This increase in Facebook participation is just part of the statistics. In an article for the Internet Retailer by Bill Briggs, it was also reported that Twitter, the social media network that has given a new meaning to the word brevity, is seeing the biggest growth followed by the video sharing site, YouTube. On the other hand, MySpace, which used to be the popular social networking site before the advent of Facebook, has been recorded as static for two years and is now tailing off.
According to the article, 347 or 69% of the current Top 500 retailers are on Twitter as part of their social media marketing campaigns. The Twitter feeds have also increased by 37% from last year and 221% from 2009.
Jeff Zabin, who is research director of Gleanster, a Chicago-based digital marketing research firm, pointed out that “the growing adoption of social media marketing reflects a new understanding by web retailers of today’s shoppers.” He described a marketing trend wherein “retailers are going to allocate more of their resources to interacting with consumers through social resources, because that’s where consumers want to spend their time.” He also highlighted that brands are now more attuned to the “online voice” and must ensure that all marketing messages resonate with consumers. For example, he pointed out that “retailer can tune into Twitter and other sources of consumer-generated content and identify unmet wants and needs that can drive new product development.”
Another interesting figure mentioned in the article is that 316 (63%) of the Top 500 retailers posted commercials, product demos and other types of videos on YouTube and Zabin predicts that this will only grow. He noted that a key objective of social media marketing is to “generate buzz and pass-alongs” and if people are entertained or informed, they will be more likely to spread the message.
