Are you Tending Your Socialscape?
By Tim Ward I
n the past month, I have had the pleasure of reading seven articles explaining why busi- nesses need to embrace social media and the
mobile marketing landscape, otherwise known by the new buzz word socialscape. These articles covered a diverse range of topics ranging from the pros and cons of Twitter, to developing a smartphone app, QR codes usage and cloud computing. Interestingly, what makes this so noteworthy is this that
these articles were not in Time, Newsweek or Fortune mag- azines. They were all in industry trade magazines or online e-newsletters targeted to heating and cooling contractors and engineers. As we all know, many manufacturers in the HVAC marketplace and related industries believe that social media may be fine for Oprah and consumer products but that their target audiences don’t really use it. They swear up and down that people who work in the “field” don’t spend time on a computer and don’t have time to engage in social media. Unfortunately for these companies, that simply is not the
case. Thousands of engineers, contractors, facility mangers and a variety of professionals in all walks of life and all age groups now prefer to get their information and communi- cate with colleagues via social media channels. They also access much of this information on their smartphones, so having a traditional computer is no longer a requirement. In fact, a host of very cool mobile apps now make it easier for contractors and engineers to do their jobs more effectively, regardless of whether they are calculating pump curves in a commercial building or replacing a pump in a house.
Social Media Stats
• 750 million active Facebook users. • 140 million tweets are sent each day. • There are > two billion video views on YouTube every 24 hours. • More than 100 million professionals use LinkedIn worldwide. • 80% of social media marketers use platforms to increase brand awareness.
In fact, mobile marketing is becoming so ubiquitous, at
such a rapid pace, that it will soon have a profound impact on nearly every professional. Consider these facts: • Social media usage on mobile devices continues to
grow, with over 50 million users projected in 2012; a 27% increase from 2010. • In two years, more people will have smartphones than
there are home computers. • As of October 2010, 69% of U.S. smartphone owners
had downloaded a mobile app. • The average number of downloads per smartphone downloader is 27. • It’s estimated that well over 500,000 apps are available for mobile use (including all brands, such as Blackberry,
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Apple and Android). • QR codes on smartphones will continue to grow in pop-
ularity as a way to drive product sales. • The U.S. is the second largest mobile advertising spending market globally, after Japan • The U.S. 2011 mobile advertising forecast is $1.24 bil-
lion, growing to $5 billion in 2015. • Users search mobile websites to check for price com-
parisons (56%), product comparisons (46%), product infor- mation (35%) and product reviews (27%). • Users of location-based services such as Gowalla and Foursquare increased roughly 200% in 2010, with similar percentages predicted by end of 2011. For those of you that are already active in social media,
you know how important it is to engage with your col- leagues, clients and customers. If you’re like me, you are probably engaging with various business groups and learn- ing insightful solutions. I’m still surprised, however, at the number of PHP companies that don‘t have an effective social media campaign in place. For the one-person business, social media offers a great opportunity, finally affording the small time entrepreneur the ability for mass market exposure with no more cost involved than the time invested in learning how to utilize the tools effectively. Compare that to the entrenched nature of large organizations with large budgets, and it’s no won- der that scrappy and flexible small businesses have embraced social media far faster, and more wholeheartedly, than their larger counterparts. While there are exceptions, the numbers speak to smaller companies adopting the socialscape at a faster pace. The truth is, larger companies are slowly starting to
embrace social media; this trend will probably begin to snowball at some point in the near future. But, no matter what size the company is, a strategic socialscape plan is critical for reaching company goals. Social media presents two primary choices: get involved
or be left behind. You wanna play, then integrate. From McDonald’s to Emerson and from ITT to Starbucks, a host of B2C and B2B companies have successfully broken ground in the early uses of social media; 2012 will be the year these and many other companies will expand and integrate social media on a global basis. Although many companies are finding success with Continued on page 58
October 2011
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