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Social Media and Social Networking for Business

Social networks and social media websites are some of the most popular destinations on the Internet today. Sites like Facebook, YouTube, Blogger, and Twitter are among the twenty most viewed sites on the web, ranking higher than former Internet phenomena like Amazon and eBay and news sites like CNN.com and NYTimes.com. At the beginning of 2009, statistics showed that social networking and social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube were visited a combined 1.3 billion times per month, and with new reports indicating a sharp increase in Facebook’s user base—from 200 million to an unprecedented 350 million in just 8 months—the public’s interest in social networking shows absolutely no signs of waning. With numbers like these, it’s no wonder businesses large and small are joining social networking and social media sites to promote their brands.

Defining the Jargon

A social network is a site on which people and organizations can share information about themselves, connect with each other, and explore their own list of connections and the lists made by others. Popular social networks include Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Social media is information that is designed to be spread through social interaction. Examples of social media include blogs, photos, videos, wikis, and podcasts.  Much social media is disseminated on social networks, but it can also exist on its own on sites like YouTube, Flickr, and Blogger.

Not Just for Kids

Many people believe that social network users are primarily teens and college students, but the following stats tell the whole story:

• One out of five Internet users between the ages of 18 and 44 use social networks.
• The median age of a Twitter user is 31.
• The median age of a Facebook user is 33.

I5 web works can set up and maintain social network accounts for your business and make it visible to this demographic. Contact us today!

How Will Joining Social Networks Benefit My Business?

While there is no tangible way for us to measure the impact that social networks have on business marketing, 81% of marketers who are using social networks to promote products, provide customer service, solicit customer input, and create brand awareness report seeing major benefits. Here’s why:

• Experts are calling social media “a fresh direction for marking” because it allows companies to talk with customers, rather than at them.
•  Forty eight percent of marketers who participated in a recent survey said that their involvement in social networks generated qualified leads, and 61 percent said that participation increased traffic to their websites.
• Links to social network pages appear in search engine results. If someone searches for your business, he or she will likely see links to your website as well as to your Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages, which means more exposure for your brand.

Contact us, we will set up and maintain your social network accounts so you can begin reaping the benefits.