Social media has surpassed search, and is poised to overtake online display advertising as the No. 1 source of digital media planning and buying, according to the latest edition of a quarterly survey of U.S. advertising agencies.

The survey, conducted by Strata, the agency media software and processing firm owned by Comcast, found that 69% of agency executives now consider social the “focus” of their digital ad spending -- up 32% over the past year, and now a close second behind display (71%) as the dominant digital media-buying platform in the minds of agency executives.

For the full article, click here.

The marketing landscape is an arena where individuals and brands must realize that consumers lack confidence in advertising. Audiences have a knack for recognizing pitches and sales tactics aimed at bottom line growth. Markets are bombarded with messaging from all sides aimed at their wallets and attention leading to reluctance over purchase intent and a lack of authenticity. Chris Brogan and Julien Smith call this a trust deficit.

The most successful companies are those who engage in relevant conversations and create experiences that resonate with changing consumer tastes. Trust is a glue that helps capture attention, build advocacy, and establish repeat business. People are the core of business.

The Web has changed to be more humanized, and the people who will succeed in understanding this and using the Web to build businesses are called Trust Agents.

The United States is getting younger thanks in large part to the growth of minorities who not only overindex in technology adoption but serve as pioneers and mainstays in social media activity. The rising influx of digital natives and social media butterflies has created an atmosphere of marketing and communications where technological aptitude and digital savvy separate the haves from the have nots.

Likewise, there are people out there right now working to understand these new technologies and learning everything about how to use them--from etiquette to audience building and beyond.

Perhaps the biggest challenge facing many marketers and small business owners is the reluctance to grasp the potential and legitimate value found in social media strategy. Time and significant effort are valid reasons for apprehension but this does not slow down the movers and shakers in new media from capturing attention, maximizing opportunities, and establishing a lasting presence.

Like your kids, they know more about technology, and maybe even more about people, than you do; and that makes them very powerful.

In How to Make Money with Social Media: An Insider's Guide on Using New and Emerging Media to Grow Your Business, Jamie Turner and Reshma Shah, PH.D. offer some great analogies for understanding the differences between some of the most popular social networking sites on the internet.

Facebook

Facebook is like a pub. It's a casual place where you can go to talk about what you did over the weekend, tell a dirty joke, or tell people about the checkers convention you attended last week.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is like a trade show. You wouldn't tell people at a trade show what you did in Vegas last weekend, would you? Okay maybe you would, but the average businessperson wouldn't.

Twitter

Twitter is like a cocktail party. Just be sure you send out tweets that are helpful. New Tweeple make the mistake of taking Twitter seriously when its home page asks, "What's happening?" Well, we've got some bad news for you. Nobody cares what you're doing now. They care about information that will help them in their daily lives.

YouTube

YouTube is like Times Square on New Year's Eve. Times Square on New Year's Eve is packed with people clamoring for attention, which illustrates the problem. Just as it's hard to stand out in Times Square, it's hard to stand out on YouTube. Too much competition exists. So if you want to use YouTube to make money, you need to build awareness for your YouTube channel first.

The take-home lesson. Not all networks are one and the same. Investigate what's right for you. Remember to think strategically about social media as you strive to make it in an arena where trust, authenticity, and resonance are paramount.

The Guy Behind the Blog.

Jose Huitron is the author of Vista Hispano, a blog providing insights into the trends and changing dynamics of the U.S. Hispanic market. He is a strong communicator and digital native with a keen eye into the cultural shifts that have forced today’s individuals, organizations, and brands to think outside-the-box. He is currently the founder of HUB 81, an integrated marketing and public relations consultancy blending strategic capabilities with a passion for all things digital, multicultural, and creative. Schedule a consulting session today.

The social media frenzy has seemed to take a bit of a backseat lately. Not everyone is talking about how to take advantage of social media and the role of communication. Not much of a bubble but it does seem that social media is growing up. Social media has taken hold of various industries causing a stir and helping to open up numerous opportunities for greater communication.

Brands of all shapes and sizes seem to have their own accounts on the more popular networks which is expected and certainly does add an element of validation to those who have supported new media. However, three elements exist that will determine the success of one's social media efforts.

1. Measurement

2. Analysis

3. Learning

Social media has opened up a tremendous amount of information sharing and conversation. The challenge lies in our ability to use this activity and turn it into bottomline growth.

Some key questions:

How can we truly measure the conversation stream?

Where do we focus our analytics?

What windows of opportunity exist as we participate in social media?

The individuals and brands who focus their efforts on these three elements will achieve significant returns on their investment. Success in this arena is not solely based on data but rather on creating and capturing true audience value. 

A special thanks to Jesse Luna for sharing this information on the Malcolm Baldrige award including social media in its criteria.

Participating in social media takes a tremendous amount of investment. Inputs can range in time and scope making it necessary to measure the amount of return that one hopes to gain from tweets, blog posts, and other various forms of content. True success in the digital landscape requires substantial investment of an individual's time and effort.

Benchmarks

Before investing in social media, marketers and storytellers alike must identify concise objectives. These goals will help keep all efforts focused on the tasks at hand and open up opportunities for improvements. Benchmarks allow an individual to identify their target results.

However, before we focus too much time on retweets, likes, comments, subscribers, friends, followers, listeners, and so forth...let's stop for a moment to recognize the value of residual returns on our social media investment.

Here are a few questions to ask as you begin on placing a value on your social media marketing efforts:

• Is your content so good that people actually gained value from reading or sharing?
• Do you place enough of an importance on the value of reciprocity?
• Is social capital a vital component of your strategic efforts?
• Is your network (comprised of friends, followers, etc.) coming back for more?
• Does your audience care about you enough to actually share your content even when there's nothing new to share?

Residual returns on social capital can provide a unique benchmark for measuring the success of your continued investment in social media.

The beauty of online conversation is the ability to take the show offline. Quality relationships are built not only one tweet at a time but also strengthened by offline communication where individuals have an excellent opportunity to network, relate, and get to know each other on a greater level. Such was the case recently as several individuals who first met online convened in the city of Santa Maria, a gem of the Central Coast located between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Relationships are strengthened when we have the ability to add nonverbal cues and validate words that sometimes we take for granted in the digital space. 

Some might be struggling to validate the true value of social media without considering the merits of good person-to-person offline interaction.

Social media is just that...social!