In the previous post I talked about where your digital marketing focus might be directed, and about how studies indicate that search engine optimization (SEO) outperforms pay-per-click (PPC) when it comes to lead generation. Yet many marketers plan to invest more in their social media marketing budget than in either SEO or PPC…why?
Maybe it’s because of information like that discovered in the 2011 Cisco Connected World Technology Report. This year, the report examined two new groups of subjects:
- College students, and
- Recently employed college graduates, many working in their first full-time jobs
The depth of this focus group’s connectivity, while amazing, is not really surprising to me. Even though I’m well outside of this group, possessing a couple or more decades of life experience, my own desire for access to the internet and specifically social media has grown exponentially.
Cisco’s study found that:
“One in three college students and young professionals consider the Internet to be as important as air, water, food, and shelter. The study also found that their desire to use social media, mobile devices, and the Internet more freely in the workplace is strong enough to influence their future job choice, sometimes more than salary.”
It’s a little shocking to me that a person would place the access to social media, mobile devices and the internet above salary, but apparently many people do!
Some highlights of the study show that:
- Many respondents claim a mobile device as “the most important technology” in their lives;
- 7 of 10 employees have “friended” their coworkers and managers on Facebook;
- Most respondents have a Facebook account and check it at least once a day;
- Almost half would accept a lower-paying job providing more flexibility with regard to device choice, social media access, and mobility than a higher-paying job with less flexibility, and
- At least 1 in 4 said the absence of remote access would influence their job decisions, such as leaving companies sooner rather than later, slacking off, or declining job offers outright.
While this may seem a little unrealistic to those of us who have been in the workforce for a long time, it does illustrate how expectations are changing, and how crucial connectivity and access to social media is to a younger workforce.
And marketers with foresight are ready to use this knowledge to help their clients forge better connections with their clients and prospects. Perhaps you should consider expanding your digital marketing campaign into social media marketing so that you can connect with these highly connected people.
