Highlighting the importance of incorporating social media into a company’s content marketing campaign, a new study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project revealed that social networking use has skyrocketed in the last six years.
Given the hype surrounding social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter and now, Google+, few will likely be surprised that these sites are popular. But according to the study, the percentage of internet users who access such networks has surged from 11 percent as of 2005 to 65 percent this year.
By comparison, most other top internet activities have remained fairly steady during the last decade. The percentage of people accessing email, for example, has dipped slightly from 93 percent in 2002 to 92 percent this year. Search engine use, meanwhile, has increased from 85 percent in 2002 to 92 percent.
While social networking use may not be as high as these other activities, its meteoric growth is staggering. Furthermore, its popularity shows no signs of slowing down. As a result, it will be important that businesses consider social media as part of their marketing strategies in order to stay ahead of the game.
Brafton recently reported that publishing social media content is an effective way of garnering attention and boosting brand exposure. According to a study from comScore, brands can maximize their fan reach by creating new content five to seven days out of the week.
