In a new study by the Direct Marketing Association, survey respondents say that Web 2.0 is an excellent way to both increase brand awareness and generate sales, which "paves the way for integrating direct and brand marketing," writes MarketingVox.
80 percent or more of respondents use Web 2.0 to raise brand awareness, increase brand preference, generate sales , and generate leads. But what's really interesting:
* 85 percent of respondents use Web 2.0 to engage their customers and rate it as a highly effective mechanism for customer engagement
* 84 percent of our respondents use Web 2.0 to create a community of loyal customers, and they find it very effective for doing so
Still, only:
* 82 percent of respondents allocated a quarter or less of their marketing budget toward Web 2.0
* 70 percent of those who report that they are experts in interactive marketing also allocate about a quarter of their budget to Web 2.0
So why, if it's so effective, are marketers only spending 25% of budgets on it? Maybe it's the relative cost of online to offline? Maybe it's still widely considered a rogue strategy in the eyes of
CMOs accountable for budgets? Maybe people like Web 2.0, but just don't know how to spend money on it, what to do exactly, etc.? Lots of questions. Fortunately though, people agree Web 2.0 works, and overall spending on it is steadily increasing.
Over 17.7 million teens (12 to 17 year olds) will be using social networking sites by 2011, according to eMarketer.
As was expected, U.S. teens (10 to 15 year olds) use of social networking sites, in most segments grew from 2006 to 2007.
The percentage of girls, both in the age categories of 10 to 12 years old and 13 to 15 years old, continues to be higher than the boys.
Specifically, according to research from Harris Interactive’s “Trends and Tudes” (April 2008), for boys ages 10 to 12 years old participation in social networking sites totaled 8 percent in 2006, reaching 17 percent participation in 2007. For boys ages 13 to 15 years old in 2006 had social networking participation of 38 percent, which grew to 46 percent in 2007.
Additionally, for girls ages 10 to 12 years old had participation in social networking sites of 11 percent in 2006, reaching 27 percent in 2007. However, for girls age 13 to 15 years old, participation fell from 57 percent in 2006 to 54 percent in 2007.
The Blogosphere is buzzing with Twitter comments and advice.... and in case you've been knocked out for a week, let me catch you up. The long and short of it: Twitter has been going down every few days from so much use and people are calling out for another 10 Twitters.
Two bloggers that have been quite vocal about the issues here are Dave Winer and Marc Canter - and they are right on target with what needs to happen here, Twitter needs to be decentralized otherwise we are building a house of cards.
Speaking Endorsements
"In the rapidly changing world of Internet communication possibilities, Jason Weaver provided our chapter with a thorough introduction to the advantages of social media and how to leverage it to create brand engagement online. On behalf of the Board Directors of the New York Albany Chapter of the American Marketing Association, I would like to thank Jason for speaking to our members. Based on the initial survey results, it is clear that our members and guests very much enjoyed his presentation."
Courtney Remington, President, NYCRAMA
