After returning to the daily grind, I finally got a chance to catch up on some of my favorite interactive marketing blogs. I started following Jeremiah Owyang a few years ago when Blueion recommended him as an industry expert. And, they were right! He’s made my top list of 5 or so bloggers to follow regularly.
Jeremiah recently posted A Collection of Social Network Stats for 2009. It’s not surprising that this is a topic of discussion with the rise of social media utilization in 2008. Facebook continues to grow with more than 150 million people using it worldwide. Twitter had a growth rate of 752%! There are several sources out there — Jeremiah references them — that can help you report on each social media tool. For now, though, I’m curious to know which social media vehicles marketers right here in the Lowcountry are using and find most effective (both professionally and personally). Our chapter utilizes Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. Facebook has probably yielded the greatest return so far.
What’s working for you? And, what are your predictions for 2009?
- Jenn Simpson, Director of Communications, AMA
Flickr Photos
January 12, 2009
Thanks for the shoutout, AMA! Glad we could point you to some good links.
- chris (At Blue Ion)
January 12, 2009
Facebook has been a tremendous tool for our company and the majority of our clients in that its transparency helps users more clearly identify with your brand. It is a great way to start discussions, share pictures and thoughts and post press releases, videos and blog entries.
We use it especially to promote upcoming promotions and events and have now found that over 60% of our RSVPs are generated directly through Facebook.
Flickr has also helped our office consolidate our pictures and having a universal accessible place to store our photos has been a great help. We forward our album links directly to clients, media and designers so that they have instant access to our high-res files.
January 13, 2009
Over the last 6 months we have experimented with Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Although in health care it is extremely hard to determine the direct impact, we have experienced great response and are gauging our success on the actually fans, followers and subscribes on each of the platforms. Our goal in utilizing a social media network is more for brand awareness and an industry expert than direct sales and from that stand point it has been successful.