We recently uncovered some seriously shocking social media statistics – take this one for instance – it’s said that more than 600 million people who own a mobile phone don’t own a toothbrush. Crazy, right? Beyond ‘shock-value,’ these stats lead to targeted, insightful lessons that marketers can apply to their own business strategy. At their core, these statistics speak to the potential that social marketing holds. We’ll share 3 stats below and their implications for marketers. For even more stats and marketing implications, pick up our newest whitepaper, 6 Mind-Blowing Social Media Stats (And What They Mean for Marketers).
1. Nielsen estimates that social media and blogs reach 80% of all active US Internet users (of which there are 245 million).
If you’re not there, you’re missing out on plenty of potential opportunities to increase brand awareness, identify prospects and strengthen relationships with existing customers. The vastness of that statistic indicates that if you aren’t on social media or actively blogging, your competitors probably are, forging relationships that could be yours.
Leverage the Stat:
1. Locate your prospects: Perform a social audit to find out where your customers and prospects spend their time online.
2. Secure channels: If you haven’t already done so, secure your place on social media channels and start a blog. Fill out each profile completely to answer the basic questions your audience may have: who are you, what are you about and how can they contact you.
3. Develop a content strategy and content: What themes will you own? What non-promotional content will you share with your audience? Develop engaging, relevant content themes that support your brand.
2. One in every seven minutes spent online is spent on Facebook.
A similar implication as stat #1: that’s a tremendous amount of time spent on Facebook. Other sources confirm the average Facebook visit is 20 minutes per user. The takeaway is clear: Facebook welcomes a large and engaged audience. For marketers, this represents a prime opportunity to share your message with visitors, possibly with more people per day than visit your own site. To properly capitalize on this opportunity, brands need to have a high EdgeRank, coupled with high quality content. For more on EdgeRank, check out our paper EdgeRank: Stop Worrying About It and Love Your Content.
Leverage the Stat:
1. Post one to two times daily – The half-life of a Facebook post is 18 hours, so limit your posting to one to two times per day. More than that may actually decrease engagement.
2. Include media – Adding a photo and video to posts increases the life of content by 16% and 9% respectively. Always support posts with a photo (or a video, if possible).
3. Encourage sharing – Feature clear calls-to-action on your posts. If you want to expand your social reach, invite your followers to share the content with their friends.
3. 91% of experienced social marketers see improved website traffic due to social media campaigns and 79% are generating more quality leads.
That’s the ideal scenario – social marketing as a driver of increased website traffic and leads. It may not happen overnight, but by investing in the proper resources and research, brands can improve and optimize their social marketing performance.
Leverage the Stat:
1. Learn from the best: Study the leader in your industry and category. How are they leveraging social to drive growth? Analyze and apply best practices gleaned from studying the category leaders. (To get started, check out what top social brands like Whole Foods and Farmers Insurance are doing in our paper Social Success Stories: Marketing Lessons from Industry Leaders).
2. Join the conversation: Find discussions that are relevant to your brand and offerings. Publish content that will tap into their passions. Take it from the owner of Foiled Cupcakes, who recruited 94% of her clientele by making connections on Twitter.
3. Interact creatively with your fans and followers: Provide an incentive to sign up for an email newsletter or run a contest asking for photo submissions of customers using your product. Feature winners on your Facebook Cover Photo, website and/or Twitter background.
Don’t forget to check out our newest whitepaper, 6 Mind-Blowing Social Media Stats (And What They Mean for Marketers) for even more amazing social marketing stats. Have any shocking social media statistics changed your marketing strategy? Will you apply the lessons learned in this post? Tell us at @awarenessinc.
