By Paul Pannone

The New Year is here and the future seems brighter than ever for business owners who took social media seriously the past few years. eWedNewz follows several key portions of marketing affecting the success (or failure) of businesses and finds the best results include the effective use of social media.

Topping the most cost-effective  means includes the proper use of Face Book and Twitter to attract local attention. Experts agree the use of Face Book and Twitter is not a debate or even a question any longer.

According to Denise Wakeman, “No matter how great your product, service or business is, if your prospective customer can’t find you on the web, it’s like you don’t exist.”

In nearly every source the explosive growth of the internet is on its way in toppling all other forms of media in the next five years. Some organizations like Pingdom are ready to draw conclusions on data spanning the past decade saying;

“If anyone ever thought the Internet was something of a fad, those mouths have been permanently silenced during the past decade, and these numbers show why.

We also like how the Internet is becoming more widely distributed across the world. It’s no longer a club dominated by a few top countries.

And you have to admit that it’s interesting looking back and realizing how relatively small the Internet was back in 2000. The 361 million Internet users from back then seem a tiny amount compared to today’s (almost) 2 billion.”

So with the foregone conclusion and growing use of the internet why are some industry’s still resisting its importance?

eWedNewz watches the formal wear business closely and notices the problems they’re having with the new way of marketing online. In fact the formal wear business– minus major players like Men’s Wearhouse, Jim’s formal wear and only a few others– stay stuck in a time when marketing/advertising and promotions came in the form of paper or an occasional radio commercial. But at least in the time we’re talking about– before 2000–  the tuxedo products in stores weren’t 30 years-old– yet.

Of course this isn’t true for all stores. Many are making the changes, adapting to new products, marketing, advertising and promotions. Yet stores are not changing fast enough for consumer that are already years ahead of them. Consumer expectations are not being met by tuxedo stores that are losing ground to larger operators, eating their lunch.

The sale of in-store cut-out products originated on the internet, according to Michelle Long of Eye For Design.

“We’re seeing a lot of activity and interest in the Situation this season. We’re selling cardboard stand-ups of Mike (the Situation) since you talked about it on Face Book,” according to Michelle Long of Eye 4 Design marketing.

Long told eWedNewz demand for FLOW images, specifically the Situation, has steadily increased since the summer when the the tuxedo manufacturer announced a deal with the television celebrity. The deal with the Situation replaced dollars that normally appeased buyers with pages in magazines that arguably did little or nothing to create demand and traffic to stores in search of products. Long said awareness and sale of all Situation promotional products increased since they appeared on the internet.

Millions of consumer are now aware of Situation tuxedo products because of the online campaign. FLOW numbers alone show over a million views on their Face Book Fan Page and growing everyday. Coupled with the Situation’s 4 million fans on Face Book and another million on Twitter, tuxedos are getting the biggest boost ever.

FLOW estimates there will be greater demand in the coming weeks and months, as the Situation Tweets and directs traffic to stores that carry his products.

Because of the phenomenon eWedNewz had to use a new set of measuring standards for the top ten stories, omitting stories about the Situation. When he tweeted the story or mentioned them on Facebook, the numbers skyrocketed way above normal levels because of the consumer views.

While adjustments for technology continue experts say the formula for success is the same.

“It’s a simple formula; you need to start with a good product. You need to have your product information featured on a website. Then you need to promote your product and your website, shouting from every possible place. That’s where the all the Social Networks come in. If you’re lucky enough to have a deal with a celebrity and can leverage their reach, that can really take the campaign over the top,” according to Wedding Analyst, Christine Boulton.

Boulton and other experts say a proper balance of all forms of media is necessary to reach today’s complicated consumer.

“Consumers are everywhere; to totally omit any form of advertising is simply not good business,” according to Jim Duhe of Bridal Guide Magazine.

Duhe reports good sale of Bridal Guide magazines on the news stands but also agrees with how importance an internet presence and promotions involving advertisers of the magazine are to the overall health of any media business.

While the overall standing for tuxedos improved in 2011 because of the efforts of FLOW, consumers are prone to use stores that carry up-to-date merchandise that promote themselves and give excellent service. Stores that whine, complain and are generally associated with “old” anything are the walking dead– along with anything else not visible on the internet.

eWedNewz

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2012