Believe it or not, we still find a lot of skepticism while we are talking to business about the future of marketing and social media.  “I just don’t believe we can sell on Facebook”, and similar comments arise frequently during strategy building conversations.  We at Fat Atom Internet Marketing realize that, at present, social media isn’t as big or as reliable a marketing source for many businesses as the hype would lead you to believe.  However, we also believe it is MUCH bigger than skeptics give it credit for, and it is definitely GOING to be much much bigger.  If your business isn’t getting ready for it now, you are going to feel blind-sided later.  Take a look at these current statistics:

According to Nielsen: Internet & Social Media Consumer Insights (http://en-us.nielsen.com/main/news/news_releases/2010/june/nielsen_and_mckinsey)

• In May 2010, U.S. consumers spent an average of 6 hours, 13 minutes a month using social networking websites. As of April 2010, Globally consumers spend an average of almost 6 hours
• As of May 2010, Facebook is the #1 social networking site in the U.S., with a unique audience of 125.2 million visitors
• In May 2010, the average U.S. worker spends nearly 5.5 hours a month visiting social networking sites at the office and much of that time is spent visiting Facebook.
• As of May 2010, 55% of U.S. adults online have 1 or more social networking profiles.
• 75% of the active U.S. Internet households visit a social networking site (May 2010). Globally, it’s 74% (April 2010).
• Here is a big one: As of Q1 2010 more than two-thirds of global consumers seek online product reviews, recommendations from discussion forums or social media sites when making a purchase decision.

In our own experience, we have seen Facebook advertising overtake Google advertising for lower cost-per-conversion and higher traffic for several of our clients.  Email is still ruling as the #1 closer for sales, but using social media is important for keeping email lists growing instead shrinking.

If we were to describe in business terms, we see social media as largest resource to grow the top of your sales funnel.  People don’t necessarily buy a product or service from Facebook or Twitter, but they do get introduced to your company and start listening to what you have to offer.  It may be hard to grasp since social media doesn’t always have a direct line to sales, but business who foster their online communities will be thankful they did in the long run as they find they have a larger pond to fish in.

UPDATE 06/18/10: Justin Kristner from Social Fresh has posted a list of Google Trends graphs illustrating how we have arrived in the "Era of Social Media" -> http://socialfresh.com/social-media-is-the-3rd-era-of-the-web/