A nice video from Simply Zesty showing just how fast social media is growing in the UK. Apparently Social Networking has become the most popular pastime in the UK while internet users are continuing to engage with the internet in more and more ways.

Quite surprisingly, a quarter of UK internet users write blogs with one third having uploaded to a video sharing site. In the past year alone, the number of people watching TV online has grown by 600% and 78% claim to research a product online before they make a purchase.

This continuing increase in internet engagement has obvious implications for brands and businesses. With a visitor coming from a social networking site 10 times more likely to make a purchase online than an average visitor it highlights the importance for businesses of utilising social media.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZHSZY8S9mA

A very innovative piece of marketing by those guys and gals at Calvin Klein Jeans. For one week only they have replaced several of their billboards in New York and LA with a QR code. Smartphone users can scan the code on the billboards and view an exclusive commercial on their phones which they can then share with their friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Despite the fact that Smartphones are still quite uncommon and most people cannot view the video, the campaign succeeds at generating a buzz and getting people talking about the brand. I’m sure passers-by are a lot more likely to stop and take notice of these giant codes than they are a typical billboard, even if they don’t know what the codes mean. Kudos Calvin Klein.

Another very innovative piece of marketing that has been all over the internet this past week. The Old Spice commercial that was released a few months back had been a viral hit on its own but Old Spice have used that momentum and built on it using social media to great effect.

Old Spice started posting YouTube videos featuring the ‘Old Spice Guy’ character from the TV commercials delivering personalised messages to fans on Twitter, Facebook and other websites. Regular fans got video responses, but the Old Spice guy also smartly targeted social media-savvy celebrities and bloggers to get the word out and achieve viral status. Perez Hilton (who the video below is directed at) has over 2 million Twitter followers who each would have heard him shout about this video from the rooftops. The Old Spice Twitter account accumulated tens of thousands of new followers and the YouTube videos amassed millions of views.

This campaign highlights the fact that advertising is changing and to keep up with the pack you need to get creative and using multi platform campaigns that have social media elements built in to them can only help.

Dominos Pizza UK have reported an increase in pre-tax profit of nearly 29%, attributing social media initiatives for the gains. The fact that online orders now account for 32.7% of all orders is viewed as proof that their web and social media efforts are paying off.

While a lot of social media initiatives can be used to build loyalty and brand awareness, Domino’s is at the forefront of using Social Media to increase cold, hard sales. Its Foursquare promotion rewards mayors of its stores with free pizza while other patrons who check-in receive a free side dish. Similarly, Domino’s Facebook site now has almost of 40,000 fans and they are continuing to attract new Fans using Facebook Apps.

Domino’s Pizza are proving to be a case in point for the sales potential of social media.