Apple, Cisco, Nokia and other large enterprises recognise this trend and respond accordingly. Support for social network sites such as YouTube is being extended into mobile devices. Collaboration is even considered to become part of Microsoft Exchange solution.
Even companies that are not directly related to IT business should not ignore the power of social networking. Word of mouth becomes more important when selecting a new product or applying for service. People become more immune to ads and hits and more often chose a product that doesn’t have a surrounding hype, but is recommended by a circle of close friends.
It is also important not to underestimate size of the audience in social networks. Combined size of most popular social networks is over 820 million users. MySpace alone accounts for well over 100 million of them. That is really impressive, so before planning new ad campaign companies should think carefully about the primary targets for it.
Unfortunately this isn’t as easy as paying for TV ads. The situation is much more complicated.
First of all the market is very young and there’s lots to be discovered yet. Old marketing rules apply only partially or do not apply at all. One should also consider the audience of these networks. At the moment the cut-off point is at approximately 35-40 years, meaning that majority of the users are younger than 40.
Is it worth it? Absolutely. Not only it opens new user base, but the sooner you start, the better you will be prepared for the future. And as it looks now, the future is in social networks.
