Social Marketing

The use of social media is becoming a feature of political and civic engagement for many Americans. Some 60% of American adults use either social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter, and a new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project finds that 66% of those social media users—or 39% of all American adults—have done at least one of eight civic or political activities with social media.

As a marketer, you’re probably under constant pressure to validate your investment in social media. That means you need to be fully aware of the wide range of quantitative and qualitative benefits your social marketing delivers, both short- and long-term.

Although a lot of people may “like” or follow brands on social media, a smaller group goes beyond this, recommending products and services on a regular basis—brand advocates. Brand advocacy is becoming a critical part of the social media marketing mix, and marketers should leverage connections with these everyday influencers to amplify word-of-mouth online and increase engagement.

Major markets in Latin America have already shown a penchant for social networking on the world’s largest social site, Facebook, at least among internet users. And the region is expected to grow its social networking user population by double digits through 2014. As it does, newcomers and mavens are turning not only to Facebook but to smaller social sites as well.

From large urban areas to rural communities, Americans often report similarly high levels of interest in news. Still, a national survey shows that community differences emerge in the number and variety of local news sources people use in different types of communities, as well as their degree of “local news participation” through social media and their mobile news consumption.

Thirty-nine percent of online retail transactions by new customers start with clicks from paid or organic search results and less than 1% come from social channels according to a new Forrester report.

Learn why attracting followers is out and engagement is in, why social media strategy calls for better lemonade stands and fewer ice cream trucks, six tips for thinking outside the social media box and three essential reasons to think twice about audience engagement. Available on HispanicPRpro.com

Branded shopping apps are the strongest driver behind unplanned purchases, branded content on social networks drives people to try new products, and texts and social media are most likely to influence where people shop, according to a new study released by Ryan Partnership, an integrated marketing agency that is part of the Hyper Marketing, Inc. network.

Beverage alcohol is woven into the fabric of human socialization. And drinkers have taken that propensity online, where they are active on social media, according to a new eMarketer report, “Beer, Wine & Spirits: Engaging Millennials (and Drinkers of All Ages) via Social Channels.”

Even if, for many, current measures of social media marketing effectiveness are still basic, the goal of such programs has gone far beyond simply gaining followers and “likes,” research shows.

Telemundo presented its first-ever social media novela “Secreteando,” a online drama series where “viewsers” (viewers/users) become active participants on the storyline through multiple social media platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and Instagram.

In its “State of Digital Marketing 2012 Report,” Webmarketing123 found that 52% of US B2C marketers and 41% of US B2B marketers planned to increase their social marketing budgets in 2013, while an additional 46% of B2C and 56% of B2B marketers will keep them the same.

46% of internet users post original photos and videos online they have created themselves and 41% curate photos and videos they find elsewhere on the internet and post on image-sharing sites. Women are more likely than men to use Pinterest, while Instagram and Tumblr attract equal shares of men and women.

Twitter is continuing to grow worldwide ad revenues at a rapid pace, eMarketer estimates, with 106.7% growth predicted for this year.

Nearly nine in 10 companies in the US will market on social media this year, according to eMarketer, indicating that the channel has become almost a requirement for most brands. But measuring success beyond soft metrics like “engagement” is still far away for many, according to research.

Media and telecommunications executives expect the burgeoning transition to digital and the rapidly growing mobile-related markets to supply the biggest revenue growth drivers during the next one to three years, according to the results of the annual Media and Telecommunications Industry Business Outlook Survey by KPMG LLP.

Many larger companies and brands are active on social media, but small and medium-sized businesses still lag behind when it comes to using social media and integrating it throughout the business.