For online business owners, 2011 brought many new operational considerations.
As an industry, publishers cannot wait to see what the next “big thing” will be in 2012.
Instead of waiting for it, we need to continue moving upon the momentum from 2011 and the lessons learned during this time period.
One of the most recognizable is the need for prioritizing our digital activities. If the time spent working isn’t accurately focused in the best, most rewarding way, we’re setting ourselves up for failure.
Towards the end of 2011, comScore released a report entitled “It’s a Social World: Top 10 Need-to-Knows About Social Networking and Where It’s Headed”. This report includes a lot of helpful reminders, including information on the social network penetration.
The first important statistic
If you take all age demographics (“15-24”, “25-34”, “35-44”, “45-54”, “55+”) and take the average penetration percent, it’s over 82%.
The online world is becoming more social due to vast penetration and growth for all age demographics. Social media isn’t just reserved for teens and young adults anymore. Even the oldest demographic surveyed, the 55+ category, has a penetration of nearly 80%. This is a 9.4% increase from July 2010 to October 2011.
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This means that regardless of your target audience’s age demographic, social media is present in their lives. If you do not have a successful social media strategy, 2012 is the time to adopt one.
The second important statistic
Although there is already saturation in the social networking world, new players can enter the market and become legitimate contenders depending on the level of engagement with audience members.
For instance, the website Pinterest has experienced a growth of 512% in the last six months, pertaining to the average amount of minutes per visitor (72.1 minutes). Although Facebook is experiencing more than five times that at 378.7 minutes per visitor, it is possible for more social networks to develop that are of greater importance to your audience.
The third important statistic
Another report, released by comScore Media Metrix, ranked the top 50 US web properties for November 2011.
The image below comes directly from the report.
As you can see, Google and Yahoo! are in the top three, showing the popularity of search engines. Facbook is in the fourth position, relating back to the popularity of social media.
Amazon, at position five, and Apple at the 13th position, should be encouraging to the online magazine publishers creating content for the Apple Newsstand and the Amazon Kindle.
The take-aways here are that search engine optimization, social media and the tablet revolution all present opportunities for online publishers in 2012. There is consistent usage and apparent growth in these areas of the digital landscape. By utilizing proven strategies and prioritizing the roles of your employees to focus on these areas, you may come to find more success in 2012.
