As many of you prepare your business for 2018 and are wondering about Social Media marketing, here’s some numbers that were shared by Mediapost. Remember that these are just numbers and you really should talk to a professional about what this means for your individual situation. If you are in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area, reach out to me.
Social Media Strategy Opportunities by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research
A potpourri of popular social media platforms, and how brands and retailers can implement strategies, better reach, and engage with different audiences.
- 2 Billion monthly users
- 75% of users spend 20 minutes on the site every day
- 500 million people watch facebook videos every day
- FacebookLive popularity has risen 330% since launch
- Users watch FacebookLive videos 3X longer than non-live videos
- Strategy: Drive awareness and engagement with videos and live streams
- 328 Million active monthly users
- Daily active users have increased 14% each year
- The average user follows 5 businesses
- 80% of users have mentioned a brand in a Tweet
- Companies active on Twitter see a 19% increase in customer satisfaction
- Strategy: Prioritize customer service and engagement
- 800 Million monthly users
- Monthly users grew 24% in 2017
- Half of users use Instagram Daily Posts tagged with a location have 79% higher engagement
- Strategy: Post highly visual, geo-targeted content to boost engagement
- 200 Million monthly users
- 50 million more users that October 2016
- 67% of users visit Pinterest on mobile while shopping in-store
- 1/3 of users choose Pinterest over Google search
- Strategy: Link Pinterest to your website to increase traffic and sales
Snapchat
- 375 Million active monthly users
- Growth slowed 82% after instagram stories launched
- 3 Billion snaps are created each day
- 63% use Snapchat as their primary medium for messaging friends
- Users younger that 25 visit more than 20X a day for at least 30 minutes
- Strategy: Leverage geo-filters to create interactive content
https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/309125/social-media-strategy-opportunities.html
That’s the latest number’s from the Mediapost article. But what does any of this mean to you the local business person? It’s nearly useless data for deciding how to reach people and invite them to become your customer.
However here are a couple of considerations…
Facebook has officially moved to a pay model. In other words, it is nearly impossible for a company to get exposure for anything considered advertising or marketing unless you pay. I saw this first hand in 2013 when I worked full time in social media and it continues today.
Instagram is owned by Facebook and many including myself crosspost between the two.
Twitter is still better to use by the customer service department than the marketing department of a business and Snapchat, well it’s demographics are below the ages of people I target for most of my advertising, so I personally don’t care. I even deleted my own Snapchat account this year.
Social Media is still the bright shiny object that marketing people are trying to figure out and tons of businesses are dumping their advertising budgets to online stuff like the platforms mentioned here. However you and I as consumers are not fond of the ads that interrupt our newsfeed when we just want to see what’s going on with friends and family.
This is why we use social media.
One platform mentioned in that Social Media Report is different and if you are in retail, you should give it consideration.
Which one?
Pinterest. It is an online wishlist and shopping list for the heavy users. It takes time and knowledge to build Pinterest Boards that pay off financially as I immersed myself in it a few years ago and saw the largest measurable Return On Investment that was trackable for my social media activity.
Let me leave you with this. Advertising and marketing is best done by those who are professionals and that also includes social media platforms. Don’t be swept away by big numbers like I shared at the beginning of this article and think that you can have instant success. The folks behind the scenes at these social media companies are constantly tweaking and changing the rules of the game and what worked last year may not work next year so you need to be sure the person handling your social media is staying on top of the changes every week.
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