Why Is Social Media So Popular?

We use social media in our daily activities. Whether we are sending a text message to a friend, answering a Facebook message, asking about a recipe on a food forum, or looking for a job on Linkedin. We are always using social media.  But why is social media so important? Why is it so popular? Who cares that we are on  different digital platforms and constantly uploading our own content and reading content of other users? 

The following figures will give you an insight on why social media has become so important for companies and individuals: 

Facebook boasts over 171 million unique visitors compared to Google, the most popular Web search engine, which  exceeds 174 million unique visitors.  YouTube, a video sharing website, is the second largest search engine with 153 million unique visitors and where over  two billion videos are downloaded each day.  There are over 156 million blogs in existence. Tumblr is the 8^th largest site in the U.S. Social Networks and Blogs category.  Nearly 40 % of social media users access social media content from their mobile phones. Americans spend  more time on Facebook than on any other website. 

These figures are astounding.  Social media has a powerful influence on consumer behavior and on purchase decisions.  In fact, 60 percent of people who use three or more digital means of research for product purchases learned about a specific brand or retailer from a social networking site. Furthermore, 70 percent of  social networkers shop online. 

The audience now decides and expresses freely the value of a company’s products and services.  Companies worldwide want to know how to better tap into this huge market.  These companies are aware that to stay competitive  they have to not only become “social” but understand how to harness the power that social media marketing  can have.

Social Media Marketing For Your Business- "Where Do I Begin?"

This will be the first part of a multi part post on steps to take in social media marketing. The first thing that many people tell me is that they have no idea how social media works and do not know where to begin.

The best advice I can give anyone who really wants to harness the power that social media can offer for their business is to listen to the conversations that are taking place regarding similar products, services or industries as their own. Let's take a step back. Here are some of the main types of social media:

Social Networking- Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin
Social Sharing- YouTube, Flickr
Blogs
Microblogging- Twitter
Social Bookmarking- Delicious, Diigo
Social Events- Eventful, Upcoming
Social News  sites- Digg, Reddit
Forums and Message boards
Wikis

How does one find those social media communities best connected to their product or service? Here the most obvious would be to do a google search or similar search engine search. You will quickly see the top listings for your industry, product, service, etc. You will find blogs, forums, discussion groups. You should also do a Twitter search and a Facebook and Myspace search. Here the point is to find where these conversations are taking place. Your particular product or similar product may be present in the form of blogs and on Twitter and not have a significant presence on Facebook or Myspace.

After you have done substantial listening, you can actually join in on the conversations, being honest with who you are and what you are interested in learning and more importantly, sharing. Do not make the mistake of trying to pitch your product or idea to the community because chances are you will be kicked out. Social media communities do not want to be marketed to. Good luck!