The thinking about social media in corporate marketing departments is rapidly evolving. Initially, social media was seen as yet another broadcast opportunity for pushing messages out into the world, and for many companies that view persists. A social media consultant recently said that even today, when he approaches potential clients for the first time, they typically refer him to their PR agency, because “they handle Facebook for us.”

There’s nothing wrong with using social media as a tool for disseminating marketing messages or trying to establish deeper relationships with current or potential customers. However, there is another use of social media which may prove to be more powerful over the long term: listening to the voice of the customer by data mining social networks.

The second problem with social media is transforming data that is potentially useful into data that is actually useful. Social media data is generated by an entirely different technology stack than the transactional data that typically feeds CRM systems. Accordingly, it is stored in entirely different formats.

Engagement crucial in this high-cost medium

Marketers value engagement because its presence indicates that a campaign has connected in some way with the target audience. However, while engagement is compelling, 10 marketers might define it in 10 different ways.

But engagement is more than a buzzword. As the interactive ad format that most attracts brand marketers, much is riding on internet video advertising—mainly money and audience attention. As spending on online video rises and takes a bigger slice of the display ad pie, marketers must be confident that they are spending wisely. Engagement may be difficult to quantify abstractly, but is key to the worth of video ads.

“All effective advertising today—not just video—requires some degree of audience engagement,” said David Hallerman, eMarketer principal analyst and author of the new report “7 Trends for Video Advertising Engagement.” “However, unlike some metrics that provide real-time insight into ad performance, much audience engagement does not happen in the moment with the ad. Nor can it be measured automatically. Instead, it’s a process over time.”

via How Marketers Can Benefit from Video Ad Engagement – eMarketer.

As facebook users, old and new, become more comfortable sharing their world online – marketers will continue to find ways to blend their brands with consumers photos – to bring their brands into the digital lives of their consumers. It also doesn’t hurt that women are really playing an active role in sharing content online – and these same consumers are most likely to blog, share and actively participate in online communities.

Some recent examples of brand integration with Facebook photos are:

Listerine’s Blast Your Photo App:  http://apps.facebook.com/blastyourphoto/

SC Johnson’s “Pink Your Profile” for Breast Cancer awareness month.

and to the infographic….

How much do you know about Facebook Photos?

http://www.pixable.com/blog/2011/02/14/facebook-photo-trends-infographic/

The number of online photos has steadily increased over the last decade, but a revolution has occurred with photo sharing in the last year. Pixable Photofeed alone sorted through 10 billion photos in the first month after the launch of the app. This is only a glimpse into the massive volume of photos circulating in social networks.

the full article can be found at:  http://mashable.com/2011/02/14/small-business-social-media-infographic/

Marketers Optimistic About Finding Social Media ROI [STUDY].

Marketers are hopeful that this will be the year that they finally link social media marketing to ROI, a new survey says.

According to the report from Bazaarvoice, 74% of CMOs predict they will finally tie social efforts to hard ROI this year. The survey polled 175 CMOs from The CMO Club, including those from B2C and B2B companies in various industries.

In 2009, 84% of companies did not measure social media ROI — in 2011, that’s not an option. Business decisions are best made when they are based on hard numbers that measure success, and social media efforts are no longer an exception

Nearly two-thirds of internet users – 65% – have paid to download or access some kind of online content from the internet, ranging from music to games to news articles to adult material. Music, software, and apps are the most popular content that internet users have paid to access or download, although the range of paid online content is quite varied and widespread.

• 33% of internet users have paid for digital music online
• 33% have paid for software
• 21% have paid for apps for their cell phones or tablet computers
• 19% have paid for digital games
• 18% have paid for digital newspaper, magazine, or journal articles or reports
• 16% have paid for videos, movies, or TV shows
• 15% have paid for ringtones
• 12% have paid for digital photos
• 11% have paid for members-only premium content from a website that has other free material on it
• 10% have paid for e-books
• 7% have paid for podcasts
• 5% have paid for tools or materials to use in video or computer games
• 5% have paid for “cheats or codes” to help them in video games
• 5% have paid to access particular websites such as online dating sites or services
• 2% have paid for adult content

Source:  http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Paying-for-Content/Overview.aspx?view=all

Social media users in the U.S. find advertising is a fair price to pay for using social media sites and features. Fifteen percent are more inclined to buy brands that advertise in social media, representing slightly more than 30 million people 13-80 years old. Social media site ads also drive brand exploration, with 25% more inclined to find out more about brands that advertise on social media sites. When coupled with the fact that social media use has reached almost universality, marketers may consider the medium as more than a listening tool.

“Facebook is becoming the OS (operating system) of the Internet,” Bradford said. “Everyone is on it, everyone is setting up a page.”

So although the application may be an imperfect measure of a Facebook page’s impact, it remains an interesting tool that may be able to provide marketers with ideas to improve their efforts on the social media site.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Just-How-Much-Is-A-Facebook-cnbc-4036132854.html?x=0&.v=1

It’s Good for Maintaining Relationships, but How Will New Customers Find You?

My mother taught me that things in moderation won’t hurt you. In this case, she’s right. Social media belongs in the media mix. But it shouldn’t be the entire mix.

http://adage.com/smallagency/post?article_id=143779

“All these examples tell the same story: that the world contains an unimaginably vast amount of digital information which is getting ever vaster ever more rapidly. This makes it possible to do many things that previously could not be done: spot business trends, prevent diseases, combat crime and so on. Managed well, the data can be used to unlock new sources of economic value, provide fresh insights into science and hold governments to account.”

http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15557443.