When I got into social media in 2006, people looked at me as if I were an alien. Today, more than 75% of all adults are involved in social media. Now, businesses from tiny mom and pop shops to large corporations have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google Plus and Pinterest.
In 2011, HJMT Public Relations Inc. conducted a survey. We asked our community if they had a social media plan in place, most said they did not. However, 75% of those questioned had a Facebook page. According to Facebook, there are now more than 30 million small businesses with a Facebook page.
We also questioned our community about their attitudes on bloggers versus reporters. We found that 40% of those who answered the survey trusted reporters more than bloggers and 14% trusted bloggers more than reporters with nearly 50% not sure who to trust.
Have times changed in four years?
We asked our community again and this time, the answers were a little different. Twenty-nine percent said they trust reporters more, while 21% said they trust bloggers more. Interestingly, 52% still said they were not sure who to trust.
When asked if our community reads blogs online, a strong majority of 87% said they do and that 65% read at least 1 to 5 blogs a day. The majority (65%) read blogs that focus on news, but lifestyle (51%) and health (35%) were close behind. Many said they also read about new technologies.
Most of the respondents read blogs because they have a thirst for more knowledge in a particular area.
Many (75%) of the people questioned were business owners who don’t target bloggers in their outreach efforts. We found this interesting since having bloggers as brand ambassadors or as a place to publish a guest blog entry aids in the search engine optimization process.
In nearly four years, small and large businesses have embraced social media but haven’t acknowledged bloggers in their social media/public relations strategies. Those who are forward thinking and include bloggers in their plans will be ahead of the pack just like those who were on Facebook in 2011.
