HC Consulting Group has seen success from social networking, but is this trend on the rise? With an increase in demand for online streaming videos, in thousands of categories, sharing video is the most lucrative online business model. By hosting video, you can drive traffic with excellence, and give your users the absolute best form of media. This philosophy is not necessarily new, but social media …especially with the use of video, is increasing in popularity by the second!
This article below, provides a fantastic status report on the state of social media as we know it, as well as some statistics to back up these facts. Check it out below:
According to national survey results released by COLLOQUY and the Direct Marketing Association, U.S. companies that use social media primarily to deepen customer loyalty spend almost twice as much on this emerging channel as competitors who use it for brand awareness, customer acquisition and other core marketing purposes.
Specifically, the survey results show the average social media spend for marketers whose primary objective is to obtain customer loyalty was $88,000 last year, compared to $53,000 for brand awareness and $30,000 for customer acquisition, the objectives that attracted the next highest spending levels.
The survey shows that the amount of social media budget marketers allocated to loyalty objectives increased by 293% over the past 12 months, easily surpassing allocation increases for all other social media-related marketing objectives.
DMA Research Manager Yoram Wurmser observes that “… marketers across all sectors are involved in social media… after five or six years in the space, and growing social media budgets, marketers are still testing the waters… with the incentive to accelerate their efforts being driven by consumer’s rapid adoption of this trend.”
In fact, says the report, research from Nielsen released this week shows that consumers are spending 43% more time on social media than a year ago, making social networking and blogs the top online activity followed by online games and email.
An important revelation from the research is that the absolute dollar amount marketers are setting aside for social media is low. When asked what percentage of their company’s overall marketing budget is spent on social media, the largest group, covering 24% of survey takers, selected “don’t know.”
- 17% of respondents said they allocated only 1% of their annual marketing budget to social media
- 16% said they allocate 4-5%
- Smaller companies with tighter budgets are significantly more likely than large companies to say they spend almost 50% of their marketing budget on social media
Other key findings reveal a lack of metrics for success differentiated by objective:
- When asked to identify the most important measure of social media success, nearly two-thirds of respondents selected “don’t know”
- Of those who identified a measurement, the largest group, covering 20%, said engaging customers to respond and provide feedback
- 65% of respondents said they’re not using any listening tools to monitor what their customers are saying about their brand
As you can see, social media is hot, and you can maximize this trend by sharing video. Still picture is cool, but video can portray your message in a more credible light. Sharing video is also fun!
For information on how you can own your own social network, share videos, and host a social video website, similiar to YouTube, click here.
