategyplanone.com

Business information, resources and tips for the entrepreneur

© 2012 Strategy Plan One