2009 Social Media Trends Report - WOW!

WSI recently completed our 2009 Social Media Trends Report (Knowledge Center > Whitepapers) and I must say it's 11 pages of "awesome". As an Internet Consultant, I frequently get asked by clients what the "deal" is with social media and if it really is something they should be doing for their business.

"My kids use Facebook and Twitter to chat with their friends, but do I really need to be worrying about this for my business?" While I'm not going to say that social media is the right fit for every business just because they have a website, this report reveals the trends in the industry and where your competition is likely headed - so it's good information to know.

For example, did you know that Canada is the leading nation when it comes to social media utilization for users of the Internet, with almost 87% of active Internet users using social networking sites. The U.S. is sixth on the list with just over 70% utilization behind Brazil, UK, Mexico and Spain.

Here are some other interesting tidbits from the report that are worth mentioning:

• Majority of online marketers (65%) use Facebook as part of their marketing strategy.
• 77% of senior marketing executives said they would increase word-of-mouth or social media marketing spending in 2009
• According to types of social media used by online businesses, blogs are the most popular method of communicating with site visitors with almost 30% using this technology. This was followed by RSS (really simple syndication) at 23% and User Ratings and Comments at 22%.

Be sure to download the report to get the full story. It's a quick read and has lots of graphs and tables, which makes the information easy to digest. If you are a business owner and interested in discussing how the findings of this report can have an impact on your business, please contact me and let's chat.

I look forward to hearing from you soon and your comments...
Eric
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