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Web Spiders Ltd

15 Feb 2010

Web Spiders Press Pack

Web Spiders
Stand A40

Press Pack 2010

• Social media marketing is changing the face of business. Where do you stand?
• Companies arm themselves with social media marketing tools.
• Power your business with Web Spiders' Social Media Services.


Web Spiders (www.webspiders.com) is a 12-year old niche software consulting company with over 200 employees. Its focus and mission is TO drive its clients' revenues and profitability BY providing product development and digital marketing services THROUGH a best-shore delivery model. The solutions provided by Web Spiders address the Digital 3C needs of its Fortune 2000 customers across Content, Community and Commerce.

Social media marketing is changing the face of business. Where do you stand?

A recent Forrester Research report “Consumer Behavior Online” reveals that the number of social networking users has doubled over the previous 2 years. “Engagement with the online channel has deepened, as evidenced by the widespread adoption of such activities as social networking,” says Jackie Anderson, Forrester’s Consumer Insights Analyst.

The report indicates that 55.6 million people (i.e., about 30% of the US population) visit social networks regularly. In 2007, this figure was just 15% of the adult population, and had grown by only 3% till 2007. Evidently, the growth in social networking after 2007 has been spectacular. Leading social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are growing rapidly. Social networking, according to Forrester’s report, is now more popular than instant messaging and reading blogs. Consider the latest figures –

• 350 million – The number of Facebook users, with 175 million logging in everyday. Out of these over 65 million access Facebook through mobile devies.
• 75 million – Twitter users, 15 million of whom are regular and active participants.
• 50 million – LinkedIn users.
• 14 million – Number of articles in Wikipedia.

Comparing it with last year's figures would make the enormity of the progress of social media clearer.

• Facebook had 250 million around six months back and was available in 50 langauges compared to 70 at present.
• Twitter had around 6-10 million users till a few months back.
• LinkedIn has been adding nearly a million new members every month since July/August 2008.

Now how does it all affect business? Consider the following –

• Facebook users share over 3.5 billion pieces of content every week. The content can be in the form of blog posts, news stories, images and web links among others.
• Nearly 70% of bloggers discuss various brands on their blogs and 38% post product reviews.
• Around 44% of Twitter users have said that they have recommended products in their tweets.
• Approximately 20% tweets revolve around queries or information about various products.
• Around 46% of Facebook users have said that they may discuss or recommend products.
• More than 40% of Facebook/Myspace users have added a brand as "friend".
• Over 700,000 pages on Facebook belong to local businesses.

Compare this with findings about traditional marketing media –

• Only 14% consumers said they trusted advertisements
• TV campaigns that were able to generate positive ROI made up only 18% of all commercials.

According to latest reports people are increasingly relying upon peer reviews and ratings for their purchase decisions.
• Research done by NetShops has shown that products that were supported by reviews showed 26% higher sales.
• Reviewed products also had lower return rates.
• PetCo allowed its users to sort product search results by user ratings, as a result of which it achieved a 41% increase in sales.
• Similarly Bass Pro Shops have reported that users who checked out their Top Rated products where 59% more likely to buy.
• Almost 90% customers trust peer recommendations.

User generated content in the form of reviews, ratings and discussions are rich in keywords and hence lead to improved SEO. In fact links to user generated content make for a significant 25% of the search results for top 20 global brands. All this clearly show that user reviews are percieved as trustworty by potential customers and play a significantly influential role in purchase decisions. Amazon and Youtube are shining examples of how user ratings can influence the behaviors of masses of people across the world. Earlier this system of user generated ratings and reviews was used with great success by travel and leaisure industry. It helped these industries to use independent views in building trust and generating business. However the effectiveness of ratings and reviews system is not limited to the above industries and lately many companies from other industries have started implementing such systems. The latest entrant being the UK based retailer Ocado which has recently introduced customer reviews and ratings for grocery products.

This social media is rapidly changing the landscape of marketing. Companies that earlier relied on traditional avenues of marketing now have to rethink and overhaul their marketing strategies. They can no longer rely on flashy ad campaigns and well-written press releases to convince customers to buy their products and services. Social media has rewritten the rules and the need of the hour for companies is to work upon connecting with customers directly and earn their trust through transparent and honest communication. Web Spiders helps its clients with a meticulously planned and comprehensive approach towards social media marketing. Among other things it ensures that the clients' products/services are systematically rated and reviewed by users to achieve their ultimate potential.



Companies Arm Themselves with Social Media Marketing Tools

Recently Econsultancy, a global community of digital marketing and ecommerce professionals surveyed over a thousand marketers from US and UK and came out with the following findings about corporate marketing plans in 2010 –

• Companies that intend to increase their marketing budgets in 2010 - 46%
• Companies that plan to increase investment in digital marketing channels - 66%
• Companies that plan to increase their investments in social media marketing – 70%
• Companies that plan to increase their budgets for mobile marketing – 56%
• Projected increase in investments in digital marketing - 17%
• Projected share of digital marketing channels in the overall marketing budget - 24%
• Companies that are increasing their budgets for print media – 17%
• Companies that plan to decrease their investment in print media – 41%

The above figures clearly show a shift from traditional marketing channels to digital marketing channels which include social media. The downturn in the economy has increased pressure on marketers to reduce waste and maximize Return on Investment on marketing efforts. To solve the problem of growing budgetary constraints and falling consumer demand, companies are increasingly turning to social media marketing. This was indicated by Aberdeen Group’s report, “The ROI on Social Media Marketing: Why it Pays to Drive Word of Mouth”.

According to the report, marketers are finding it “necessary to curtail or completely eliminate investments in traditional marketing channels” and are increasingly developing tools and methodologies to increase marketing ROI by listening to their prospects and customers, and learning from them. Companies are trying to leverage the power of social media by tapping into the rising tide of consumers flocking to blogs, social networking sites (like Facebook and Twitter) and wikis. Aberdeen’s research indicates that more than 60% of the companies surveyed (defined as best-in-class) had plans to increase their marketing spend through social media.







Power your business with Web Spiders' Social Media Services

Web Spiders offers the full range of social media marketing services through its sister concern, Pi Social Media. Web Spiders helps in promoting businesses through major social media channels using social media platforms, viral content, online communities, news aggregators and social influencers. We use the whole range of social media tools to get maximum Return on Investments for our clients.

These tools include –

• Business Networking
• Analytics/Measurement
• Social Bookmarking
• Blogging
• Microblogging
• Video/Photos
• Aggregator/RSS
• Mobile/Telephony
• PR/News Releases
• Social Networking
• Miscellaneous

Pi Social Media is not just a portal to our Social Media Marketing services; it is also a one-stop resource for Social Media enthusiasts. Here you can find an exhaustive directory of all the major social media tools and platforms. You can also get an in-a-nutshell idea about how Social Media Marketing can revolutionize your business, the latest stats showing how it betters traditional marketing approaches, and what kind of returns you can expect from your campaigns.

If you’re confused about the seemingly unending variety of tools and techniques available, Pi Social Media has an Engagement Section that will guide you towards developing a comprehensive Social Media Plan depending on your specific requirements and tailored according to various variables like industry, product/ service, objectives, target audience, timeframe, etc.

To learn how Social Media can help your business, please visit www.webspiders.com/pisocialmedia