Many businesses have, and continue to ignore the 'Social Networking' craze, most believe that twitter, facebook, dig and so on are the realm of the teenager, they are in some respects correct and whilst it maybe the realm of the 'x' gen 'y' gen (the under 30s age) these are just the people that are buying products and services today. There is now a huge weight of evidence in support of the ever increasing phenomenon of 'Social Networking'. Businesses, ignore it at your peril.
Reports suggest that social networking is now more popular than email. Twitter in particular grew 33% in only a month according to Compete data. Skittles.com increased its own traffic by 1332% in one day after a campaign that sent Skittles.com directly to a Tweet-stream (the site has since moved to different strategies of a similar nature like a Facebook page and currently a Wikipedia entry, which is in itself another interesting story).
Many brands large and small are realising the potential that Twitter provides, and as interesting as it may be to hear what 'Jonathan Ross' or 'Stephan Fry', two famous Twitterers, had for lunch today, many companies are realising that a more effective use of Twitter is to mine it for clients, recruit employees and answer customer questions. Twitter is becoming a primary traffic source for many sites as is Facebook and the other plethora of social networking sites. This trend will only continue as real-time search using this less conventional route continues to grow.
"Social search has been predicted for years and is now actually happening. Sure, most is entirely socially based but by providing real time, relevant information in a format and in an environment that is used by millions and millions of people, business opportunities are huge. Both social and business based networking will continue to grow and have a greater influence in our lives. It's increasingly clear why Google is obsessed with Facebook (and Facebook with Twitter). And they are not alone. Regardless of what many of the less enlightened think of Twitter and the like, there is no denying that it has made a tremendous impact on the web in general and the way people and businesses communicate.
What businesses can get out of Twitter:
- Traffic. Social networks have taken over email in terms of popularity. Twitter is a very popular one, and continues to grow rapidly.
- People can "opt in" to follow your Tweets, so your messages will be well targeted. This makes it a great place to make announcements to your most loyal customers.
- It lets you interact with the public while increasing brand awareness
- Twitter's search function can help businesses better manage their online reputations in real time.
- Facebook apps can let you update Twitter/Facebook together. This means your Tweets can become your Facebook status and vice versa. Facebook is the most popular network around. Between Facebook and Twitter, you can build quite a following.
For help and advice on your Social Networking strategy - email troy@restech.co.uk
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