Consumer trends making it hard for businesses to keep up

There was a time when being in big business meant having access to technology to keep ahead of your consumers with the power to ‘wow’ them with technological advancements. These days, consumers have access to cutting edge technology and the gap between consumer and business technology is narrowing.

With Facebook and YouTube page views increasing by as much as 40% over the past two years, its no wonder we are seeing an increase in businesses having a strong social networking presence. The USC Annenburg School’s Digital future report ,2007 revealed that 80% of people saw the Internet as the most valuable and trusted source of information, over all other types of media such as television, newspapers and radio.

The report going on to prove that the king of social networking sites is Facebook. With 250 K new registrations daily and more than 50% of their users returning every day, it has become a must-have for businesses.

Facebooks success would have to be at least partly due to its early acknowledgement that the user could change and add applications to the social networking site that would only increase user activity and give individuals the power to customise their profiles. By giving the user the power, they opened up social networking sites to a whole new world of personalised features with an incredible potential for successful and targeted advertising.

When comparing Facebook and MySpace, we can see why consumers prefer using Facebook. Firstly, there are less intrusive ads on the web page. The ‘friends’ section of the page is prominent and stands out. It also offers a strong sense of security for users. People can share their lives with their peers and don’t have to worry about spammers.

Widgets are fun mini applications that can be added to your web page, social profile or blog. These widgets can link your page to other favourite sites.Another goldmine for businesses on social networking sites. For example, lets look at BBC News. They have their own Facebook and also clips within YouTube. By not relying solely on their website and having a direct link to their social networking sites on their web page, they increase the amount of people who view their news features. Their presence is strengthened by having a social networking presence.

When we look at who is purchasing what online, it is no surprise that websites like Amazon.com have come up with a way to show browsers what items people bought after they purchased specific products and where they went to on the site after they purchased. There are also customer reviews and discussions so people can ask what others think of certain products. As we all know, no form of advertising beats customer referral!

Facebook is a business’s heavily artillery if you know how to use it. One of Facebook’s features is a mini-feed. It gives you a list of the current Facebook activity by those who are your friends on Facebook. So if someone became a fan of your site, anyone who is friends with the person who became a fan will be notified. When they log in it will read, ‘John became a fan of OfferMe.’ If a friend has reviewed a restaurant, it would state, ‘Alex has reviewed yummy restaurant and has given it 4 stars.’

Every day more and more businesses log on to Facebook and take a vital business step and set up an account. Nutella is a prime example of how you can use your Facebook page to make your customers interact with your brand. www.OfferMe.com.au now have a Facebook page and we encourage people to come join us and be apart of our network. It is constantly being updated with news feeds and images so check it out! We also welcome you to post your own comments and images on our site.

Social networking sites for business is not just a trendy fad. The type of interaction between users on Facebook is priceless. It’s true what they say, money can’t buy everything.

Author: Katie Preston