by Mack Collier
So is all this blogging and social media stuff really just a fad? Is
it going away? Or will most companies need to invest in the coming
years in using these tools to better connect with their customers? Thanks
to many recent surveys and studies, the future of social media for
businesses is becoming much clearer...
At SBMU last week during my
Blogging for Business session, I referenced a recent survey by eMarketer that stated that blog readership AND blog creation by the US internet population would
increase by 33% by 2012.
Read that again: Blogging and blog readership are predicted to grow by 33% by 2012. According to eMarketer, over HALF of the US internet population are already reading blogs on a regular basis.
More? eMarketer also discovered that
55% of Millenials (aged 13-24) and
42% of Gen X-ers (aged 25-41) are reading blogs on a WEEKLY basis.
Ben points to a recent study by Cone Business that found that
93% of respondents believe a company should have a presence in social media, and
85% believe that companies should be using social media to interact with customers. Also, 56% of respondents say they feel better about brands that they interact with online via social media tools.
Finally,
this new study from eMarketer finds that customers view company blogs as a better channel for customer service than they do a company website.
What does all this mean to your business? If your customers are online, especially if they are in the 13-41 age group, they are going to be increasingly using social media tools in the future. And here's the key takeaway: they are going to expect that you do so as well. And not only that, they are going to expect you to use blogs and other social media tools to connect with them.
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Source: Can You Still Afford to Ignore Blogs and Social Media?
