Thanks for presenting a marketing perspective here, and for making the necessary points to cluetrain. appreciated. This is a good overview of motivators and activities, though from my perspective in no way “wraps it up”

(Also is it possible for you to provide the source of your stats for the record)

Cheers
Penny

Social media marketing (or what I and my colleagues like to call it – Social Influence Marketing SIM) is simply:

People having conversations online. (no rocket science)

More broadly speaking:

Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio.

To define it, you must first understand it!

Social media has come about as a result of the democratisation of ‘information’ (which was foretold in the Cluetrain Manifesto back in 1999):

We have moved from an era of Information Asymmetry…
- Information was scarce
- Customers were ill-informed
- Exchanges were monologues
- Marketing was “command-and-control”

…To Information Democracy
- Information is ubiquitous
- Customers are well-informed
- Exchanges are conversations
- Marketing is “connect-and-collaborate”

I am constantly shocked at how many marketers don’t know or understand WHY consumers participate in social media / social networking.

Why audiences participate in social networking:

Meet people – 78% join to communicate with existing colleagues or develop new acquaintances

Be entertained – 47% join in order to find entertaining content such as photos, music or videos

Learn something – 38% join to get information from other people about topics that hold particular interest to them

Influence others – 23% join to express their opinions in a forum where their ideas can be discussed or acted upon

More broadly they participate to:

Keep up friendships – Facebook is about connecting with people you know.
Make new friends – We’ve all heard stories of people hooking up on social networks.
Succumb to social pressure from existing friends – People in the groundswell want their friends there too.
Pay it forward – Having seen that a site is useful, you may be moved to contribute.
The altruistic impulse – People give blood because they think they should.
The prurient impulse – People are fascinating. Some are sexy, some are entertaining, and some, frankly, are stupid.
The creative impulse – Not everybody is a photographer, a writer, or a videographer, but for those who are, the web is perfect to show off their work.
The validation principle – People who post information on Yahoo! Answers or Intuit’s tax wiki would like to be seen as knowledgeable experts.
The affinity impulse – If your soccer team, your PTA, or your fellow Swans fans have connected online then you can join and connect with people who share your interests and concerns.

The first step towards success in any form of marketing is understanding your intended audience and then understanding that you are not your audience. This is why technology is, and should be the last determinant of social media planning & execution, not the first.

More of my thoughts and insights on the move of marketing from a Monologue to Dialogue here – http://www.slideshare.net/martinwalsh