If you’re still on the fence as to whether to tap in to social media for marketing, below are some staggering numbers provided by Jon Swartz of USA Today that should get your attention:
- More than 10,000 websites use Facebook Connect, a service that lets Facebook users log in to affiliated sites using their Facebook account and share information from those sites with their Facebook friends.
- About 30 million Facebook members access it through mobile devices.
- Twitter users spend 66% more dollars on the Internet than non-Twitter users, says market researcher ComScore.
- LinkedIn has more than 365,000 company profiles. More than 12 million small-business professionals are members of LinkedIn.
MySpace
More than 1 million small businesses and individuals promote their goods and services on MySpace.
Smartphones power the trend
- As smartphones such as iPhone and BlackBerry take off, more people are updating their Facebook and Twitter profiles while on the move.
- Smartphone shipments are expected to surge to 164 million this year, up 13% from 2008, says market researcher Forward Concepts.
- The mobile social-networking industry is expected to become a $3.3 billion market worldwide by 2013, ABI Research predicts.
BIG marketing for small business 
This is a useful little guide to each social media service out there. If you’re new to the field of social media it can be quite daunting, so having key figures can help decide which is best suited to your business.
Whilst Facebook and Twitter seem to be the most popular services available, this doesn’t necessarily mean they are the best for your business. With other key services such as LinkedIn your business might be better suited to a social network such as this, instead of Twitter and suchlike.
Good info. Makes me realise the importance of social networks. The only problem is how to reach the masses.