New survey has incredible results and news for businesses of any size

In a global study conducted by STUDYLOGIC LLC, surveying 4,204 people, 39% of correspondent’s said they “could not live without” social media sites. Of course, people were living before social media came along less than a decade ago, but they’ve become completely dependent in recent years. Almost half the respondents consider social media a vital component of their lives (somewhere up there with air, food, and water).

What does that mean for small business entrepreneurs? It means that companies can jump into a “vital” form of communication that people have become somewhat addicted to. People are using social media all of the time, according to this study. Four-fifths of respondents said that they checked in on social networking sites multiple times during the day, and one-third of respondents said they checked in several times an hour.

Before meeting a new business contact, more than half of the people surveyed admitted they’d done a little “snooping”. Of course, it’s hardly snooping when you’re looking at public social networking profiles, especially when everyone does it these days. Also, 60% of respondents claimed they had refused to hire a candidate due to a negative impression from a social media profile. As a small business entrepreneur, you’d better be careful what your social networks say about you: they can make or break a deal before it’s even begun.

Also, social media isn’t just in the office or at home anymore, it’s out on the road. 60% of travelers use social media to get in touch with friends or family when they’re traveling. 64% use social media to make their plans, and in the 25-34 age bracket 76% use social media to make their travel plans (um, if you’re a travel company, you’d better be tapping into Twitter and Facebook!). And, regardless of whether or not you’re a travel company, social media travels (literally) far and wide, and you’d better be on deck.

The STUDYLOGIC LLC survey demonstrates how widespread social media has become, and it’s good news for small businesses who know how to effectively harness the power of social media. Think about it: according to this study, social media has become a mainstream form of communication between friends and family (beyond telephone and email!), and if your business makes a genuine, honest effort to use social media well, you can enter this intimate form of communication. And, everybody is already hanging out there, all the time.

In July, Facebook surpassed Yahoo in popularity, and in August, it surpassed Google. Last month, web surfers spent a total of 10% of their time online on Facebook, adding up to 41.1 million minutes. On Google’s sites (including Google.com and YouTube), people spent a total of 37.7 million minutes, which was about 9% of total time online.

Growth in the last year has been exponential. In August of last year, users only spent 5% of Internet time on Facebook; that means usage has nearly doubled. There are now more than 500 million active users on Facebook, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg predicts it will keep growing. He says it may even reach one billion. Really? Well, considering that most users are US based (as are the statistics in this recent comScore study),  it’s possible that Facebook could expand internationally with outrageous success.

Also, in 2012, Facebook will likely go forward with an IPO, offering the first sale of stock to the public. The company is currently valued at $25 billion, and expects to see sales of about $1.4 billion this year. Facebook has become a HUGE platform for marketing and social media.

So, in the meantime, what does it mean for you? It means that social networking  is more important than ever. Many of your potential clients probably have a Facebook page, and they likely spend a lot of time perusing Facebook. In other words: small business entrepreneurs should join the trend and spend some time on Facebook, too.  As long as your are ready for the commitment in time!

Emarketer.com recently published a study about “What Social Followers Want”, showing us exactly this information.  It is well-known in the social media sphere that social media users primary motivation for getting into the social media pool is getting coupons and deals. In this kind of economic climate, this is understandable. But did you know that entertaining and funny content also drives people to “follow” you? Check out this chart on Emarketer. It pretty much tells us in a nutshell what can make you popular in social networks.

As you can see, there is a segment of the users who are genuinely interested in getting updates and news about your current products. It is also important to be “funny or insightful.” Remember, it is all about providing value to your customers, whether it is in the form of discounts and deals, new information about your product or industry, and sheer entertainment.

So Tweet, Facebook and blog away! Just make sure you are up-to-date, entertaining and relevant. There is so much content on the web right now, that it is so important to provide value in the messages you send. Your social media footprint is a big part of your online thumbprint.  You want to make a good impression.

Social media makes it easier than ever for you to find people who find the same interest, share ideas and connect online, and eventually make commitments to attend offline support groups, events or conferences. One such website is http://www.meetup.com. Many social media leaders and entrepreneurs post free events on meetup.com, covering many major locations throughout the country. There are 179,000 meetups in over 11,507 cities throughout the US.

Straight from the site, this is what meetup is all about:

Meetup is the world’s largest network of local groups. Meetup makes it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face. More than 2,000 groups get together in local communities each day, each one with the goal of improving themselves or their communities.

Meetup’s mission is to revitalize local community and help people around the world self-organize. Meetup believes that people can change their personal world, or the whole world, by organizing themselves into groups that are powerful enough to make a difference.

Signing up for a meetup.com membership is free, fast and easy, all you need is an email address. After signing up, you can then start looking for groups that meet within your area that would be help you as your grow your knowledge. Just click on the button that says “Find a meetup group” on the upper left corner to get started. Here are some examples of meetups that might be helpful to you. Check out this link and start browsing through the many social media marketing meetups in the country.

Practical Social Media is dedicated to the success of your social media marketing for your small business. Please continue to check out the Practical Social Media blog. We will continue to publish and share social media marketing tips, updates, news and information that helps you out in your social media strategy and implementation.