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Online measurement firm Hitwise recently undertook a study of domestic social media trends. Asia Pacific research director Alan Long answered some key questions in his research paper and Our ensuing interview.

What are the leading online social networks in Australia?

In the week ending October 17 2009, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and Twitter combined made up 71 per cent of the industry. All were also top 50 websites visited by Australian internet users. Currently the number two website in Australia, Facebook’s growth puts it on a trajectory to overtake Google as the most visited website by domestic users over the coming months, most likely during the weeks immediately before or after Christmas.

How have fashion brands benefited from online social networks?

The number of upstream visits to ‘apparel and accessories’ (shopping and classifieds) websites from social networks has surged over the last three years. From November 2006 to October 2009, the number of visits to these websites from social networks grew by 85.7 per cent.

Does they really drive consumers to go and visit corporate websites?

Over one in 40 visits to Southwest Airlines, an American airline company, come from Facebook. It has seen an increase of 275 per cent in upstream visits in the past year and has 77,000 fans.

Australian shopping website 1 Day has 9000 followers on Facebook. The number of visits coming from Facebook has more than doubled from October 2008 to October 2009.  

What about Twitter?

Twitter’s share of visits has grown almost 16-fold in a year-on-year comparison, but has flattened since the week ending September 12 2009. But this trend doesn’t include third-party applications and mobile traffic; users might be moving to other Twitter applications such as Tweetdeck, Seesmic or Thwirl.

It is likely that Twitter’s share of visits will continue to increase considering the recent announcement by search engines (Bing and Google) that they will incorporate Twitter feeds into search results, resulting in greater exposure and understanding of Twitter and its value. This will be complemented by marketers, radio stations, websites and press increasingly embracing Twitter as a distribution and engagement channel.

How will combining Twitter feeds into search results benefit the industry?

Google’s social search will bring results from your social network that relate to the search term you have used. It is currently in Google Experimental Labs and if you have a Google profile you can join the experiment. You can watch a video explanation of the process on Google’s blog.

For instance, if a consumer looks up the term ‘suits’, it will search for relevant results across the various social networks he or she participates in. If they follow a clothing brand on Twitter, a feed which mentions suiting will come up in their search results.

How do different marketers use the different social media networks?

The following uses for these networks provides a starting point in differentiating the communication tactics applied across the broad range of social networks confronting today’s professional marketer:

• LinkedIn (professional) – professional marketing, B2B, graduate/career/candidate prospecting, establishing/enhancing employer of choice standing, thought leadership, lead generation.

• MySpace (music) – lifestyle and youth marketing efforts with entertainment orientation, community development, sales promotion, campaign promotion.

• Facebook (people and entertainment) – community development, facilitate authentic and open dialogue,
listening, trends, competitive review, campaign promotion.

• Twitter (topical and entertainment) – promote thought leadership, issue and crisis management, sales and special offers, campaign promotion.

This is not intended as a complete list, but a starting point for considering how to effectively utilise each website [for different business strategies].

What should fashion marketers be aware of looking towards the near future?

The combination of continued growth across all key indicators suggests that Facebook will continue to see substantial growth in the months ahead and this may see it challenge Google Australia for the number one ranking based on visits by all Australians. For marketers, it is clear that social networks, and Facebook in particular, demand to be considered for inclusion in any marketing strategy as those with well constructed and developed connections will reap ongoing benefits.