Social Media Facts and Trends 2013

Via jeffbullas.com -- very worthy to follow if you're interested in social media marketing -- a summary of a recent study by GlobalWebIndex of social media facts and statistics: "12 Awesome Social Media Facts and Statistics for 2013." See the piece for for the full summary -- and of course try to find the original report somewhere at GlobalWebIndex -- but here are the twelve:

1. Google+ is catching up to Facebook in terms of popularity 
2. But Facebook is still the largest social network (approximately 50% of the world's internet users are active users)
3. Pinterest is the fastest growing social network
4. LinkedIn is the most popular for older users 
5. More old people are using social networks
6. Google+ dominates on monthly visits [notably skewed because Gmail use generates hits on Google+)
7. Facebook dominates social media engagement 
8. Facebook usage is highest in North America 
9. Asia-Pacific dominates the social media landscape generally 
10. Uploading photos is the most popular activity on Facebook
11. Twitter is about daily activities
12. Google+ is a lot to do about photos

Social Media Marketing for Colleges and Universities

(See http://www.william-garrity.com/blog/2013/1/3/social-media-trends.html for previous post concerning http://www.jeffbullas.com/.) 

Allison Rice writes in http://www.jeffbullas.com/ about how colleges and universities should use social media for marketing. Her lessons -- share your good-news stories promptly, share a variety of things, involve your readers (through commenting, tagging, etc.) -- ring true. 

4 Social Media Marketing Lessons From the Top Colleges 

Harvard University’s official Facebook page currently boasts over 2,437,000 ‘Likes.’ Lest that sound like just another big number, consider that the university has only 22,800 students. Still, of course, Harvard is a widely recognized name.

But so are Reebok, Miller Lite and The Avett Brothers (all of whom are quite popular with college-aged Americans and trail Harvard in Facebook followers).

Not surprisingly, Harvard sits atop a list of the ‘Top 100 Social Media Colleges,’ compiled and maintained by StudentAdvisor.com. After all, Facebook got its start there. They’re joined at the top by other schools like Columbia and Stanford, the University of Kentucky, Louisiana State, and John Hopkins University.

When you consider that most students applying for college today have grown up with a smartphone in their hands, at least throughout their high school years, it makes sense why colleges would be putting such an emphasis upon online social networks. The most recent stats show that two-thirds of prospective students check out their potential schools on their YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook channels during their decision-making process.

But if you’re not a college, and you’re not planning on going back to school, what does that mean for you? As colleges step to the forefront of the social media marketing movement, there are more than a few lessons any blogger, marketer, or small business can draw from their example: 

Story continues at link. 

Marketing in 2013, Part 2

[Continues that posted about at http://www.william-garrity.com/blog/2013/1/11/marketing-in-2013.html --"CREATIVE FORECAST: HOW MARKETING WILL CHANGE IN 2013" ] 

Fast Company's Co.Create -- covering ". . . the converging worlds of branding, entertainment, and tech" -- captures marketers' visions for how marketing will change in 2013. 

HOW MARKETING WILL CHANGE IN 2013: THE STRATEGIC FORECAST 

BY: CO.CREATE STAFF 

www.bing.com, April 2Part two of a two-part series: Brand strategists weigh in on the social, cultural, and media factors that will change marketing this year and beyond. 

In Part One of our 2013 marketing forecast, we asked a number of high-level creative types for their educated predictions on how their jobs and the marketing landscape would change in 2013.
Now, we’re passing the mic to the strategists. These are the people who are said to represent the consumer in the marketing process--they’re the masters of research, the experts in media and culturethat are responsible for generating brand insights and opportunities. As they’re steeped in knowledge of consumer behavior, we wanted to add their big-picture perspective to our look at what the near future of advertising may hold. 

We asked them what were the big shifts in consumer and media trends that would impact marketing and the wider cultural trends feeding these changes. They’ve got a lot on their minds, apparently, so settle in for a long and enlightening read.

Folks interviewed include --

• Lee Maicon, 369i -- we're all data nerds, big data will rule marketing, collective intelligence (search and recommendation algorithms) 
• Jim Stengel, P&G -- people/consumers will want "coherence, impact, joy" 
• Zach Foster, Droga5 -- people want "social validation," to be liked, to share recommendations, to be rewarded for improving themselves and the world around them 
• Tom Naughton, Droga 5 -- consumers will punish companies that don't respect people's privacy 
• Jonah Bloom, Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners -- brands have the opportunity to be the major force for progress in improving our society and environment 
• Lindsey Allison, CP+B -- it's a user-centered world, not a media-centered world; users are in control, not the media 
• John Roberts, Partners + Napier -- we are "sprinting to a paralysis of too much choice" 
• Flora Proverbio/Regina Campanin, Del Campo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi Buenos Aires -- mobility! 

-- and a dozen more. 

Relative Strengths and Weaknesses of Leading Social Networks

Via PCMag.com's Stephanie Mlot, a summary of and infographic about the leading social networks' -- Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Linkedin -- comparative growth, monthly visitors, and marketing ROI. 

"Infographic: Which Social Networks Make the Grade?" 

January 14, 2013 

Social media hit the roof in 2012, but how did each individual network compare to its rivals? 

Now that the dust has settled on the year that gave us Pinterest, a Facebook-Instagram acquisition, and even the news that MySpace is resurfacing, marketing software provider Pardot has graded Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

"With so many social networks to manage and likely more on the way, it is important to understand the growth rates, visitor counts, optimal uses, and strengths and weaknesses of the major social networks to determine where to exert your limited time and resources," Pardot said in a blog post. 

Based on each network's growth, monthly visitors, and estimated marketing return-on-investment (ROI), Twitter comes closest to earning straight A's. The micro-blogging site scored a B-minus in terms of growth, but took home an A-minus in monthly users and a solid A for ROI. Boasting 37 million monthly visitors, Twitter is second only to Facebook's massive following, but its 13 percent growth over the year beat Facebook's 4 percent drop. 

Summary continues and full infographic at link. 

Marketing in 2013

Fast Company's Co.Create -- the title's site covering ". . . the converging worlds of branding, entertainment, and tech" -- captures marketers' visions for how marketing will change in 2013. 

"CREATIVE FORECAST: HOW MARKETING WILL CHANGE IN 2013" 

In part one of a two-part series, creative professionals forecast how tech and social changes will impact marketing and how they are going to up their creative game in 2013.

Anyone working in or observing the marketing world (and reading Co.Create) can predict a few of the bigger themes and issues that will be of increased relevance in the coming year. The continued growth of mobile, the explosion of data, the evolution of content marketing--all factors that will shape the marketing landscape in 2013 and beyond.

But how will these issues actually play out in the industry and what impact will they have on brand creativity? And what are the other big trends that will define marketing this year?

We asked several advertising players from different disciplines and creative companies to weigh in on what they thought would have the biggest impact on their job in the coming year. Part one, below, we include responses from ad "creatives" and marketers. 

Continued at link. 

It's all about mobile, multiple platforms, more screens, BYOD, social, big data. . .