Now is the Time for Social Media

By this time, it's old news. What you say about your company, product or service is less important than ...what consumers are saying about you.

Welcome to the world of social media, where consumers have more power!

I read several new reports recently that seem to support this. Yesterday I wrote about the latest Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey.

• 90% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know
• 70% trust recommendations from consumer opinions posted online.

They trust others more than the advertisements. Advertisements that companies spend megabucks on!

An article in DirectMag discussed a recent Forrester Research Inc. report about marketing budgets being cut by 20% or more. However, there's good news regarding social media.

• 47% of CMOs are increasing their spending on social media
• 44% are increasing spending on web site development
• 40% will spend more money on online advertising

The article also mentioned that 1/3 of the CMOs indicated they hadn't spent money on social media but ...will now.

It's time to engage with your consumers!