The social-media landscape gets more crowded every year. Are the social-media tools and channels that last year were your best bets in terms of customer communication, brand exposure, traffic, and SEO still the most effective ways to realize your marketing goals? It's time to re-evaluate and, to do so, we bring you our 2012 CMO's Guide To The Social Landscape infographic.
In fact, this year's chart--for the first time interactive--shows that five communities have sprung up since last year's chart, and at least a couple of them already are booming. This year’s biggest boom town is Pinterest, which reached the 10 million monthly visitors level in less time than Facebook or Twitter did. The site, built around posted images of whatever strikes its members’ fancy, is also notable because of its demographics: It’s particularly popular among women and in the Midwest. For marketers, that means it offers a way to reach a group not usually considered part of the digerati. So far, it’s most useful for brand exposure, but it can also drive traffic to your site if your material gets “pinned” by others.
Google has staked a claim in the social landscape, too, with the launch of Google+. Google+ offers some unique ways to interact, including Circles and Hangouts (group video chats), which make it good for customer communication. And unlike Facebook Likes, positive ratings on Google+ can influence your brand’s search ranking. The site boasts more than 90 million users (though there are questions about how active they are), so it has become a “must have” for social marketers.
The other new communities in this year’s guide are SlideShare, Quora, and Instagram. The first has been likened to a YouTube for slide shows, making it a great way both to promote your brand and to communicate with customers. The communication is pretty much one-way, though.
Quora, founded by two former Facebookers, is based on questions for community members to answer. That makes it an excellent supplement to your content marketing efforts, since it’s an ideal place to share your expertise.
Instagram is another up-and-comer, showing some usefulness. It’s an iPhone app that lets you take photos of your products or services, apply interesting effects, and share them or put them on your Web site. It’s a form of social broadcast, in that the communication is one-way.
This year's chart was developed once again by 97th Floor, an SEO, social media, and viral infographics firm.
Please click here to view the 2012 CMO's Guide To The Social Landscape.
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