The use of social media is no longer an option for companies – it is a requirement. Companies which most effectively deploy social media will be best positioned to serve their client needs, particularly as the digital revolution assumes a greater percentage of buying power.

The most widely-used social media site, Facebook, recently made headlines when it hit a new milestone. At its annual f8 gathering, the company stated that it had surpassed 800 million users. SMM includes strategically developing your company’s social sites & pages to market them to a highly targeted audience. Social media marketing (or SMM) helps you develop a formal social networking program for you and your company. This strategy includes corporate video production and development of your company’s blogs, press releases, article publications, managing online forums & communities and more.

Inbound Marketing vs. Outbound Marketing

Social Media Marketing is making traditional marketing, such as cold-calling, T.V. advertising, print advertising, spam email, non-solicited email and trade shows less effective and more expensive. This traditional form of advertising is also refered to as outbound marketing. Inbound Marketing is marketing focused on getting found by customers. Lightray Media can help your company attract highly qualified customers to your business instead of interrupting people with various forms of outbound marketing. With the use of satalight radio and on-demand television, advertisers are finding it more difficult to reach their demographic. The internet has fundamentally changed the way people find, discover, share, shop, communicate and purchase. Here are some recent facts:

• 86% of people skip television ads
• There is a 46% decline in tech trade show spending
• 44 % of direct mail is never opened
• B2B marketers are shifting their budgets toward inbound marketing
• The average budget spent on corporate blogs and social media has nearly doubled in twoo years

Fact: Inbound marketing is much more cost-effective than outbound marketing. The average budget spent on corporate blogs and social media has almost doubled in the last two years. With Lightray Media on the forefront of this technology, we can help your business benefit from this new trend in marketing. Social media and internet video marketing is not just a fad. It is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate today. Interactive social media and video marketing in the US will more than triple over the next five years, reaching $61 billion by 2012. This study was conducted by Forrester Research, Inc. In their report, they state that growing consumer adoption of online video will result in a dramatic 72 percent increase in online video ad spending to $7.1 billion by 2012. Social media will drive emerging channels to $10 billion by 2012. Spending on social media marketing alone will grow to $6.9 billion, as marketers understand how to use and measure this channel.

Internet video marketing is just the starting point when it comes to utilizing your dynamic new website video marketing ad. We are firm believers in the power of YouTube, internet video marketing can and certainly should be used everywhere you find potential business opportunities. Use your Sarasota video or Tampa video for point-of-sale, the trade show floor, a sales demo, and on Yellowbook.com and other business listing services. Some of these services include Facebook, Yahoo, Meta Cafe, YouTube, Merchant Circle, and many more. A new Sarasota video production or Tampa video production is also a great PR opportunity and a compelling reason to connect with your customers. There are lots of email marketing services such as Constant Contact. From your website to YouTube, Sarasota video marketing takes your sales efforts to the next level, and a marketing video from Lightray delivers a cost-effective sales tool that is on-demand to the world 24/7.