Building Killer Social Networks
Last night I attended the “How to Build a Killer Social Network” panel discussion hosted by the American Marketing Association. The event, held at the Boston Exchange Center, was keynoted by John Moore, Director of Ideas and Innovation at Mullen Media Hub.
In his presentation about “The State of Social Networking,” Moore delved into the major players in the social network space and discussed their accomplishments and outlooks. Ning.com is one site that was mentioned and which caught my attention, in particular. Through the Ning platform, users can actually create their OWN social networks. Companies are using it to create internal networks for their employees, as well as brand-centric networks where fans can rally around a brand, cause, person, or product.
Moore also gave an outside perspective on these sites from an investment standpoint. He said that Facebook, for example, was recently assessed as being worth a whopping $15 billion and continued on to say that the “investment dollars in social networks are forecasted to grow from $920 million in 2007 to $2.7 billion 2011.”
Most people know that social networking is all the rage right now (and many marketers are eager to get involved or are already in on the action). The panel had a lot to offer in terms of evidence, as well as advice, on why it is not just a here today, gone tomorrow fad. In fact, Tom Arrix, VP of Sales East for Facebook, said that social networks are not meant for a quick and hurried marketing campaign. A great deal of strategy and a long-term commitment is required to really dig deep and unleash the benefits of utilizing social networks for brand marketing.
In addition, John Moore threw out a very interesting stat to get the audience thinking about how influential social networks actually are : 12% of ALL time spent on the Internet (and this means anyone, on any site) is spent on MySpace. 12%!!! And I was thinking that I spent too much time on Google.
Discussion | Share Feedback