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Social media marketing is still relatively new so the notion of “best practices” continues to evolve. A recent Marketing Sherpa Social Media Marketing Benchmark Survey shows that over 40% of marketers reported they subscribe to an informal process when it comes to social marketing practices. Only 15% to 30% have a formal process. Furthermore, anywhere from 28% to 42% of marketers have no process at all! Where does your organization’s social media efforts fit into this chart? Social media is a powerful marketing tool and Envano can help you turn an informal process into one that is optimized to meet organizational goals and objectives.

Source: Marketing Sherpa

Relationships matter. eMarketer said today that 45% of senior marketers who responded to a recent survey indicated social media is a “top priority.”  42% said it is “important.” Only 12% said social networks/applications are a “low priority” or “not relevant.”  Furthermore, recognizing that the right platform needs to be in place to support social media, 45% ranked digital infrastructure as a “top priority” while 52% said it is “important.”  Worth noting, almost 50% of senior marketers believed that search optimization, mobile devices, blogger outreach, viral campaigns, digital advertising and email marketing are “important.” Online games came in with the lowest rank; only 30% deemed them as “important” and 25% said they are a “low priority.”

What are your social media priorities for 2010?  Envano can help you build and manage your social networks on- and off-line.

Source:  Mashable

A recent Popular Media Study looked at three groups of social media users: max connectors (those with 500 plus connections), daily users and all respondents to the survey. The study was to discern the media habits of consumers and their impact on the relationships they forge with the companies they interact with.

All three groups (61%)  used social media to learn about new products and services.  While 64% of all respondents used social media to learn about sales and specials, only 46% of max connectors did the same. Conversely, only 30% of all respondents used social media to gain information about company culture, environmental responsibility, etc., while almost 50% of max connectors did.

Max connectors appear to be more motivated by a company’s culture and products/services and less so by its sales and specials. With their large social network, max connectors are a great resource for marketers because they take the time to get-to-know the companies they interact with.

Do you know what motivates your clients? At Envano, we can help you figure that out.

Source:  Marketing Sherpa

A new study by SocialTwist shows how people share online information. The study was based on people’s use of the “Tell-A-Friend” widget found on blogs, newspaper sites and other websites. The findings may surprise you.

• 59% of people used email to share the info while 25% used instant messenger and 14% used social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
• 44% of Tell-A-Friend users turned to Yahoo mail to share their information, 25% used MSN and 19% used Google’s Gmail.
• When it comes to shares by social networking sites, Facebook accounted for 79% while MySpace was at 15% and Twitter was at 5%.

As Jason Falls writes, “When we as internet marketers are making recommendations and building functionality for the mainstream, we have to remember that WE are not mainstream.” Email and instant mesaaging are popular tools. Twitter is growing, but its usage as a share tool hasn’t caught on quite yet.

How does your company share information? Envano is well-acquainted with all the off- and online channels and can help you start the conversation.

Source:  Social Media Explorer

When it comes to brands, social media users are an energetic bunch. A recent study by GroupM Search and comScore, Inc., showed a direct link between  online search behavior and “brand discovery” via social media. As Graham Mudd, comScore’s VP said, “Social media-exposed consumers are far more likely to search for brand and product-related terms, and click on a brand’s paid search ad.”

Also, worth noting:

• social media users are almost twice as likely to search and make a list of brands and products for purchase compared to other users.
• Users exposed to “influenced” social media and paid search showed a 223% increase in seach behavior over those exposed to paid ads alone.

How engaged is your brand with the social media sect?

Source:  Marketing Charts

Neilsen reported in it’s A2/M2 Three Screen Report that mobile and online video viewing increased “significantly” in the second quarter.  The group measured U.S. video use via TV, internet and mobile devices and mobile increased by 70% while online video viewing increased by nearly 50% (or 60 minutes). The report suggests that internet and mobile video viewing is in addition to (not in replacement of ) TV.  Moreover, Knowledge Networks recently reported that over 66% of U.S. users have video access via mobile devices and that those with access to broadband in their homes also use iPods, cell phones or laptop computers with video. Have you thought about how mobile devices can factor into your marketing mix?  We have. Why don’t you use your mobile device and give us a call today!

Source:  Marketing Vox

In an attempt to expand its social networking reach, Facebook in March made Facebook Connect available to IPhone apps. The site took another big leap at the beginning of September when it unveiled Facebook Connect for Mobile Web. The latest move means that all mobile sites can allow Facebook IDs and login, social data retrieval (with permission from Facebook user) and that Facebook users can publish from their mobile devices. This should bump Facebook’s mobile profile since already 26% percent of the site’s 250 million “active’ users connect to the site in this manner.

Source:  Tech Crunch

A research team at Penn State University found that 20% of all Tweets on the popular social networking site Twitter deal with brand-specific products or services. According to Jim Jansen, associate professor of information science and technology at Penn State, “People are using tweets to express their reaction, both positive and negative, as they engage with these products and services.” He added, “Tweets are about as close as one can get to the customer point of purchase for products and services.” The study also indicated that brand-related tweets provide companies with a “rich source” of information which can be used to further build brands and awareness. How can Twitter help you build your brand? You can always Tweet us at http://www.Twitter.com/EnvavnoTweets as one way to find out.

According to a report by eMarketer, social media will be used by more than 80% of brand marketers within a year’s time. Currently, nearly 60% of brand marketers claim to use social media and only 13% say they have no plans. 

Here are some of the barriers to social media marketing: 

• 37% of brand marketers and 31% of agency marketers claim they don’t know enough about social media and don’t know where to start.
• 37% of brand marketers and 28% of agency marketers indicate there is no effective way to measure social media efforts.
• About 25% of both brand and agency marketers say their budget does not support social media.

Social media seems to be here to stay. As the data shows above, the biggest hurdle to social media is marketers not knowing what to do or where to begin. Envano knows how to get over that hurdle.

Source:  Mashable

The stats are in. Teens don’t flock to Twitter and they have little to do with the popular social networking site’s exceptional growth. According to recent Nielsen NetRatings data, 25% of internet users are aged 25 or less yet only 16% of Twitter’s users are in the same age group. Who’s flocking to Twitter? Those in the 25-54 age group make up 64% of Twitter’s users while those 55+ make up 20%. Over 80% of Twitter’s users are over the age of 25! Does this surprise you?  More importantly, is Twitter potentially part of your marketing mindset? Let Envano help you decide.

Source:  Mashable