Thought Leadership

One of the reasons arguing for the investment of time in things like social media or real-time reporting is to reach "influencers." Several recent surveys have pointed out that not as many people use Twitter, and that the penetration numbers for Facebook might not be as big as people thought. This has led some to conclude we are in the midst of a "social media bubble" like the Dot.com bubble of the last 1990s.

Leave it to Pew Research to slightly reinforce the not as many people as you think angle, but to absolutely blow out of the water the concept that you're wasting your time with putting social media techniques at the top of the priority list.

The Social Side of the Internet released by Pew shows that people who active in social groups -- for our purposes, think sports fans who participate through attendance or membership in booster groups, etc -- are influenced by and believe in the influence from the internet. From the summary paragraph:

And social media users are even more likely to be active: 82% of social network users and 85% of Twitter users are group participants

Move down past some of the general numbers at the top -- some which might lead you to feel, well, it's only 50-60% of the survey group impacted -- to the breakouts at the bottom of this on-line summary.

Look at the percentage of activity within groups for those who are internet users versus non-internet users. 60% or more of the internet active are likely to attend a meeting, volunteer to work in a group or give money to their social causes.

And then, this key conclusion:

Perhaps reflecting their higher levels of participation, internet users are also more likely than non-users to say that, in the past 12 months, they have felt really proud of a group they are active in because of something it accomplished or a positive difference it made (62% v. 47%) and that they have accomplished something as part of a group that they could not have accomplished themselves (48% v. 35%).

What does it mean? It means that goal of converting Fan to Friend starts through those social media connections, by reaching out and getting involved with others and having the organization becoming more active in interacting through social media means (interactive blogs, actually posting and answering through social mediums). The way to reach your leadership is to get out and talk with them -- sounds simple because it is.