Most of us enjoy using social media, but do you know how important social media can be for building your brand? Let me ask you something. When was the last time you used The Yellow Pages (the actual book), looked at the ads in a newspaper (the one made of paper, not online), or watched the ads on television (instead of tivoing through them)? Probably a long time...and that's true of just about everyone.

Take a look at some statistics that might surprise you.

Over six billion people already use mobile phones (Charlie Rose, 4/26/13)
Revenue from social commerce equaled $9.2 billion in 2012 and is expected to reach $14.25 by the end of 2013 (AICPA)

97% of marketers agree that social media marketing benefits their business (eMarketer)

Hubspot.com gives us these statistics:

27% of total U.S. internet time is spent on social networking sites.
15% of total U.S. mobile internet time is spent on social networking sites.
Social media produces almost double the marketing leads of trade shows, telemarketing, direct mail, or PPC.

Social media lead conversion rates are 13% higher than the average lead conversion rate.

It is not an overstatement to say that the internet and mobile phones have revolutionized the way we live. Many people who can't afford computers can afford mobile phones. And as the price of mobile phones comes down, as it already is doing and inevitably will continue to do, more and more people all over the world will have access to information, entertainment, and ideas on demand. It's a new world.

These statistics demonstrate the potential of social media:

Facebook outranks Google for visitors
There are more Facebook accounts than automobiles The average user spends 700 minutes per month on Facebook
30 billion pieces of content are shared each month on Facebook
Twitter has 225,000,000 users
Twitter users send 150,000,000 tweets per day
LinkedIn has 135,000,000 users
Two new users sign up to LinkedIn every second Pinterest has 12 million visitors monthly
Pinterest generates more referral traffic to websites than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined
Reddit receives 4.4 billion page views per month
Reddit receives 62.3 million unique visitors per month

That's a lot of statistics, right? But doesn't it give you a clear picture of how much potential there is in social media and how much you might be missing if you don't make use of it? No doubt about it, social marketing is not a fad. It's here to stay

In this ebook we'll analyze how some companies of all sizes have benefitted from using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Reddit. These cases may give you some ideas, and with a little investigation on your own, you'll be able to find many more.

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Table of Contents

Introduction 

Branding Through Social Media 

Increasing Your Reach with Facebook

Four Seasons Resort/Dressed Case Study!

Building Your Brand with Twitter Marketing

Case Study: Twitter Extends Reach in Real Time!

A Few Final Tips!

Murphy's Oil Builds Branding through Pinterest

Pinterest Tips to Build Your Brand!

LinkedIn Attracts Sales for PostcardMania

Postcardmania Finds Success through LinkedIn!

Reddit Captures Viewers for USA Network

USA Network's/Bruce Campbell's Ask Me Anything Campaign!

Social Marketing Strategies

Best Branding Tips

Conclusion