Many businesses try to increase their visibility online and create a Facebook page or an Instagram account. The thing with social media marketing, like most other marketing efforts, is that a ‘set it and forget it’ approach doesn’t work. It could be why so many businesses are on Facebook or Instagram, but it seems that there is very little activity on the pages. And just like any other aspect of building a business, social networking requires the same hard work. But once the work is done and maintained, the benefits are rewarding.
Read on to learn from how successful marketers are using social media and their plans for the future.
Social Media is Good for Small Businesses
A recent social media study on small businesses found that 90% of small businesses are using Facebook. Seeing that Facebook is one of the largest social media platforms in the world, that makes sense. Also, over 50% plan to increase investment in Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
But the interesting thing is that not all small businesses are using social media. Twenty-four percent small business owners polled have not used social media for their business. Some might have started, created the page, and ran a couple of posts, got no response, and so didn’t bother continuing. It’s a frequent occurrence. Some of the reasons that social media might not be working for some businesses is that building an audience online takes some time unless you are a big name brand who are already established. You also have to know how to do this right or find a reputable social media expert.
For your social media pages to grow, you need to use the right strategies and draw your customers to you. Many people like to get updates from businesses they consider using. Social media is a way for your customers to follow your every move. Social media for any small business is a must because of its cost-effectiveness, the ever-growing popularity, and the ability to laser target new and existing customers.
If you are a small business that doesn’t have an online strategy in place for social media, then now is the time to get one.
If you are new to social media marketing, all you have to do is to follow the trail of marketers who are crushing it in social media with adequate guidance from an expert social media marketing consultant.
What Are the Most Used Social Media Platforms?
If you answered ‘Facebook’ after reading this, then you were right. Facebook has more than 2 billion daily active users, while Instagram recently hit the 700 million mark. Interestingly enough, Twitter and LinkedIn are somewhere between both of these. These are all viable platforms to increase any businesses’ exposure. If we look at current statistics and where social media marketing is headed, based on a study by Social Media Examiner, we can clearly assume that it’s only going to become more and more popular with more people using it as the years go by.
Here’s how they stack up:
94% – Facebook
68% – Twitter
56% – LinkedIn
54% – Instagram
45% – YouTube
A big factor in this is also that technology has made it easier, and cheaper, for just about anyone to afford a decent mobile device. And while we are on the subject, it might also be worth to mention that mobile users definitely continue to increase.
What’s the Optimal Posting Frequency
According to an online survey, marketers post 8 times on Facebook per day. 39% of marketers using social media increased their posting on Facebook over the last 12 months, while 68% of marketers said they planned on increasing their posting in the next 12 months.
When it came to Instagram, marketers post 4 times per day. 41% of marketers increased their posting frequency with 63% saying they had plans on increasing their posts.
Twitter marketers post to Twitter 6 times per day. 55% are saying they had already increased their posting, with 56% saying they were planning on increasing their posts.
Marketers post to LinkedIn 4 times per day. 31% of LinkedIn Marketers increased their posts, with 55% planning on increasing their posting. And while 50% of marketers plan on increasing the posting frequency, they should be aware that quality content should be maintained to keep exposure and traffic up.
High-Quality Content is an Absolute Must On Social Media
Some marketers were asked how they had planned to change their future content activities. It was found that marketers plan to increase use of videos 75%, increase visuals by 73%, do 65% more blogging, use more live videos by 61%, and podcasting by 26%.
With that being said, here are specific tips to optimizing your content for social media:
Video: Putting your face on the video, speak directly to the target audience, and they will end up having a stronger connection and trust in you.
Visuals: Infographics, memes, visual cards work. For visual cards, put your main message in a short phrase with an image to match for greater impact. Use infographics present extensive information or data that is easier to comprehend.
Blogging: It’s still important to continue blogging while adding videos, visual cards, and infographics to your blog posts. The more quality content you have in your post, the better your efforts will turn out. Content should be relevant and comprehensive.
Live Videos: The popularity of live videos is still on the rise, and while it’s a relatively new option for content, 61% of marketers plan on using more live videos to capture the attention of potential customers. Some of the things that businesses can do are broadcast company events, educational how-to events, and Q&A videos which can really draw people. Everyone loves a live video where they can comment and ask questions. This also shows that your brand is authentic, and you will gain a stronger connection with your audience.
Ultimately, the content that you post will be the key to getting people to like, connect, and follow you. And posting quality content on a continuous basis is the one thing that is going to get more people interacting. And once you do get people to interact with you, they will become engaged, and then you can lead them back to your website. Engagement is an ongoing thing that you should keep going once you get it started. From there it’s as simple as using advanced techniques to turn those visitors into loyal customers.
Josh Murack
