Social Media - Just Hype?

A new study by Universal McCann called "When did we start trusting strangers?" describes a “new influencer landscape” which is characterized by three significant trends:

1. Rise in Social Media
2. Importance of "digital" friends
3. Proliferation of influencer channels

The study also mentions the impact of this phenomenon: an influence economy, the democratization of influence, and the new “super influencer.” Some figures to illustrate the study’s findings:

* 44% of people surveyed have a blog (compared to 28% in 2006)
* 57.5% have a page on a social network (compared to 27% in 2006)
* 42% download video clips (compared to 10% in 2006)
* 34% of users share their opinions about music
* 55% share their photos online

Internet users do not rely on just the brands to inform themselves. While 69% visit brands’ official websites, 82% prefer to search for information on a search engine or to read people’s comments on personal profiles on social networks like Facebook, for example (55%).

Internet users’ preferred method for exchanging information about a product is
MSN Messenger (44.5%).
E-mail comes in at a close second (42.4%),
followed by blogs (30.4%),
and social networks (27.6%).

According to McCann, brands should act according to four principles:

* Transparency and honesty with consumers, without becoming ‘hyper-transparent’
* Participate in conversations that generate discussion: create blogs, be present in social networks, etc.
* Consider every person as a potential influencer and encourage the target audience to share its opinions
* Approach new creators: bloggers, video creators, podcasters, etc.

According to McCann, it’s these new creators who will represent one of the most important forces in the years to come. Brands should try to work with them, and above all, not underestimate them. Or is that misunderestimate them?

To sum things up, this was a great study full of lots of interesting results and information!

Learn how I monetized off of spending hours on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter each day. http://mastermindaudio.thecardteacher.com


Rachel Jackson
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