Engaging Consumers with Direct Social Media Marketing

An Acxiom White Paper
Engaging Consumers With
Direct Social Media Marketing
How Businesses CanEmbrace an Unfamiliar World
by Michael Gorman, Maureen O'Sullivan andGeene Reese with assistance from Farrell WilsonAcxiom | White Paper
Two large storms have recently converged, surprising
marketers and throwing many big businesses into a state
of disarray. The first - the global economic meltdown -
has caused consumers to tighten their pocketbooks. The
second - the mass adoption of social media - has
created great confusion for most marketers. Sites like
Facebook and Twitter have emerged from obscurity,
supported by hundreds of millions of people who share
their good and bad experiences with big-name brands.
Many marketers find themselves thrust into a world where they've lost control. While some seethe social media frontier as a great opportunity, many see it as the Wild West - a place wherethings can quickly become unmanageable.
Is there an easy way for marketers to benefit from social media? What can be done torecognize and engage customers who are active social media influencers?
To meet these challenges, businesses are turning to direct social media marketing. Designedto bring the benefits of direct marketing to the social media frontier, these solutions enablebusinesses to recognize, segment and engage customers who are social media users, whilealso monitoring relevant social media activity. This white paper will examine social media trendsand reveal the many advantages of direct social media marketing.
Social media trends: the big opportunityThere's gold buried in social media interactions. "This flood Consumers are rushing to socialof [social] data could be as transformative as Galileo's media sites, creating a wealth oftelescope was for the physical sciences," said social scientist insight for smart marketers1Duncan J. Watts of Columbia University. "Digital friendshipsspeak volumes about us as consumers and workers, and decoding the data can lead to2profitable insights," said a BusinessWeek article.
1Acxiom | White Paper
The vast majority of marketers (86%) acknowledge that social media is more than just a fad,but 65.6% don't understand social media marketing, according to a McCann Erickson Bristol3study. "Social network usage is not tapering off. Instead, it is growing. Not only are moreconsumers joining social networks, but their level of involvement is deepening," said an4eMarketer report.
The use of social media sites has grown much faster than analysts predicted. In May 2009,Facebook traffic grew 8% in a single month to 113 million U.S. visitors, surpassing MSN(97.5 million) and quickly approaching Yahoo (135.5 million) and Google (145.5 million),5according to web analytics firm Compete.
Social media consumers are older than many people realize. According to JPMorgan, among6adult Internet users aged 34 to 41, a significant 62% visited social networks monthly in 2008.These numbers have likely increased, given the recent growth of social networks.
"Consumers may say the primary reason they use social networks is to connect andcommunicate with friends, but the stream of status updates and posts contains myriad nuggetsof information about the products they use, the media they consume and what they plan to7buy," said an eMarketer report. Because consumers tend to trust the advice of friends overadvertisements, social media is also spurring purchase decisions.
The big marketing opportunity"The role for advertisers and brands has never had so much Social media is the fastest-potential-branded applications, content and services all offer growing interactive marketinghuge potential in social media," found a Universal McCann channel, according to Forrester8study. Independent research firm, Forrester Research, Inc.,predicts that marketers will spend $3.1 billion on social media by 2014, up from $716 million9in 2009 - making social media the fastest-growing interactive marketing channel.
A significant 93% of social media consumers want companies to have a social media presenceand 85% think businesses should interact with their customers via social media, found a10recent study by Cone. "The news here is that Americans are eager to deepen their brand11relationships through social media," said Mike Hollywood, director of new media for Cone.
Communicati... [download for more]