Universal McCann Wave.4 published::
UM’s latest “Power to the People” social media survey has revealed dramatic changes in the way that consumers are using the internet to create and share their thoughts,pictures and videos. You can download the full report for free here.
Wave 4 of UM’s research into the facts behind the hype of social media reveals that social networks are becoming the dominant platform for content creation and content sharing.
After four surveys of active internet users—those who use the internet every day or every other day—showing
impressive growth for all types of social media, consumers are starting to focus their digital life around the likes of Facebook, MySpace and Orkut.
It’s not that consumers are cutting back on blogging or sharing images it’s just that they are increasingly opting to do it via their social network page rather than the likes of Flickr and Blogger.
Another key change to note has been the expansion of video usage (except in the UK), with significant increases both in the number
of social networkers and bloggers uploading video but also in terms of the number of the active internet users watching audio-visual content.
The report is stuffed full of global statistics, with individual country focusses on the USA, UK, Germany, Korea, Brazil, India and China.
Other key statistics include:
- The total estimated global active internet audience is now 625m
- Mobile internet usage has now reached nearly a fifth of all active internet users. Seventeen percent now access internet on the move as well as at home, work or college
- Widgets continue to thrive with 34% of social network users installing them for their own use and 24% installing them to impress visitors to their profile page
“ Social media is a very fast-evolving landscape and one that’s taking an increasingly important role in consumers’ digital
lives. Brands that want to engage with consumers in these spaces need to understand how and where and why they are using the many different platforms that enable content creation and sharing.”“ Although the explosive growth of social media has attracted a lot of media coverage and hype only ‘Power to the People’—which began in 2006 and now has four waves of comparable data—has been able to track actual usage and consumer uptake,” says Glen Parker, Research Director at UM EMEA.
Universal McCann (UM) has included its own 10-step programme for successful social media:
- Listen to/observe what the target audience is doing in social media
- Create a “social object” that is relevant to the brand and of genuine interest
- Segment the target into tribes. Give them something they can join.
- Allow them to engage via their preferred platform of choice—create multiple interfaces to your community
- Make the experience better when shared
- Optimise your content for sharing—particularly via newsfeeds and Twitter
- Use paid-for media to get the ball rolling
- Take advantage of extreme targeting offered by social networks
- Make sure you have the resources to manage your community management and refresh the content.
- Track the results and optimise where necessary
The data in Wave 4 juxtaposed with the relatively low ad spend in social media shows that consumers are out in front of marketers. The opportunity for success in the relatively uncluttered landscape will never be higher.