Social media marketing importance growth and what it means for you

Posted by on Feb 28, 2017 in In The News | 0 comments

The writing is on the wall, on television screens, and in print: traditional forms of media consumption are falling by the wayside. At the same time, social media marketing importance is growing…big time.

Let’s look at some figures behind the trends.

During the recent NFL season, almost every week there was a story in the press on how viewership was down. I’m sure there were a variety of reasons, but one major movement in society has to be among the most important causes: Traditional daily TV viewership in the 18-24-year-old demographic dropped by an hour and 20 minutes between 2011 and 2016. This is according to Neilsen figures as reported by MarketingCharts.

Do you expect the generation coming up behind this group to turn that around? Not going to happen.

In the same way, you’ve probably experienced a local newspaper closing its doors in recent years and we know that national magazines have been going out of business as well.

Time spent on the Internet, on the other hand, continues to rise. Globalwebindex says that it has gone up from 5.55 hours in 2012 to 6.15 hours in 2014. Further, daily engagement on social media networks has risen from 1.61 hours to 1.72 hours daily over that same time frame. Included in this social media statistic is .81 hours per day on micro-blogs, such as Twitter.

I make these points because if you are not yet serious about social media marketing, these statistics and trends should be enough to convince you that now’s the time. And, if you need a good foundation to get started or renew your efforts, check out this recent post.

I will, however, put in a little plug for the traditional marketing and advertising channels. Given the struggles that they are experiencing, you might be able to find some good values. Local businesses should touch bases with local publications and broadcasters and see if they can find some bargains.

But with that said, my primary message today is that social media marketing importance continues to grow and there is nothing visible in the near term to reverse that.