In the last few months we’ve seen more and more politicians embrace the world of online social media and use it to engage with their voters and gain visibility for themselves. Barack Obama can be found on Twitter and Friendster, while John Edwards is also twittering and on Second Life. Hilary Clinton, who can also be found on many social networks, has followed in the footsteps of Tony Blair and turned to the YouTube community to help her choose her campaign song.

Fox Interactive Media (FIM) recently released a series of research findings from the first comprehensive study examining both the growth and marketing power of online social networks. The study was conducted in partnership with Isobar and Carat USA. It incorporated feedback from approximately 3,000 U.S. Internet users, as well as MySpace clients for in-depth case studies. Results from the study, show the following:

• Social networks have caused a fundamental shift in the way people interact with each other and with media. 70%+ of Americans 15-34 are actively using social networks
• Brands such as adidas and Electronic Arts attributed more than 70% of their marketing ROI to the “Momentum Effect” a new metric coined by Marketing Evolution, quantifying the “pass along” power consumer-to-consumer communication.
• 40%+ of social networkers said they use social networking sites to learn more about brands or products that they like
• 28% said at some point a friend has recommended a brand or product to them.
• U.S. social networkers chose interacting on sites such as MySpace as their favorite activity online or offline, ahead of television viewing and on par with cell phone usage.
• Social networkers spend on average more than seven hours per week on social networking sites. More than 31% of online social networkers claim they spend more time on the Web in general after starting to use a social network. They were also more inclined to engage in other entertainment media and activities including listening to music, playing games and talking on the cell phone.
• Social networkers use the sites not just to improve their online lives, but also to make their offline lives richer and more exciting. 48% said they are having more fun in life in general and 45% said their lives are more exciting as a result of spending time networking online.

So there you have it. The marketing power of social media is growing at an extremely fast rate. Many brands have already figured it out and are using these social channels to talk to and understand their customers. See these examples:

What about your brand? Have you figured it out yet? If you haven’t yet started using these tools to interact with and expose your brand to the world, you’ll soon be left out in the cold. This is an amazing time for marketers to spread their word out there in an original and creative manner. Embrace these new tools and use them. Remember though that each of these channels constitutes a community. Do not just try to “sell” your product. Be unique, offer something different, and listen to what those in the community have to say.

Technorati tags: social media, social network, barack obama, john edwards, hilary clinton, twitter, tony blair, youtube, fim, isobar, carat, myspace, adidas, ea, marketing evolution, brand, web, nintendo, nike, wrike

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 at 12:14 pm and is filed under Branding, Promotion, Social Media, Social Networks, Web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.