Admittedly, we may be
woefully behind the curve on the application of social networking as a
workplace tool. We are still seeking
meaningful benefits for social networking in our business. As we understand, the helpful uses of a
social network for business purposes include:
- marketing (creating brand awareness)
- knowledge sharing
- problem solving
While each of these sounds positive, and each has long since
been accepted as standard business practice, we are still struggling with how
marketing on
Twitter, for example, is more effective, or even just as
effective, as traditional marketing approaches. What we are wondering is how a potential customer, other than by
an anomaly, would develop from a Tweet.
Below are some background notes on social networking, found
in a
Nielsen survey, “The Social Media Report":
- The most active social networkers: (1) Are females between the
ages of 18 to 34, (2) Asian or Pacific Islanders in ethnicity, (3) Live in New
England, (4) Have a bachelor’s degree, and (5) Have a household income of less
than $50,000 a year.
- The U.S. ranks 9 among countries with most time
spent on social networks or blogs. Australians are number 1.
- When Americans go online, they spend 22.5% of their time on
social networking and blogs, 9.8% on games, 7.6% on emails, etc. (More time on
social networking than anything else!
We are really missing the boat.)African Americans are a demographic more represented on Twitter than any of the other nine social networks.
- While women are more likely to visit Twitter, Blogger,
WordPress, MySpace, Tumblr, Yahoo!Pulse, and Typepad, men are more
likely to visit LinkedIn and Wikia.
So tell us – how have you been using social networks to generate (or at least serve) your business? We’re ready to learn.
