Social Media: The Next Paradigm Shift in Industrial Marketing

There can be no doubt the the next paradigm shift is taking place on the internet. It’s called Social Media. Right now, it’s like the Gold Rush in 1849: You just stepped off the boat and now you are faced with the decision to buy the “Secret Hidden Gold Map” from the guy at the bottom of the gangplank. There are many many people coming out of the woodwork as an “authority”.

However, it’s my opinion that the medium is still early in it’s evolution and it’s adoption. Let’s keep in mind “Moore’s Law“: Social Media is going to change as it grows; probably at the same rate as microprocessors.

Again, many people are jumping in with both feet:

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“Nearly 20% of Marketing Dollars Will Go to Social Marketing in 5 Years”
In just the last 6 months, marketers have shifted their attitudes toward social media marketing spending. This was recently affirmed in the new study, “The CMO Survey” from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the American Marketing Association. (“what’s a CMO?“)

A key finding: Social media marketing budgets continue to rise. According to the results, businesses currently allocate 6% of their marketing budgets to social media, an allotment they expect to increase to 10% during the next year and 18% over the next 5 years.
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Back in August 2009, marketers had already planned on devoting more money to social media.  However, in February 2010, marketers reported that they plan to allocate one-fifth of their marketing budgets to social media marketing in the next 5 years.  This is a definite increase from the 2009 projections.  The study features the following comparison from August 2009 to February 2010:

Current marketing budget spending on social media:

• August 2009: 3.5%
• February 2010: 5.6%

Marketing budget spending on social media in the next 12 months:

• August 2009: 6.1%
• February 2010: 9.9%
• Marketing budget spending on social media in the next 5 years:August 2009: 13.7%
• February 2010: 17.7%

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Small Business Doubles Social Media Adoption”

A recent study, “The State of Small Business Report,” sponsored by Network Solutions, LLC and the University of Maryland’sRobert H. Smith School of Business, points to economic struggles as the catalyst for social media’s rapid popularity.

The study results show that social media usage by small business owners increased from 12% to 24% in just the last year, and almost 1 out of 5 actively uses social media as part of his or her marketing strategy.

Here’s a breakdown of what the small businesses reported as the main uses of social media marketing:

• 75% have a company page on a social networking site
• 69% post status updates or articles of interest on social media sites
• 57% build a network through a site such as LinkedIn
• 54% monitor feedback about the business
• 39% maintain a blog
• 26% tweet about areas of expertise
• 16% use Twitter as a service channel

According to the study, different industries are adopting social media marketing at different rates, and while many industries have started using social media marketing in their efforts to reach more customers, many still have not positioned it as their top priority.