How Important is Social Media?

The Internet can reach 239 million Americans (roughly 75.6% of the population according to HubSpot blog) with 143.4 million on Facebook.  Online shoppers are 184.3 million in the United States alone!

Worldwide Social Media Revenue is projected to reach $17 Billion according to some research done by TechVibes.  The total revenue of social Media has gone up 43% over the last year with $9 billion going towards advertising for Social Media.  Social Media advertising spending is projected to reach $12 billion by 2014 with most of this growth attributed to emerging markets in Asia and South America.

While we are starting to see more of a shift towards budgeting for social media, the World Federation of Advertisers claims that television still holds the majority of ad spending at close to 41%. With most of the growth in online-based advertisements coming from emerging markets, it won’t be long before developed countries start to take notice.  With web-based advertisements tripling the rest of the market in terms of growth, how long will it be before you dedicate the necessary resources towards Social Media?