If you’re like most business owners, you have a love/hate relationship with Social Media. And, I’m sure you know that a strong social media presence is more important than ever in today’s global economy, a socially distanced environment. But, do you know how to maximize your social media presence and make it work for you? Today, we will talk about why you shouldn’t be everywhere, and how to put social media to work for you, rather than you working for your social media channels.
Why Social Media is Important
The number one reason to be visible on Social Media is to promote your ability. More than ever, consumers research each buy. When the world is changing, people look for answers, and their first resource isn’t the news... it is a web search. Can others find you on the first page of a Google search? It’s easy to find out. Type in your industry and find out who the leaders are. Google your business name. The results are eye opening and often disappointing.
With a strong social media presence, and consistent SEO (search engine optimization), you put yourself front and center of the searches that mean the most to your audience.
IMPORTANT warning:
Though a strong social media presence is important, more critical than ever, is to own your website in a separate hosting environment. When you serve your content only on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, you might be banned and lose all of your contacts and content. Even business platforms like Shopify, Etsy, Square or Wix may cancel your contract and restrict your publishing capabilities if you don’t meet their corporate standards. Even worse than banning is shadow-banning. Many social media platforms are notorious for such practices. You think your audience is receiving your content, but they aren’t. #1 Rule: Never trust your business growth and success to someone else’s platform.
Find Your People and Get There
It is exhausting to be everywhere when you are building your Social Media Presence. The Stats below will help you find where your prime audience hangs out. THAT is where you need to build. Once you have established a powerful presence and strategy, THEN attack the next platform.
If you invest time in one platform at a time, you will grow authority and relevance with your audience.
For instance, is you are a B2B company, invest the bulk of your time on LinkedIn. The last place you need to be is Pinterest.
Are you a Service Provider? Consider adding YouTube videos to your menu of Social Media platforms. A video (either presentation or talking head) will increase your brand credit as an authority.
Do you offer products rather than services? Pinterest is a hot market for you. But do it right. It isn’t about tossing up a lot of pins. Make sure those pins tie back to your website where people can order.
Age, gender, and income demographics are also prime considerations. To whom do you want to market your products or services? Who do you want to build connections with through social media? Do your homework. Discover where your audience lives. You will be glad to invest both your time and money for the right return on advertising investment dollars.
The Stats
Based on surveys by Emarsys, they estimate that 3.5 billion people use some Social Media channel every single day. That equates to 45% of the world population. And that number is growing. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that at least some of your ideal clients and sponsors are part of that number.
But Social Media marketing can’t be a hit-or-miss venture. The best companies develop a strategy for engagement with their fans and follower. You can’t hope to post something on your Facebook page or Twitter feed once and trust your fans or followers will see it. In fact, the algorithms of those two platforms are tricky to navigate. Without a dedicated strategy, you will almost never reach even the people who say they want to read your content.
And while those two giants gobble up the lion’s share of attentions, major players LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube also require serious attention. But don’t worry, as promised, you don’t have to be everywhere all the time. Learn where YOUR ideal client is and dominate that space.
68% of all Social Media users are on Facebook
69% of US adults say they use this platform
63% of Men and 75% of Women (% of US adults)
79%: 18–29
79%: 30–49
68%: 50–64
46%: 65+
*via Hootsuite
1 billion users every day
31% of Men and 43% of Women (% of US adults)
67%: 18–29
47%: 30–49
23%: 50–64
8%: 65+
500 million Instagram Stories every day
63% of users log in every day
1/3 of the most viewed Stories are from businesses
89% of the users are OUTSIDE of the U.S. (important if you are a global brand)
*via Hootsuite
330 million active monthly users
22% of US adults say they use this platform
24% of Men and 25% of Women (% of US adults)
38%: 18–29
26%: 30–49
17%: 50–64
7%: 65+
83% of the people who sent a Tweet to a company and received a response, felt better about the company and were more likely to do business with them.
53% of users say they bought a product they first saw on Twitter.
*via Hootsuite
690 million active users
27% of US adults say they use this platform
29% of Men and 24% of Women (% of US Adults)
28%: 18–29
37%: 30–49
24%: 50–64
11%: 65+
51% of people with a college education use LinkedIn
61% of users are 25-34 but 44% of ALL Americans aged 25-29 are on LinkedIn
4 out of 5 people who use LinkedIn drive business decisions
94% of B2B Marketers use LinkedIn for Content Marketing
80% of Social Media B2B leads come from LinkedIn
Voted “The Most Trusted Network” in 2019
Over 46% of all Social Media traffic to websites came from LinkedIn in 2019
*via Hootsuite
YouTube
2 billion logged in monthly
73% of US adults say they use this platform
78% of Men and 68% of Women (% of US Adults)
91%: 18–29
87%: 30–49
70%: 50–64
38%: 65+
The second largest search engine globally, following Google.
People upload 500 hours of video EVERY MINUTE
70% of what people watch is determined by the YouTube algorithm
Average visitors spends 11 minutes every day on the platform.
*via Hootsuite
335 million active users. Continues to be one of the fastest growing platforms - up 26% over 2019
28% of US adults say they use this platform
15% of Men and 42% of Women (% of US Adults)
34%: 18–29
35%: 30–49
27%: 50–64
15%: 65+
2 billion searches on Pinterest every month
3rd largest Social Network following Facebook and Instagram
Most popular with women, especially moms.
43% of Social Media users have a Pinterest account
High income households are twice as likely to have and use a Pinterest account.
*via Hootsuite
Others
The social media landscape has new players every day. It’s always good to keep your eyes and ears open, but unless your audience is a first-adopter type of client, don’t try to keep up with each new offering. Invest some time each month to investigate whether your audience is testing a new platform. If so, you will want to consider creating a presence.
Some to investigate are:
Industry specific platforms where you can post articles as a guest writer.
Last Words
The statistics and above recommendations are a starting place. This article is not the last word on where you want to build your Social Media connections. Invest time to discover your ideal market. Or, if you’d rather have someone help you, Waggoner Professional Services offers help for you to build your Social Media strategy. Reach out to us. We’re glad to help.
*Stats via Hootsuite
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