Social Networks: They’re What Every Local Business Is Participating In! Or At Least They Should Be.

With Social Networks on the rise, many other online activities are losing popularity or not getting as much attention as they use to, such as reading and composing email, and playing online games. With this being a proven fact, it would be beneficial for any local business to join in on the social networking.

Statistics show that social networks attract people of every age. The statistics by age are as follow;

• 12-17 YO = 81%
• 18-24 YO = 90%
• 25-34 YO = 82%
• 35-44 YO = 58%
• 55-64 YO = 52%
• 65+ = 31%

In 2009, approximately 52% of the United States population used social networks on the internet regularly. Since then, the amount of online social network users increased approximately 11%. Compared to other online media, social networking is among the highest used. Also because of social networks, emailing has begun to decline, and the younger generations use it the least among everyone else.

With all the positive usage for online social networking, local businesses and companies have come to realize that this kind of networking can positively affect and influence business. By advertising and promoting items and offers, conversations held on social media influences the purchasing of products. Statistics show that approximately 63% of companies who use social media explain that it’s increased their local business marketing effectiveness. On top of that, there have been other benefits as well.

U.S. small and medium local businesses are currently using a variety of social networks to help promote their business. The statistics on what social networks these local businesses are using are as follow:

• Facebook – 70%
• Foursquare – 9%
• Gowalla – 3%
• Linkedin – 58%
• MySpace – 19%
• Twitter – 40%
• Yelp – 32%
• YouTube – 27%

Many businesses claim that the social media they use play a very important role in their active sales. Using social networks allows them to easily advertise products and get them know to people using the social networks. Many local businesses that aren’t well know claim that they have become more popular due to the fact that they’ve been using these social networks. Business to Business marketers have found that social media has helped improve search results by driving inbound links, increasing page rank, influencing organic SEO, and influencing keyword purchases. Companies claim that Facebook alone generates the most conversations between businesses and consumers about products and updates and so forth. Continued on the next page

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