Is Social Media Effective?

I just received my monthly issue of Website Magazine and included were the results of a survey conducted in January by the magazine about the effectiveness of social media. This would include using sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn etc. to market a business. Here is what was found:

• 58.6% of respondents have experienced a positive return on the time invested in social marketing
  
  
• 66.3% of respondents have seen more website traffic
  
  
• 10.5% have seen an increase in time spent on site
  
  
• 36.5% have seen the number of incoming links increase
  
  
• 33.7% have seen better search engine placement
  
  
• 19.7% have seen more sales
  
  

Of the social sites deemed to produce the highest value to websites & business the top 4 by far were:

• Facebook: 42.7%
  
  
• Twitter: 41.5%
  
  
• LinkedIn: 29.4%
  
  
• YouTube: 29.9%

If you are not yet using social media as a part of your online marketing efforts, it's time to start! But be ready to invest time and / or dollars to see results similar to those above. Businesses that profit from social media know how to work with this venue daily in an efficient manner to produce the best results.

To start, you'll need to build your audience by getting involved and following / becoming a fan etc. of people who may be interested in your business or have a similar business. All the social interaction in the world doesn't matter if no one is following you. To get started on Twitter, for example, here is an article written last year as Twitter was on the rise.

As always, if you have any questions or need advice, contact me!