Great article posted at eMarketer today on which social media tools businesses are having the most success with.  It’s interesting to note that Facebook is by far the most widely used Social Media platform yet it lags behind in terms of success.  The survey comprised of companies in the Inc. 500 diversified across several different industries, size and location.  Thirty-four percent of the Inc. 500 participated in the study making it statistically valid.  The Inc. 500 is a compilation of the 500 fastest growing private companies in the US published by Inc. Magazine.  The article was based on a recently released study conducted at The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research.

Highlights of the Survey:

• Adoption rates of Social Media increasing with tremendous speed,
• Facebook the most familiar platform to the Inc. 500 with 87% of respondents claiming to be very familiar with it,
• But in terms of what platforms respondents had the most success Facebook lagged behind in 4th place with blogging, Message/Bulletin Boards and Online Video leading the way,
• 50% of the Inc. 500 have a corporate blog with clear evidence of proper usage – customer engagement.  Of the companies that do not have blogs 40-40% intend to have one in the near future.
• 56% (a 13% year over year increase) of the Inc. 500 report that social media is “very important” to their social media strategy,
• 57% of the Inc. 500 report using search engines and social media to recruit and evaluate potential employees,
• 70% of the companies reported that they actively monitor what’s being said about them on social media venues,
• The survey also reveals an increasing trend on adopting social media for B2B communications.  The most notable is blogging with 22% of the Inc. 500 using it as a tool for communicating with vendors, suppliers and partners.
• 83% of responding companies use at least one social media platform clearly indicating it’s importance in how successful companies operate.

With many of the fastest growing companies in the US adopting social media as part of their marketing strategy it is equally important for small to medium size enterprise to do the same.  At the very least, small to medium sized enterprise should be adopting social media to gauge their brand in the marketplace.  Most small to medium size businesses are reluctant to enter the social media world fearing the negative aspects of bad PR.  What most don’t realize is that even if they don’t have a profile in social media they are still being discussed in social media.  Good or bad it’s an opportunity to connect.

What is Social Media?  We heard a lot of talk about Social Media in 2010.  For many people and business owners Social Media is still a virtual unknown.  And this lack of knowledge…especially for business owners can be a turning point to their future success or demise if they fail to consider the impact of this marketing tactic.  The most important idea people and business can take away from this short video is:  EVEN THOUGH YOU MIGHT NOT BE USING SOCIAL MEDIA…YOU ARE DEFINITELY IN THE CONTENT OF SOCIAL MEDIA.  Let’s repeat the last part:

 YOU ARE DEFINITELY IN THE CONTENT OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Good or Bad unless you live on Mars…I can with 99.9% percent certainty guarantee that there is content about you in the Social Media Sphere.  You can either benefit from it or be hurt by it…What’s your Social Media Strategy?

One industry that I have intimate knowledge of is the Foodservices Industry.  It used to be really important to get a great review from the Food Critic Columnist in the local paper.  That’s still important…but equally important are the comments your customers are leaving on the number of review sites or places like Twitter or Facebook.  In the world of super-connectively…an unhappy customer who happens to be very well connected can leave long lasting negative effects to your business.  On the positive side, you also have a great opportunity to develop a loyal following and cater to the people who care.

Checkout this great video produced by CommonCraft.com…Social Media in Plain English.  And while watching…THINK about how you might incorporate SOCIAL MEDIA to:

Promote Yourself or Your Business

And always remember…..You NEED a Strategy before Execution.