BIA/Kelsey, an adviser to small to medium-size businesses in the
local media space, launched Social Local Media, an advisory service
dedicated to covering the growing social media ecosystem and the
opportunities for driving revenues with social platforms. SLM was
created to address the developing social segment of what the firm
estimates will be a $23 billion digital advertising market in 2011.
Confirmation of the significance of social platforms for local media
and advertising comes from the latest wave of BIA/Kelsey’s Local
Commerce Monitor (LCM), an ongoing study of the advertising spending
habits of small to medium-size businesses, conducted with research
partner ConStat. LCM revealed intense use of social media by SMBs, as
48 percent of respondents said they are using Facebook for advertising
or promoting their business.
Among those surveyed, 40 percent said they have a Facebook page
specifically for their business. Additional findings indicate that
among respondents, 25 percent use other social networks, 22 percent use
a blog and 19 percent use Twitter to promote their business. SLM will
spotlight buyers, sellers, platform developers, vendors, practitioners
and thought leaders engaged in the use of social media tools and
techniques to forward customer relationships.
“Social local media, as a marketing, customer-care and content agent,
has crossed the mainstream threshold,” said Neal Polachek, president of
BIA/Kelsey. “As with any growing marketing channel, the use of social
platforms brings questions and concerns about where companies should
allocate their efforts and budgets. By concentrating on social local
media, we are using our resources to help our clients make sense of
where this new ecosystem is headed and how they can participate
effectively, both strategically and from a revenue perspective.”
SLM will also focus on helping media companies and social platform
suppliers identify the best integration strategies for implementing
social across media, marketing and advertising channels in a manner
that drives revenues. The coverage will center on the following themes:
new local monetization models for social networks; metrics that measure
social initiatives; social media transactions; social media valuations
and valuation models; social commerce; Facebook’s continued evolution;
social’s role in e-mail, reputation and presence management; next steps
for check-in services; and industry analysis of how various media
segments are utilizing social channels.
The SLM practice will be led by Program Director Jed Williams. Williams
joined BIA/Kelsey in 2010 as an industry analyst with more than 10
years of experience on both the business and content sides of media.
Through a partnership with BIA/Kelsey, Andrew Shotland of
LocalSEOGuide.com will work with Williams as associate program director.
LCM is BIA/Kelsey’s annual tracking survey of SMBs, conducted since
1999 with research partner ConStat. The survey measures where SMBs are
spending their advertising and promotional budgets and how their media
usage and spending habits are evolving. It draws its sample of business
respondents from a mix of nationally scoped MSAs, which include first-
and second-tier markets. LCM Wave XIV was conducted in November 2010
via an online survey of 307 SMBs.
Midmarket News & Reviews 
