Search and social marketing blog Single Grain recently created an interesting infographic showing how Facebook plays a role in our daily lives – and how life would be different without it.

From a marketing standpoint, Social Grain’s graphic shows that a whopping 70% of local businesses use Facebook for marketing. This is probably a massively helpful and valuable tool for local businesses. Just imagine, less than a decade ago it did not exist! Clearly Facebook marketing has caught on, and is fairly mainstream, from major global brands to your neighborhood small businesses.

Still not convinced about the power of content marketing? According to Social Grain, the average Facebook user creates 90 pieces of content per month… that’s an average of about 3 pieces of original content per day! Considering the number of Facebook users is now approximately 600 million (as of January 2011), this is an incredible statistic. At 600 million users, the “population” of Facebook has now surpassed the entire population of North America (344 million), exceeded the total number of internet users in all of Europe (475 million), and eclipsed the entire population of Russia (143 million) approximately 4 times. There are more people on Facebook today than there were in existence just 400 years ago (in the year 1600, the world population was 545 million).

With 770 billion page views per month, what would the world be like without Facebook?

Creating and optimizing original content for digital marketing is so important, as we’ve discussed before. Last week, Andrew Hanelly wrote a great post applying the lessons of legendary investor Warren Buffett to content development.

Buffett once said, “someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” As Hanelly explains, we need to remember that developing success with content marketing takes time! Specifically, no individual piece of content will “do the trick” by itself – a content marketing strategy takes time to grow and develop, gaining momentum, credibility, and trust among your audience or community. Even the smallest actions you take to improve your content marketing strategy could reveal the greatest benefits and rewards over time.

Buffett once said, “If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.” Hanelly expands, “don’t be afraid to experiment and innovate.” Recycling the same ideas from the past over and over again will not maintain success. It’s important to consider and utilize the best practices of content marketing, but not rely on the methods of the past. Rather, learning lessons from the past and applying them to today’s practices is valuable for developing new innovative and successful techniques.

Buffett once said, “Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can’t buy what is popular and do well.” For this point, Hanelly states, “Following the herd will ensure that you’re always just one of many… It’s true that you should fish where the fish are, but that’s also where all the other fishermen are.” This one is pretty easy to relate – don’t always follow the crowd, utilizing the same methods and channels as everyone else, or you’ll get lost in a sea of competitors.

Following up on our last post on small business’ social media usage, here’s an interesting statistic from The Future Buzz (Adam Singer). As it turns out, while Facebook and Twitter are valuable at driving traffic, they are only 2 of many sources – many, as in thousands, at least.

As Singer explains, “While Facebook and Twitter absolutely should have a place within a larger digital strategy, your marketing does not start and end with them. They’re outposts but not a hub… There is a huge mix of sites, networks and apps spanning every category that can become potential referrers… If you’re just spending time on Facebook and Twitter, you’re thinking small and missing a lot of opportunity.”

A couple of weeks ago, we explored how small businesses utilize their websites. Now, Postling and Mashable have conducted a study on how small businesses utilize social media.

According to the study, not surprisingly, Twitter and Facebook are the social networks most used by small businesses, with 78% utilizing Twitter and 75% Facebook. Twitter and Facebook usage is followed by LinkedIn, but at only 30%, with WordPress at 22%, Flickr at 13%, Tumblr at 11%, and Blogger at 10%. Obviously, Twitter and Facebook are the most used by a long shot. Similarly, Twitter and Facebook account for 97% of comments received across all platforms, so engagement is high, perhaps explaining their popularity. While Twitter drove the most comments, Facebook drove the most click-throughs on shared links.

See the infographic below for all of the findings from the study.

Digital marketing blog CMO.com and SEO firm 97th Floor teamed up to develop this extremely informative and valuable infographic guide to using social media for marketing. This 2011 version is an update to their previous 2010 version because, as CMO points out, “what worked this time last year might not work today, for this is a rapidly shifting landscape that must be mapped out regularly”. Rather than just present the spectrum of social media sites one can use (and there are a lot), CMO’s guide shows and explains which social media sites are best for which types of marketing tactics, such as customer communication, brand exposure, website traffic, and SEO. The result is brilliant. Of course, keep in mind what Mashable points out: “this chart gives you the tip of the iceburg when it comes to making the right choice for your own company’s or clients’ campaigns.” Still, this graphic is a helpful tool when considering or analyzing a social media campaign.

Click here or on the image for the full-size PDF!

As swissmiss said, “A shame this letterpress print by Joe Newton is sold out.” I would love one for the office!

As the new intern at Ashworth Creative I have been given the task of handling all things social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and this blog. Part of my daily routine consists of keeping up to date with all of our favorite bloggers. As I was reading through the hundreds of new posts this week, I came across an interesting trend: a battle over the life of social media.

According to the blog Duct Tape Marketing, social media doesn’t matter anymore. The blog is based off the Duct Tape Marketing book by John Jantsch, which claims to give simple, effective and affordable small business marketing tactics. John claims that small businesses are lacking in the adaptation of social media, agencies are over-adapting to social media, and in reality it’s all irrelevant. He goes on to say that the reason why social media doesn’t deserve the hype is because it doesn’t exist beyond a label. Social media was mislabeled, and really it is part of the new way of marketing; listening to and involving consumers. Social media tools, plans, agencies, departments, and experts are drawing focus away from marketing strategies and tactics. Instead of wasting resources on the hyped-up social media trend, marketers should be focusing on engaging prospects, customer experiences, collaboration with communities, and fusion between offline and online activity.

So right about now I feel pretty useless, but as I continue reading through the blogs the life of social media (and my job!) starts looking up.

I came across a post from Brian Solis in honor of National Small Business Week. Brian claims that social media in small business in anything but small. He discusses how social media is helping small, local, and emerging businesses increase visibility and value. People and businesses are connecting, consumers are participating, and customer-bases are unifying all from opportunities created by social media. Results from a study published by the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business and Network Solutions shows interesting statistics about social media adoption among U.S small businesses. According to the study, the rate of small businesses adopting social media has increased from 12% to 24% over the last year. More interesting statistics from the study: 61% of small business owners use social media to identify and attract new customers, 75% of those surveyed have a company page on a social networking site, and 45% expect to see profits from social media integration over the next 12 months.

Now I’m beginning to feel better about my love for social media (and the importance of my job!). I disagree with John; I think social media does still matter, and can be used to reach and start the conversation with your consumers. However, it is important to note that social media alone can’t be your only marketing strategy. Social media can be utilized as a supplement to other strategies such as search engine marketing, optimization, traditional advertising, public relations, and other marketing tactics. Brian found fascinating statistics about the use of social media in small businesses, and made an interesting point: social media help businesses and people connect. If your business doesn’t have an online presence, you might as well not exist. This online presence doesn’t just include social media, but a website, searchability, general contact information, and perhaps even some multimedia. The Internet is the first (and probably only) place consumers go for information.

Even Facebook is becoming a search engine, and not only for people but businesses too. According to Eli Goodman, a blogger for SearchEngineWatch.com, Facebook hosts 600 million U.S. searches per month! Currently the majority of searches on Facebook are for people, but Facebook can further develop their search technology so that when an individual searches “cars,” a list of their friends’ “liked” related pages such as BMW or Toyota appear. This type of social search doesn’t exist yet, but as consumer behavior changes we may see Facebook redefine search and become a key search market player.

All of this social media buzz may seem overwhelming to you, but have no fear Ashworth is here to help! I came across a blog post by Michele Linn from MarketingProfs Daily Fix . She gives some great tips to remember when you consider starting a social marketing plan:

(1) Start small. Don’t jump into every social media vehicle at once, you will be overwhelmed. Try setting small goals: check out other blogs first, try writing possible blog topics, observe how others are using Facebook and Twitter, do some research on your target market to see where they are interacting.

(2) Realize opportunity cost. Starting a social media campaign is time consuming, and sometimes hard work! You will have to spend hours researching, developing, and maintaining your presence.

(3) Get others to help you. Have a group of people at your business help maintain your online identity. Or hire outside marketing agencies (like us!) to design and develop a strategic online marketing plan. Once established, think about hiring someone internally to keep your online presence going and up-to-date.

(4) Commit. Once you have your website, social profiles, and online existence, you must keep it going. Engage and interact with your consumers, keep information current, and grow your customer base.

Want some more tips? I found a post on Mashable.com that describes 6 tips for effective recruiting on social media sites. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook, we are always posting useful and interesting information. What do you think about the importance of social media? Should marketers stop using these vehicles all together? Do you think social media is effective? What do you think could make social media more effective? Any comments, suggestions, questions? Let us know what you think, we love hearing from our fans! Until next time, keep tweeting, liking, and posting, it’s good for you :)

Do your children use social media? Are you a parent interested in an independent school? Are you an independent school considering social media? Social media may just change your world.

Let us briefly examine private schools. Independent school representatives strive to make a name for their school. The goal is for a family or future students to recognize the school as the authority and the best of the best in its sector. Each school has a mission, a unique history and a differentiation factor. Something that sets them apart from thousands of other independent schools.

Social media. Everyone’s doing it. Why not independent and private schools?

Social media is a way for schools to build trust and relationships among current students and families. The conversations will eventually trickle down to alumni, donors and prospective families and students. It’s free, so why not give it a try? Free in monetary terms, but not free in terms of time. Social media is a time investment, because any relationship investment demands time and patience.

By utilizing Facebook and Twitter, schools can learn to listen to communities of interest and then begin conversations with them. Social media will allow the natural flow of conversation among students, parents, alumni, donors and potential families and students. The flow of conversation may not start right away, but listening, responding, reminding and encouraging will help respective communities.

The natural flow of conversation in its essence can lead to a success or a disaster story. Schools will face both positive and negative comments. The negative comments may lead potential families and students to choose a competitor. BUT the negative comments WILL build a school’s character. Negative conversations should drive schools to fix the problem and become even better than before. It is a way to learn from your mistakes so to speak. The more refined character of the school is bound to attract others.

As mentioned before, some of the benefits of social media for private schools include:

Prospective parents are more likely to trust online reviews from peers than school’s marketing efforts

Conversations spread quickly

Social tools make school advocates highly influential

Natural flow of conversation will lead to discussion and raise awareness

Build quality relationships at no monetary cost

Some of the downfalls of social media for private schools:

Time consuming efforts

Proper response and management of negative conversations

Fighting the temptation to spam potential families and students with information

Takes patience and perseverance to see results

Is it a wild idea for schools to get involved in social media? Do you have any success stories? How about disasters? Do you think social media will damage a school’s reputation more than help?

We were recently provoked by Matt Cheuvront, from Life Without Pants to think about the reason why we started our blog here at Ashworth and what we want to accomplish. These are some of the words that came to our mind immediately: design. passion. creativity. genuine. teaching. relationships. learning. two way. These are some of the things we want to inspire in others. Of course, we want to learn and grow from our blogging journey as well. We aim to serve our customers better, refine our process and develop creative solutions for clients.

Design is truly at the heart of all we do at Ashwoth Creative. We want to build relationships to instill passion and design through those connections. Our goal is to ooze out creativity thus infecting everyone who approaches our blog and site.

“Creativity is an inborn capacity for thinking differently than most, seeing differently, and making connections and perceiving relationships others miss”

- Andy Rutledge,  “On Creativity”

Next step is to stay genuine and real through our blogging journey. We definitely think every blogger needs to build their blog on the cornerstone of honesty and authenticity. Would you take advice on how to prepare Mexican flautas from a grandma born and raised in Mexico or an American teenager? Chances are the grandma knows her stuff and makes authentic Mexican flautas. Staying genuine and authentic is bound to draw people in. This isn’t some formula for attracting readers, but we know that clients want to do business with genuine people. Same thing goes for blog followers and readers.

Relationships are all about being genuine, teaching and learning. This is another reason we started our blog. We desire to teach people and to learn from experts in the industry. It all comes down to the two-way communication. For us, a blog is a great way to reach out to people with the same passions and desires as Ashworth Creative.

So, now that you know what drives us to maintain a blog… What are some of the reasons you read blogs? What drives you to maintain a blog?

On the way home from school when I was a child, we would stop at a corner sweet shop. I knew my mum and dad liked the shopkeeper and his wife, he was dead friendly and always spoke to us kindly. Needless to say, I looked forward to eating his sweets and the short jaunts to his cozy shop.

Branding yourself is no different from the corner shop concept. As you and I know branding has more depth than a logo or corporate identity. It is you and the value you offer to your clients, the way you treat your employees and serve in the community and in this digital age, your presence online. Your brand embodies all that you are and do. Almost everyone is trying to implement some type of online branding strategy, some are doing brilliantly whereas others are not doing so well.

You could benefit from some online brand loyalty. Here’s why. Online consumers spent over $200 billion in 2007, according to www.bizreport.com. This means that the web is a great resource for loyal customers willing to spend money on your products and services. About 70% of American families are in a constant search for local products and services on the web, according to www.dotster.com.  So, start the branding.

Here are a few ideas to get you thinking about online branding strategies for your company:

Develop Consistent Content and Messages

It’s not a bad idea to take your current branding strategy and freshen it up a little – an inside look at your companies DNA or branding document should prove to be beneficial and will develop messages that can be used throughout all marketing mediums.

Take a Look in the Mirror

Synergizing your look online with your traditional marketing materials is a must (We’re hoping your current materials look stellar – otherwise it may be time for a brand overhaul). Confusion is not what you want when a loyal customer takes a gander at your site. We have clients that only use our SEO services and when we check the analytics data they have a high bounce rate as their website does not reflect the quality of their services or their printed materials. Food for thought.

Social Media Plan

The power of social media is getting stronger with Facebook leading the herd plus Twitter and YouTube hot on its heels. A social media commitment only makes sense. What is so great about social media you may ask? Remember the shopkeeper and how my dad knew him? He was in my dad’s network of friends, that’s what social media can do for you today. You can create communities of interest and connect with pockets of similar interests, which are made up of people situated locally or all over the world. Within these networking sites people get to know you, track your progress, the services and products that you offer. As we all know people like to buy from and patronize companies they know and like.

Enter the Blogosphere

Blogs are the new sitcoms. People tune in every week (sometimes everyday) to see what the newest happenings are in their favorite areas of interest. As a company, keeping a blog can help direct an influx of traffic to your site that would otherwise not find you. Blogs also give your company credibility in the field.  All in all the more knowledgeable you are in your area of expertise the more you have to offer to your clients, customers and patients.

Overall, a top-notch online branding strategy is essential to surviving in the long term. Just check back to the stats if you disagree. We’re looking forward to hearing your comments, suggestions and ideas.

http://www.buzzlogic.com/blog/2009/08/the_great_brand_chase.html

http://www.clickz.com/3633673