Social Media: What Does Opportunity Look Like?

I stumbled on this graphic and have just been in awe at the sheer magnitude of the scope, the activity, and the opportunities that are obvious in this pictorial.  Click on it to grasp the sheer size of the web.

Then I matched that up to the statistics related above.  Now, forget about the $5.5 million dollar marketing budgets or the $165,000 spent on average on social media. 

68% of on line retailers would not be hurt if Facebook fell off the face of the earth today!  That tells me right there that most people in marketing do not understand social media; which isn't a real brilliant statement on my part, because honestly, they are marketers. 

To be successful at social media, one needs to understand social psychology rather than psychology!  Only 11% of consumers who purchase at a website are also Facebook Fans, only 2% of sales are attributed to social media, and only 1% of retailers found Facebook successful at customer acquisition. 

The basic reason for this is because outside of sales, promotions, and free shipping what else do you do with social media?  That is NOT social media!

My vote for "best in class" social media campaign is Door County Tea & Coffee, Co. and I read every single post, in fact the one post last week, featured below, had me wanting to jump in my car and drive the 14 hours to Door County just to sit on the blue chairs in the photo:

Ok. Now that you have seen the picture, close your eyes and think…..”there’s no place like Door County…there’s no place like Door County”… then imagine yourself sitting in one of our adirondack chairs out front with your favorite coffee!

Hopefully everyone out there can get up here this week! We are expecting amazing weather all week as we lead up to the July 4th holiday weekend! In fact, yesterday and today were PERFECT!! Mid 70’s, light breeze, few clouds...ahhh!  So, hurry on up, then kick back and relax! Everyone at the cafe misses you...

I have been to Door County numerous times and will be visiting the end of this month; oh, and I will be sitting on those chairs!  I might even recommend that this family run small business actually sell their social media talent to firms willing to budget $165,000 a year for social advertising.

People share on Facebook, they do not shop.  We have done a few test programs on Facebook but I never expected to get a sale or a customer, I was not disappointed in regards to sales but the contests did generate customers;  I always believed that until we had screen printed goods that reflected a life style there was no real benefit in social media for us:  No one is going to "like" a plain old big and tall tee shirt!  Social media is about interaction, and no one interacts with a product, but they will interact with the lifestyle that the product represents....so focus on a lifestyle! 

Of course lots of folks will hype the benefits of social media advertising; its obviously a source of income for a lot of people, but just look at yourself and how you use social media!  Games will work, contests work...but just to be on Facebook because that is what everyone else is doing is really stupid:  If you don't understand social media and you are disappointed at your results blame yourself; or you could hire me and I will double your current results!  :)

One will never generate a dime on Facebook, but you could lose out on millions if you don't participate in social media; but understand social media before you start.