Social Media Marketing Expected To Reach $1.2 Billion In 2007
As the number of users logging onto social networks increases, according to one estimate about 40% of the US population is estimated to have visited a social networking site on a monthly basis in 2007, the emphasis on social marketing is crossing new highs. By 2011 more than 80% of the US teen population and about 50% of the adult population is predicted to be active on social sites, which gives further indication that this is trend deserves greater attention.
The bulk of the social media marketing spend is estimated to be from the United States, where advertisers are expected to spend more than $1.6 billion in ‘08 according to this eMarketer study, while worldwide spends are expected to cross $2.2 billion.
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Filed under: Business, Digital culture, Statistics
While this is av ery interesting article, the use fo the term “social marketing” is misapplied!
What you describe is better labeled “social media” or “consumer generated content.”
Social marketing is a concept first explicated by Philip Kotler & Gerald Zaltman, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, in 1971, to describe the application of commercial marketing principles to health, social and quality of life issues. (Cf. Kotler, P. and Zaltman, G. (1971) “Social marketing: An approach to planned social change. J of Marketing. Vol. 35, pp. 3-12.)
Social marketing has been used around the globe by government and non-profit organizations to impact issues of societal well-being as diverse as breastfeeding, recycling and encouraging savings account. Not a flash in the pan phenomenon, there are numerous college curricula; six-plus textbooks; an international listserve with over 1,000 members; a dedicated journal; three major US or international conferences; at least six major US firms; centers in Scotland, Canada, Poland and Australia; governmental centers in the UK and the US; a national excellence collaborative in the US, all dealing with social marketing.
For more information you can visit the following web sites, among others: http://www.social-marketing.com; http://www.social-marketing.org; http://www.nsmcentre.org.uk.
Thanks Mike.
I just made the change.