Companies Shift Advertising as Social Networking Expands

There has been a lot of talk about the surge in popularity of social media websites like Twitter and Facebook, with figures focused on the steady rise of individual memberships. Yet many marketers are wondering how these numbers really translate to overall web usage and how they can stretch their online marketing budgets accordingly.

The Neilson Company recently conducted a study on how and where Internet users are spending their time online and the results for social media and video website usage are incredible.

According to the study, the number of Americans that frequent online video websites has increased 339% since 2003. Once there, the amount of time spent on video websites has increased 2,000% during the same time frame.

The report also found that online video websites have experienced an 8% growth over the last year, a trend that has catapulted video to one of the fasting growing online categories in 2009.

Tip: Advertising on video websites as well as creating your own marketing videos and vlogs (video blogs), look like major trends for the coming year.

Social media networks have exploded over the last few years, resulting in 87% more online social media users than there were in 2003. The study has also shown that those users spend 883% more time on social networking sites than users did in '03.

Tip: Social media is on the rise and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere soon. Registering your company on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and other social media networks can help drive traffic to your site.

Neilson projects that more and more companies will increase their online ad spending driven by video, search and social media popularity. Social media websites like Twitter have also resulted in the disappearance of feedback barriers. While being able to instantly connect with users is a bonus, it also forces marketers to react on a much faster scale.

Tip: Most likely these ads will be geared and designed to relate to social media and video usage, including the continued creation of business Twitter accounts, vlogs, and increased interaction with video websites like YouTube and Hulu.

Contact us today and find out how WeDOwebContent's social media management services can help your company get the most out of your online marketing budget.