成人头条

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You鈥檙e listening to the podcast edition of the 成人头条 audio newsline. Learn more about WSU 鈥� the home of Thinkers, Doers, Movers and Shockers 鈥� on the Web at .

The use of social media continues to grow by leaps and bounds, but not all businesses are sure what to do with it. 成人头条 State consumer behavior and marketing expert Dotty Harpool says businesses can鈥檛 afford to ignore social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Harpool: 鈥淚 think in 2011 and going into 2012, no, you can鈥檛 avoid social media. It鈥檚 there. It鈥檚 the way a lot of people are communicating, and people need to really get in there and see what it鈥檚 all about.鈥�

Harpool: 鈥淎t least a company should be monitoring what鈥檚 being said about them in social media to look at what people are talking about on Facebook, because if you don鈥檛, you鈥檙e going to miss a lot of really critical marketing research information that鈥檚 free for you to get.鈥�

Harpool says from Facebook to Twitter, LinkedIn and a multitude of blogs, businesses are trying to figure out how to use social media to their advantage.

Harpool: 鈥淭here is a misperception that Facebook people are all under the age of 21, and that鈥檚 just not true. There are a lot of baby boomers that are into Facebook. Some seniors are into Facebook, so for a company that doesn鈥檛 target youth, you still have to be aware of what鈥檚 going on in social media.鈥�

At the very least, companies are finding that having a Facebook page is a great way to gain information, as Harpool explains.

Harpool: 鈥淲ell, companies are discovering that having a Facebook page and monitoring Facebook is a great way to gain information. It鈥檚 a great way to see what people want, what people are looking for in products such as yours. Also with Twitter, Twitter鈥檚 a great way to kind of announce events or to throw out ideas to get people to respond, and that can help you in marketing strategies also.鈥�

Harpool says it鈥檚 time for companies to get on the social media bandwagon.

Harpool: 鈥淚n the future, since a lot of people under the age of 21 have grown up with this way of communication, companies are going to have to get on the bandwagon pretty quick, because their future target markets are comfortable with communicating via social media, and that鈥檚 where they鈥檙e going to go for information.鈥�

Harpool says many companies are trying to determine how to strategically use social media. It鈥檚 admittedly a work in progress.

Harpool: 鈥淚 think a lot of companies are starting to learn the tools needed to communicate via social media. Now it鈥檚 just a matter of trying to figure out where it fits in a marketing plan and how can you use it strategically. How can you develop employees to help this process and to monitor social media? It鈥檚 all starting to be more at the strategic level now.鈥�

Consider this: It wasn鈥檛 until 1997 that the Internet reached 50 million users in the United States. Facebook gained more than 100 million users in the U.S. from January 2009 to January 2010, marking a 145 percent growth rate within one year, according to research by digital marketing agency iStrategy Labs. No wonder so many businesses are embracing social media networking as a major component of their success strategy.

Thanks for listening. Until next time, this is Joe Kleinsasser for 成人头条.