David Malmborg

[tweetmeme]Is social media the biggest shift in business since the industrial revolution? That is a big claim but yet… when put into perspective it very well may be. To me it makes perfect sense that Social Media and online communication is a vital part of business. I say that because I work online everyday trying to promote businesses on the web, and I have personally seen blogging and social media like Facebook and Twitter make a huge impact on a company’s ability to reach out to customers and consumers. I know it works, but how big of an impact could social media possibly have when it is so new?

A friend of mine introduced me to this video (below) which I found it to be absolutely fascinating. It shows how extensive social media has become in our society, and cemented in my brain how important it is for a company to catch onto the wave and find “fans.”

The Stats

Impressive, huh? Here are few of the stats that I think surprised me the most.

From the start, “Generation Y will out number ‘baby boomers’ in the year 2010.” Gen. Y, or the Millennial Generation, is my generation, and are generally those who were born between the late ’70 to the early 90′s. The reason this is significant is because this is the generation that grew up with technology. They grew up seeing the changes of personal computing, the internet, and global communication. The fact that 96% of this generation as joined a social network shows that they are a market online. Generation Y will be the largest adult demographic by next year, and they find their information online.

If you couple those two statistics with these other ones, you should start to really get an understanding of why social media is becoming a monumental shift in the way we communicate and why a business needs to be there. 78% of consumers trust peer recommendation as opposed to only 14% that trust advertisements. And if 96% of the largest segment of consumers are on a social networks, they are going to be getting their peer recommendation from a social network.

“80% of Twitter usage is on a mobile device,” meaning if they have a bad experience their peers are going to know the minute it happens. On the flip side if they are really enjoying themselves or their experience the word will also spread. This is huge for any business to want to keep their clientele happy.

But where does a business begin? Participating in Social Media as a business is an art, and is ever changing. If your business is unique to the point that you couldn’t possibly use social media to promote your business (which I think would be very unlikely for 95% of businesses), then it is important for the business to understand that social media exists and the word travels fast.

When I was purchasing a car earlier this year, I ended up having a terrible experience with a slick-willy used car dealership (National Auto Plaza in Salt Lake/Sandy UT), I told them that I had let everyone I know on Facebook know that they should never buy a car from NAP, and I had asked my friends to also post about my bad experience. The Manager looked at me like I was an idiot, mainly because he didn’t understand what Facebook was. My 250+ friends all saw the post and  4 of my friends actually reposted my status letting all of their friends know to avoid the place. In a matter of minutes over 1000+ local residents of the Salt Lake Metro area knew that this dealership was terrible. I personally can account for 3 referrals that didn’t buy their new car from this dealership. So, was I an idiot? Or the dealership, who wanted to harass me over a $25 tire-alignment, the idiot? Social Media has a broad reach, and if you don’t use it… be aware of it.

Enjoy! DRM2