Jan
Where Is Social Media Most Wanted?
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Living in Austin – the self proclaimed “Live Music Capital of the World”, it is not too surprising that there have been attempts to also dub it the “Social Media Capital of the World” or at least the US. I was part of some banter on Twitter a few days ago on just this topic, the challenger being Boston,Mass.
Most of the conversation centered around who lived in those particular cities and what they represented in terms of Social Media leadership. To be honest, given the talent in both I tended to say that they jointly held the title.
However, it got me thinking. Often when you are part of a sub-culture it is all too easy to become blinded to the fact that not everyone shares your interests. So I decided to do a little research using Google Insights for Search to see where, in the US, people were actually searching for Social Media. The results were surprising.
Search Terms
I used the year 2009 for the search period and used the following search terms as the basis for showing interest in Social Media marketing:
- Social Media
- Social Media Marketing
- Social Marketing
- Facebook Marketing
- Facebook for Business
I arrived at these terms after testing several others to see which produced the highest results.
What the results show is, that far from being the Social Media capital, Austin, or more specifically Texas didn’t make the top five (actually it didn’t make the top ten), Massachusetts comes in at number two, so its fairly safe to assume that a reasonable number of the searches came from the Boston area. Illinois is no real surprise, being home to Chicago, and a lot of companies being based there.
Minnesota, Oh ya
What really surprised me was the appearance of Minnesota, whilst obviously home to the Twin Cities, with a population of 5.2m (US Census 2008 figures), it is considerably smaller in population than Texas (24.3m), home to Austin. In fact Texas’ population is almost double that of Illinois and more than 40 times bigger than that of the District of Columbia, both of which register with higher numbers. I would have expected that simply given the higher population numbers there would have been more searches.
The fact that Texas doesn’t make the list could simply mean that they don’t use Google to find their Social Media services, or know that they are so well served with agencies, conferences & other resources that searching for them is unnecessary. It could be that they are using search terms that are completely outside the realms of those I used (though I think this unlikely).
For whatever reason, in terms of where those people live who are looking for information on Social Media, for now at least, in the discussion between Austin & Boston, Boston is the clear leader.
Where do you think Social Media is most wanted?
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While the debate on Austin vs. Boston is interesting (both cities are near and dear to me), I want to offer a note about Minnesota. The fact that the state rated so highly doesn't surprise me at all. There is a large concentration of brands and agencies in the Twin Cities doing some very interesting work in social, and the Social Media Breakfast chapter there is the biggest of the almost 40 we have around the world. SMPTC routinely sells *200* tickets for their breakfasts (in like 5 minutes–almost concert-like!), and many more are clamoring to get into the events. The good folks there are hungry to teach, learn, and share about social media!
And the SMB guys in the Twin Cities will kill me for using the incorrect abbreviation for their chapter. It's SMBMSP!
I'm not sure that the search terms and/or your method are all that accurate in determining who is actually using social media. I personally use several social media outlets on a daily basis, and I have never searched using those terms. In fact, I've never searched for any social media… I just learn the names of different sites through current sites I'm using, friends, and even the news. I think most people who use social media look directly for the outlet, searching for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., not necessarily using the term 'social media'.
Katy
Thanks for your thoughts, actually the post is not about using Social Media, it is about who is searching for Social Media Marketing. There is a difference between those who are users of Social Media and those who are looking for experts to help them understand how to use it for business.
Simon
Let's flip it around, though, Simon, and look at how much content is out there about these topics in conjunction with the location, rather than on search popularity:
austin + "social media" = 1,590,000 hits
boston + "social media" = 2,880,000 hits
Dammit…never mind.
I would agree there's a lot of social media activity here in Minnesota with smbmsp.org and mima.org having well over 1,000 members each.
Social media savvy brands are here too including Best Buy, Target, General Mills, Deluxe, and many others plus a number of large Ad agencies like Campbell Mithun and PR firms like Weber Shandwick.
Search Google for "social media marketing" (without quotes) and you'll find a MN based blog in the top ten too.
After all that, #5 is a disappointment
Have you seen the weather report in Minnesota? What else is there to do up there?
I kid, I kid.
So is the "social media capital" title based on where the social media seekers are, or where the social media providers are?
Much like the live music capital title that Austin owns, I would assume it would relate to where the social media providers are. We don't own the live music title because we have the most fans, we own it because we offer the most venues and live shows – at least according to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Austin
So where are the most, best, social media solution providers concentrated?
Not sure that analogy holds. Venue’s for music are physical locations. Searches are an indicator of the number of people who are looking for a provider. But I take your point.
I would agree there's a lot of social media activity here in Minnesota with smbmsp.org and mima.org having well over 1,000 members each.
Social media savvy brands are here too including Best Buy, Target, General Mills, Deluxe, and many others plus a number of large Ad agencies like Campbell Mithun and PR firms like Weber Shandwick.
Search Google for "social media marketing" (without quotes) and you'll find a MN based blog in the top ten too.
After all that, #5 is a disappointment