DMN3 Blog

Social Media is changing the Internet as we know it. As the Internet becomes more and more “social,” it is impacting how Internet users get information. All of this has major implications for marketing professionals.

It seems to me that a disproportional number of my posts are about social media. There’s a reason for it. I cannot ignore such a rapidly evolving trend in the way people use the Internet. The penetration of smart phones has also facilitated this evolution by allowing their users to be “social” at any time and any place.

It is changing the way most of us use the Internet. If you have been using the Internet for a few years, then you probably have experienced this yourself in the way you seek information and connect with others.

Portals, news sites, email applications and search engines were some of the main ways Internet users sought information and connected with others online. Social media has changed their importance and they are struggling to stay relevant in this new context.

I recently read an article in The New York Times about the impact of social networking on “search.” For years, search engines have controlled the way Internet users seek information. Social media is changing that as well.

Internet users are now more interested in what their social circle has to say about a topic, service, product or destination. They trust their “friends” more than search engine results pages (SERPs) to provide a more relevant source of information.

One of the founders of Loopt, a location-focused social network, is quoted in the Times’ article as stating that Loopt’s users are 20 times more likely to click on a place their friends had liked or visited than a place that simply ranked higher on search results.

The article cites several examples of how this reliance on friends is being incorporated into the processes of Amazon, Loopt, Facebook and others. Read the full article here: Search Takes a Social Turn.

These organizations recognize that our online “friends” come first in trust and relevancy when it comes to seeking out information or recommendations.

Social Media is changing the approach to Internet marketing as well. Marketing needs to take place where our target market congregates. That means that marketing should contain a major social media component as part of its strategies.

The challenge to online marketing professionals is how best to do it and how to measure the impact of those efforts.

In fact, these were the dominant questions of marketers in a study released last April by Social Media Examiner. As organizations move to social media marketing, they want to know:

• How can I measure the return on investment (ROI) of such efforts?
• What are the “best practices” of social media marketing?
• How can organizations best manage the time associated with social media marketing?

All are good questions and all very important. Unfortunately, the answers are not straightforward and are beyond the scope of this particular post. In future posts, I will attempt to deal with what the research shows on these matters.

This same study found that Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Blogs were the top four social media tools used by marketers. These four dominated all others with Facebook’s growth fast making it the tool of choice for many marketers. Video utilization is correlated to those with greater experience in social media marketing.

Because so many marketers are new to social media marketing, the concept of social media outsourcing is relatively new. The larger the organization, the more experience they have when it comes to social media marketing and the more likely outsourcing of all or parts of these efforts is taking place.

You can find the full report here: 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report

My personal guess is that such organizations understand the importance of social media in their marketing efforts and want their efforts handled by skilled professionals who are trained in such efforts.

I would encourage those struggling with social media marketing to consider outsourcing as a way to ramp up their efforts quickly. DMN3 and organizations like it can help you figure out where to begin.