There is no debating that sites such as Facebook are in-demand for a range of businesses, but a high proportion of their audience is of a young age restricting which businesses can exploit this marketing space.

The analytics firm said traffic to social networks accounted for 11.9% of all UK internet visits during May, while search engines accounted for 11.3%.

Facebook received more than half of the social network visits in the UK (55%), almost triple the number YouTube had. Twitter was in third.

However, Experian Hitwise said Facebook doesn’t yet dominate the UK social network market to the extent that Google dominates the search market.

Together google.co.uk and google.com accounted for nine in every ten web searches carried out in the UK during May. Google UK was the most visited site, accounting for 9.29% of all visits, while Facebook accounted for 7.04%.

The advantage with Google is that you are ‘found’ via a keyword(s) that the user has typed with interest. Therefore you are already of interest to the user compared with social networks sties, where the likelihood is that users want to interact with friends and colleagues.

Robin Goad, Experian Hitwise’s research director, said, “Although social networks and search engines perform different functions, they both act as gateways to the wider internet. This data illustrates the key role that social media now plays in so much online behaviour.
“The majority of online marketing spend is currently diverted towards search, and this is likely to remain the case in the short to medium term,” he added. “Search remains the primary source of traffic for most websites, particularly in sectors that account for the majority of online transactions, such as retail, finance and travel.”

Where do your online marketing efforts go? Does your business concentrate more on SEO rather than social media campaigns?

Take a look at our tips below, and hopefully you will be in a better position to exploit the social media market for your business.

Blog
Your company blog is the primary starting point of all social media success. As the driving mechanism for attracting website traffic, your site SEO can immensely improve with regular content. User-generated content is highly engaging, and produced regularly and becoming in-demand, you will soon obtain regular subscribers to your RSS feeds.

Social Networks
There are millions of them out there, not all containing the right audience and appeal for every business. The main attractions are Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, but not all of them offer the marketing platform your business needs.

Facebook demands highly interactive and regular content flowing through a fan page. In comparison, Twitter is an easy tool for establishing followers, for whom to advertise your content to in the hope of being distributed further. Linkedin remains the more corporate of the three, creating an ideal location for marketing the profile and individuals of your company.

Multimedia
User-generated content such as videos and graphics are the most popular type on the web. Content needs to be engaging to ensure users return, but also redistribute. Virals have become a driving point for many marketing agencies looking to ‘spread the word’ of a brand. Adding essential characteristics such as humour and controversy will ensure the message reaches a larger audience.

This can be achieved using a brand channel within YouTube and feeding content through the company blog so that the content can be easily distributed via your RSS feed.

As the first instalment of a two-part post for social media, we will reveal essential tools for monitoring social media to ensure desirable brand reputation is maintained next week.

The Media Cube would hate to see vulnerable people fall victim to such crimes and have therefore compiled some information to take onboard when socialising in such sites as Facebook and Twitter.

Limit details

Your personal information is just that, personal. Any true information, such as full name and address can seriously risk your identity safety. Do not advertise your details and then fraudsters can not advertise themselves as you.

Privacy settings

An obvious thought would be to keep your profile only accessible to your friends. Some people are oblivious to this and do not realise that their profile is public, when in fact they thought it was private. Check now and be confident that you are not giving strangers a financial excuse to get to know you better.

Be cautious

Don’t believe everything you read and see online. People can pretend to be someone they are not, producing misleading information about various topics, in order to gain your trust.

Verify emails

Not all emails are what they initially seem. People obtain personal information via social sites and pursue contacts in order to further progress fraud tactics. Offers of “Please sign into your account to verify your account” or “What is your account password”, will most definitely be fake, with the intention of making you believe it to be genuine.

Hopefully these four tips can help keep users safer online. Unfortunately we have to live in a world where not all is what it seems. We love to socialise with others online, and hope to see you join us too!

Keep safe online and feel free to say hello @themediacube!

The Live Every Litre project will take videos of peoples’ journeys across Europe using the Honda Hybrid CR-Z car to create a documentary film using content and people contributed through social media channels. They will also be encouraged to promote their entries and gather supporters through social sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

As a modern example of how companies are using social media to promote their brand and products, why not see how The Media Cube can help discover your social marketing potential?

The growth of social media has demanded businesses worldwide to test the potential on offer. Interacting with others online couldn’t be more essential than in today’s market.

The Media Cube is committed to building brand reputation and awareness and has previous success with marketing campaigns. A marketing and advertising agency in Kent, we understand the needs of clients and thrive on the challenge of producing unique marketing campaigns.

From start up companies in Kent, through to B2B companies worldwide, we offer innovative marketing ideas that are built through successful techniques. Get your business marketed in the right way – get in touch now.

Want to know more about social media marketing? Why not read our useful posts previously published on our site.

With a large and varied audience for advertisers to target, companies are discovering an alterative method, or for some, a combined method, for pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns.

PPC requires time and investment. Though social media demands time, it is free. A PPC campaign can take months to trigger and discover what works well towards budget and keywords. Social media provides flexibility and the opportunity to direct messages straight to your followers. However, that is not to say that a social strategy is not required, it definitely is.

The more appealing factor towards using social media this year is the prospect of social activity appearing in search engine results. This significantly opens up the opportunity for exposure to the world-wide-web.

Similar to PPC, a brand can target customers through keywords. Social sites such as Twitter and Youtube both allow a user to target people using #keywords. Facebook currently requires people to have some awareness of the brand in order to be effectively exposed.

Both PPC and social media use the same concept. Instigate initial interest through words or images that include a link to the brand website. Grab desired interest that will take the audience to an effective landing page and hopefully into a conversion.

The increase in popularity of social media means that more companies are discovering that their target audience is firstly online, but more importantly reachable.

Discover the impact of social media and implement a unique strategy for 2010. Get in touch with the Media Cube and explore the various advantages on offer for your brand.

Social platforms not only provide the opportunity to liaise with current customers, but also others who may otherwise be impossible to reach offline.

The biggest value that social networks possess is the willingness of others to become involved in discussions and communication. People discover similar interests through ‘tweets’ or others that they may already know and expand their contacts to the point of developing a relationship.

Companies use social platforms to expose thoughts, services and products to the world. Customers have an easy and convenient place to go, should they want to contact a company about a particular issue or problem.

Companies can set up their own page within Facebook and gather all their contacts together to build a community. A community indicates people joined together to share common interests. By publishing regular updates to a company page, the members will be automatically informed and reminded of the brand. This provides an ideal platform for a company to communicate with everyone through one simple update to all.

However, companies need to be careful not to rely solely on online communication. Nothing beats face-to-face value. In a world where online activity is demanding, social media should be used to instigate initial communication with potential contacts, before taking further action to meet in person.

The internet is flexible, almost to the point of invasion of privacy. Business people are much more accessible than they were 10 years ago, which makes the market a very competitive field.

Social networks are a great resource for job opportunities and assessing potential employees. Many candidates will have accounts online that can easily be reviewed. Some companies gather an opinion of the person before even meeting them.

Companies need to be aware that social media is not just a phrase and an additional opportunity to get your voice heard. There are consequences. A brand’s reputation is everything. Make sure you take the right steps within the social arena and be careful not to offend too many people.

Take time to build a social strategy and highlight exactly what you want to achieve from it. As a productive marketing campaign, there is real potential to be won.

We look forward to meeting you all online!