Canadians Lead the Way in Social Media

I was just on Facebook. Accepted two new friend requests – two people I haven’t seen in almost 15 years. Unlike how I used to be – benignly accepting new friend requests (aka requesting then forgetting – which is a common practise on FB) – I’m now a little bit more engaged – a little more curious.

So I accept and wall post on my new FB friend’s wall. I’ve also gotten to the point where I’ll defriend someone I’ve previously accepted as a friend on FB, because they weren’t really a friend of mine to begin with.

My point is – I like a growing number of Canadians – am on Facebook. It’s the top social media network that I belong to (in terms of how much time it sucks from me), which is followed by Twitter (@samuelaraki @tradingmetro @localtrifecta – of course!), and LinkedIn.

According to eMarketer, nearly 60% of Canadian Internet users visit social networks on a monthly basis. The number has been growing and is projected to continue growing over the next four years.

According to eMarketer:

Canada boasts some of the world’s highest internet penetration and social networking usage rates. Social network users view social media as their online home—a hub for communication, entertainment and information.

And the obvious leader in it all is Facebook.

Small Businesses Should Use Social Media

Numbers don’t lie. Well – perhaps sometimes numbers don’t tell the full story – but what they do is frame ideas for us.

And the title is a little misleading perhaps – I’m not saying ALL small businesses should use social media marketing, but consideration needs to be made after understanding what it can do. I’m more focusing on the actual reach of social media today – and how small business owners are increasingly seeing the merits of social media.

With the surge in online activity, and Internet Marketing, one of the biggest – yet most often misunderstood (and misused) marketing channels is social media – marketing.

Business owners are oftentimes too busy to understand what it is and how it can affect their bottomline. The story really lies in the fact that there are over 500 million active Facebook users over 100 million Twitter users (although it’s estimated up to 20% are considered “active”), and then there is LinkedIn (I refer to the three as the Trifecta of Social Media – everything in threes).

It’s reported that Americans spend up to 36% of their time online, and almost 23% of that is spent on Social Networks. In one year, ending 2009, global (which oddly doesn’t include Canada) time spent on social networks increased 82%. 

I would assume that Canadians are a little “less” social, perhaps, but you know when you look around that people are online updating their statuses, looking at other peoples statuses, tweeting, etc. Which leads to workplace after workplace banning Social Media access.

So what you say as a business owner. What does it matter if these “social networks” are leeching peoples time. The social nature allows people to share things with one another, it’s a conduit of influence, and more and more business owners are realizing this.

The number of business owners who reported using social networking for marketing increased from 10% to about 40% in one year, ending September 2010, according to a recent survey.

Facebook led the way with 27% using the site to attract new customers, which was followed by business owners using LinkedIn (9%), Twitter (8%), and blogging (5%).

On the downside, 17% of small business owners said that social media marketing and tools had not helped them.

For business owners, social media ultimately should be a two-way street. It’s about business owners connecting with customers and customers connecting with businesses,” said Susan Sobbott, president of American Express OPEN, in a statement. “More than 10% of consumers we surveyed reported posting a review of a small business through social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, and of these posts, two-thirds say the reviews have been positive.

Social Media is a form of communication businesses can have with its customers. Although 42% of respondents said that Social Media Marketing DIDN’T apply to their industry, it’s more of a case of not understanding what effect it can really have.

A simple rule of thumb is – If a businesses customers are regular individuals (and not other businesses and institutions) there shouldn’t be a reason to stay ignorant of the impact that Social Media Marketing can have.