• In the US, there are 149M active Facebook users, 70% log in once a day – Ogilvy & BuddyMedia
• Social media accounts for ~ 25% of all time spent online over 35 minutes per hour –Nielsen
• Facebook accounts for 8.93% of all website visits in the US. All of Google’s properties including YouTube, Gmail, Google accounts for 9.85% – Experian Hitwise
• 64% of Facebook users have liked a brand on Facebook - ExactTarget
• By 2012, half of the world’s Internet users, 1 billion people, will have a Facebook account – TIME (12/7-1/3 edition)
• Facebook’s fastest growing demographic is 17-35 year olds – TIME
• 43% of Facebook users who “unlike” a brand do so because of too much push marketing – Exact Target
• 46% of Internet users worldwide interact with social media on a daily basis -TNS
• 25% of social media users are more likely to look into a brand advertising on social media – Adology
• 15% of these users are more likely to purchase from social media advertisers – Adology
• 38% of Small & Micro Businesses would use social media more if they had more time or a convenient management solution –  Vistaprint
• 46% of micro business owners utilize social media – Vistaprint
• $4.26 billion will be spent on social media marketing globally in 2011 – eMarketer
• 17% of US online consumers have created a Twitter account – ExactTarget
• 48% of Twitter users check their account at least once a day – Exact Target
• 71% of Twitter users expect to receive marketing messages via the platform – Exact Target
• 41% of users who have unfollowed a brand on Twitter did so because they were over-marketed to – ExactTarget
• 46% of Twitter users meet with friends more in person over 2009 – Social Mythbusting
• 78.6% of consumers have joined a company’s community to get more information on the company – Universal McCann
• 71% of community members say they are more likely to purchase from brand –Universal McCann
• 66% of company community members note that the community has made them more loyal to a brand – Universal McCann
• 63% of corporate community members note that they will recommend brand to friends/family – Universal McCann
• Ford’s 2011 Explorer launch on Facebook generated a 200% greater return than a Super Bowl ad -  Social Media Case Studies, Stories, Perspectives

Outagamie Co. Airport Uses Social Media from Mark Gehrke on Vimeo.

Outagamie Co. Airport Uses Social Media from Mark Gehrke on Vimeo.

Debra Gehrke talks with Kim Sippola, Outagamie Co. Airport Marketing Manager, about how the airport uses Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to connect with travelers and the community.  Interview conducted at Renew Summit 2009 presented by New North and NEW END.  We love to help support the local North Eastern Wisconsin social media business community.  Social media is still very new for most businesses and navigating these ever changing waters can be challenging.  We hope this video and the story we shared recently about how Grassroots A Salon is blogging to get their story out to the community will give you a little inspiration to jump in and participate.  And if you have more questions we are happy to help.

Are you building your personal brand to help grow your business?

@tommytrc does a great job explaining why it’s important to start building a personal brand.  Tommy has some great advice to help you get started creating the brand of you.

How does having a strong personal brand translate to building a successful business?  If people can relate to you on a personal level they will be more likely to want to do business with you.

It’s all about relationships and I agree with Tommy that relationships are coming back.  Personal branding and social media is fundamentally about relationships.   With the wonderful tools available today it’s easier than ever to start building your extended relationships.  You can grow a personal brand that will continue to evolve and grow as your talents and interests grow.  Your personal brand is a reflection of your passions, gifts and talents.

Be the Real You

When your building a personal brand it’s important that the story you’re sharing is real and authentic.

3 Steps to Starting your Personal Brand

@tommytrc shares 3 great simple tips to starting a personal brand.

1. Start slow, start small and build your personal brand

2. Just do it.  Jump in

3. Be Yourself

These are great tips from Tommy.   There is much wisdom in remembering these basic ideas.

Adding my thoughts on Tommy’s 3 Steps:

- Start Slow! If you’re new to building your personal brand there is no way you can know everything you need to know about all the various ways to build your brand.  Start small and start simply with one or 2 things.  Once you’re comfortable then add more to your personal branding mix.  Personal branding takes time and is a long term proposition, actually it can be a lifetime activity.

- Just Do It! I talk to people all the time that are overwhelmed with all the possible ways they can use technology to build their brand.  Honestly,  you have to jump in and find what works best for you.  The beauty of the tools and technologies available today is that most of them can be adapted to fit you.  Remember, you are build the brand of you.  You need to DO social media  the best way for you.

- Be Yourself! It is impossible to build a personal brand without being yourself.  As Tommy mentions people want you.   Put yourself into everything you share and do.   Be consistently in alignment with who you truly are.  Be the real you.

How are you building your personal brand?

Please share your thoughts about personal branding in the comments.

Thanks to @tommytrc for sharing with us your great example of the personal brand you’re building daily.

Social media is not a fad and the Social Media Revolution video explains why.

Engagement is all about interaction.  Your involvement in stimulating conversation, listening and learning from your audience will help your business be more valuable.  Keeping interaction flowing is the life blood  of social media.

Ways to Be Engaging:

Ask Questions

• Considering launching a new service?  Ask your customers what they think about it. Be creative with the questions and really listen by acknowledging the responses and taking the questions into more specific aspects of your service.
• Pay attention to the questions your customers are asking about your business / industry
• Discovery questions uncover challenges and unmet needs that your business potentially can fill.  By asking the right questions and being open to the wisdom within your audience new markets can be discovered.

Pay Attention and Respond Quickly

• The speed of engagement in social media is moving more and more toward a real time experience.  Your audience doesn’t want to wait around for you.  If you want to engage you need to be listening, be present in the conversation and keep the engagement flowing.  Attention is gained through building trust.  Listening and thoughtful responding  goes a lot way towards building trust.

Be Transparent

• The relationship between your business and your customers needs to be open and real.  Customers appreciate honesty.  Tell the truth.  Do not hide behind excuses.  If you keep your audience informed and show that you trust them they will be more likely to continue giving you their attention.

Be a Real Person

• People do business with people.  Be a real person with a personality.  In today’s world of social media is a good thing to blend you in with your business.  Your audience is more likely to engage with a person than a faceless corporation.  Let people know why you’re passionate about your business.  Let your audience in on your great triumphs and on your challenges.  You may find even more enthusiastic fans.

How do you use social media to keep your business engaging?

I want to highlight an article about the history of social media that my friend Zaskoda shared on his blog.   Zaskoda has been ahead of the curve on the web for years.

Here’s an entry about Social Media from Wikipedia that he found:

Social media is information content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies that is intended to facilitate communications, influence and interaction with peers and with public audiences, typically via the Internet and mobile communications networks.

The Internet has been about people creating content for years.  What is new is that many more people are doing it… and its getting easier ( or the people that grew up with it, the digital natives make it look easy ) and a lot more sharable.

I highly recommend you read Zaskoda’s article to get some perspective on how mature social media really is.

Key Findings from the study include data such as:

• 105 million Americans contribute to social media
• Social networking has grown 93% since 2006
• 7 million Americans are “heavy” social media contributors (6+ activities) who connect with 248 people on a ‘one to many’ basis in a typical week
• 54% of micro-bloggers post or “tweet” daily
• 72% of micro-bloggers under age 18 post or “tweet” daily

These statistics were shared with me via AJM Marketing

Here are some of my favorite stories about the growing relationships businesses have with social media and some challenges in bringing social networking into organizations

Embracing social media
a wise choice in uncertain times
With a full circle approach social media can entirely reshape your organizations day-to-day means of communications. Social media offers great economies of scale and ever evolving relationships with wider and wider circles of your stakeholders. I like how this article talks about operationalizing around your communication functions. Engaging your customers through social media is an ongoing journey that will fundamentally shift your business reality.

Why Big Brands Struggle with Social Media

• big companies often consider social media as just another marketing channel

• doesn’t fit company structure

• global reach stretches corporate boundaries

• long term not campaign approach

Why Executives Don’t Get Social Media
Everyone is not a “connector” and some people are just not that interested in connecting with other people virtually. This article shares some perspective on types of people that get and don’t get social media and how to keep that in mind when integrating it into your organization.

Ice cream and social media have a lot in common.  You can make your own ice cream just like the big ice cream companies with the tools of social ice cream.  Watch the video to see social media compared to the spread of ice cream businesses all over Scoopsville.