Tag: facebook marketing

However, a study shows that there are more people who value it than are actually using it.

Recent research is indicating that female business owners are feeling quite optimistic, overall, about the way that their companies will be performing over the upcoming year, and that many of them feel that social media marketing could play a notable role in helping to enhance outcomes.

That said, a surprising number of women business owners are not using this technique, despite the value they assign it.

The research from the National Association of Women Business Owners and Web.com Group, Inc., showed that 89 percent of women feel that their business performance will be positive throughout this year. This is an increase of 8 percent over the figures that were registered last year when women business owners were asked the same question. Among those who participated in the survey, most said that social media marketing was important for building relationships with customers.

In fact, 85 percent of women business owners felt that social media marketing was important for this purpose.

However, at the same time that this vast majority expressed that they felt this way, only 67 percent of this same group said that they were currently using one of the social networks in order to connect with customers. At the same time, only slightly over half felt strong enough in their ability to build a presence over social media in order to achieve this goal. When all was said and done, only about one in every four female business owners are posting comments at least one time per day.

Among those that were posting over social media, the preferred site was also surprising. Although Facebook is by far the largest social network and it receives the highest amount of traffic, it was still used by only 21 percent of the respondents. LinkedIn had the top spot at 25 percent. This could suggest either that women prefer the latter network or it could also indicate that many of the survey participants were marketing business to business – for which LinkedIn would be the top choice.

This year could be a defining one for social media marketing, as the perception of its value continues to rise, but at a greater rate than its adoption among this demographic.

The same report that provided this insight also forecasted the importance of mobile commerce.

As the third quarter showed that online retail experienced a year over year increase of 13 percent, a growth rate that is notably higher than the overall retail environment, mobile commerce is rising approximately twice that fast, and social media marketing is playing an important role in that growth.

Both of those two factors will be making a considerable impact on the decisions and habits of holiday shoppers.

At the same time, the importance of social media marketing and of mobile commerce will also represent some massive changes in the way that consumers are informing themselves and spending their money throughout the holiday shopping season. This, according to comScore, a digital measurement and analytics provider.

comScore revealed its latest social media marketing data and predictions at a recent webinar.

Its predictions regarding the impact of social media marketing on the decisions that shoppers are making, and of the impact of mobile commerce throughout the holiday season were shared at the U.S. Online Retail Economy Q3 2013 webinar.

There, it was explained by the comScore vice president of marketing and insights, Andrew Lipsman, who was also a panelist, that the top themes that were coming into their own in this year’s busiest shopping season are “what I call the 4 S’s – social commerce, smartphones, sit-back shopping, and showrooming.” In terms of social media marketing, he pointed out specifically that the influence of Pinterest is growing and that the usage of this network is increasingly based on smartphones and tablets.

Aside from the importance of social media marketing over Pinterest, Twitter was also identified as being “important”. That said, when it comes to building brands, Lipsman stated that Facebook is maintaining its dominant position.

Social media marketing in order to encourage offline, electronic, and mobile commerce was shown to have three primary benefits, which include engagement, amplification and fan reach. This can play a very important role in a retailer or brand’s ability to communicate with consumers and encourage them to buy. At this time of year, this can make this technique a vital part of success.