On Tuesday, February 9th, Google launched Buzz for Gmail – a service for sharing thoughts, multimedia, and your social media feeds with your friends utilizing Gmail as the conduit.  The result: over 160,000 Google Buzz posts and comments per hour.

Among some of the most common reasons why people cite using Google Buzz are that it’s easy to use, accessible, convenient, has a closer social circle, moves in real-time, engaging…

On the flip side, there have also been some concerns about privacy issues associated with this new social media tool.  Since it’s linked directly into Gmail, people can potentially figure out your email address. (Note, however, that Google is responding with lightning speed, and many predict that users will soon forget about the initial privacy concerns and that Google Buzz will continue to grow exponentially.)

It will be interesting to see how this growth changes social media as we know it.  In particular, stay tuned to see just how the social media kingpins, Facebook and Twitter, will be affected by this changing landscape.

“The above companies on average grew 18% in revenues over the last 12 months, compared to the least engaged companies who on average saw a decline of 6% in revenue during the same period. The same holds true for two other financial metrics, gross margin and net profit.”

As far as I know, this is the first study directly linking social media engagement to financial performance. It is well known that social media can drive traffic and increase leads – but the connection between social media and more traditional financial measurements such as revenues, gross margin, and net profit were previously unclear.

It is important to note that I do not claim that social media is the SOLE reason for the companies’ financial performance; simply that those companies who are highly engaged in social media also have superior financial performance when compared to their peers.

Source:  Study by the Altimeter Group titled “ENGAGEMENTdb: Deep Brand Engagement Correlates with Financial Performance.”

You can explore our advertising and marketing communications services, sign up for our marketing tips newsletter, and find out all about the team members that make us YourAdTeam.

If you have a project coming up that you need a proposal for or would like to interview us for, please submit your contact information via the Contact Us page and we’ll respond right away.  For an immediate touch point, you can schedule an appointment by calling Tanya at 501.840.7200 or email her with your contact information so she can call you.

For you history fans, here’s our background info:

In 1997, YourAdTeam.com, Inc. was established in Benton, Arkansas to provide clients with “corporate experience without the corporate overhead.”  YourAdTeam focuses on creating meaningful relationships with clients while providing effective marketing communications and advertising services.  With a team of 12 staff members, YourAdTeam offers a full range of advertising services.

Since its inception, YourAdTeam has done work for clients in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Tennessee, Missouri, Texas, New Mexico, California, New York, Florida, Illinois and Japan.