Social Media: interaction, branding, engagement

2009– the year of Social Media in Italy. The total number of Facebook users rocketed to 13 million, which makes it the number one, most visited social network in the country and the number one online activity for internet users in Italy.

However, Facebook’s explosion has not only been visible in Italy, it has become the number one network for nearly 400 million people across the globe. Social media in general has changed the way we live, the way we socialize, the way we communicate– the way brands communicate with consumers.

Nowadays, the use of social media does not depend on whether you have a computer or whether you have access to slow or ultra-fast internet connection. In Italy, the number of users who access the internet via their mobile devices continues to grow: +22% compared to last year, for a total of over 6 million users– over 65 million users worldwide (facts from B!Digital).

This chart displays the top 20 countries by time spent online:

The concept of portability has also become a fundamental aspect when it comes to how content is being presented and delivered across the different channels. Because the Web isn’t in our computers and our laptops anymore, content providers must make content accessible and reusable from all types of media.

The mobile Web offers the promise of freedom in the sense that it makes the Web fun again and doesn’t force people to stay in one very same place all the time.

Being away from our desktops and laptops which now feel like work will make the mobile Web a welcome escape to many and the perfect opportunity for brands to market to them.

“While Google represents the main player in the search engine industry and many consider it the best vehicle for direct response marketing, social media, on the other hand, lends itself to continuous interaction, branding and engagement,” confirms Marco Corsaro, Managing Director 77Agency.

Below is an article that was featured in this year’s WebBook- Il Quaderno della Comunicazione– from the ADC Group Publishing Company, which was distributed at this year’s IAB Forum Milan 2009, Italy’s largest interactive marketing conference.

Click image to download the entire pdf.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 8:06 pm and is filed under 77News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.