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There are all sorts of facts and figures flying around concerning social media and, on the surface of it, the numbers are quite significant:

Facebook

• Over 18m active Facebook users in the UK
• 50% of users return to the site on a daily basis 
• The average user visits twice a day 
• The average visit length is 25 minutes

YouTube 

• It is now the UK’s 2nd biggest search engine 
• An outstanding 15m unique visits clocked up every month
• Every minute, 15 hours of YouTube video is uploaded

Twitter 

• Estimated 6 million users 
• Subscriber base is 63% male
• Largest age demographic is 35-44 year olds 
• 14% are considered as ‘stable career’ types
• A quarter of users are high earners

LinkedIn 

• Over 2.5 million users in the UK 
• This is growing at an estimated 80,000 per month 
• 60 million users worldwide
• Spans 200 countries 
• Average user age 41

It has also been reported that spend on social media marketing will reach $3.1 billion by 2014.

Clearly it’s an important (new) media channel, but developing a suitable strategy to engage with these users requires a different mindset altogether from the traditional marketing approaches that have been used over the years.

The question is, how should a strategy be developed that integrates with current activities, aligns with business objectives and delivers tangible or quantifiable returns on investment? That’s the key – and that’s what I plan on addressing in subsequent posts.