I was just reading through my blog collection in NetNewsWire when I came across a post on Church of the Customer citing a bit of research done by Cone–see the official report. When I talk to business people, many times I find that there is confusion about new media in general, but many don’t understand social media–e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, UStream, etc. According to this report, however, many Americans are coming to expect that businesses will use social media in their marketing efforts.

Here is a quote from the report–

Boston (September 25, 2008) – Sixty percent of Americans use social media, and of those, 59 percent interact with companies on social media Web sites. One in four interacts more than once per week. These are among the findings of the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study.

Considering these findings, it might be a good idea to start using social media if you haven’t yet, or to step it up a notch if you are already out there.

Social media does not replace other forms of communication, however. It simply gives you yet another tool to use as our culture embraces online communication. Plus, according to the Cone report, social media can be helpful in reaching difficult market segments.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 1:36 pm and is filed under Internet, marketing, networking, social networks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.