Is Social Media Marketing right for me?
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Social Media Marketing is a key component of your digital marketing structure, with posts planned, supported with images and tailored to fit within your overall marketing strategy. Whilst some posts can be shared across multiple channels, you should be cognisant of the audience reached within each of the social media platforms, and tailor your communications accordingly. Before embarking on a social media communications plan, you also need to decide which of the platforms is appropriate for you, and which would be a waste of your time. There are other social media networks, but for the purpose of this blog we will review only the five most common ones for business marketing.
Facebook was the original platform for friends and family to connect, then brands joined the scene. Facebook is still an important tool with 2.23 billion users logging in each month, and 66% of that 2.23 billion visiting the site daily for an average of 20 minutes each time.
There are more than 80 million small and medium enterprise business pages and 89% of B2B companies use Facebook in one way or another. Add to that statistic the fact that 30% of users are aged 25-34, you have your audience profile.
As for best times to post, the highest site traffic on Facebook occurs between 1pm and 3pm, and on Thursday and Friday, engagement increases by 18%.
Groups offer a way for business to interact with their audience or customer base, and with over 200 million Facebook subscribers as members of groups with which they regularly interact, this is something to be considered as part of your social media marketing strategy.
A professional network initially used as a job-search platform but which has developed into a resource for managing relationships and reputation, sharing professional content and staying informed.
With over 590 million users (9 million in the UK / 146 million in the USA), each with an average of 400 connections and 45% of these users in upper management, it is hardly surprising that 94% of B2B marketers regularly publish content on this platform.
As for Facebook, industry or topic specific groups are a key focus of this information sharing network.
A micro-blogging social network, with real-time conversations in miniature. With 500 million Tweets each day, it is easy for your message to get lost in the chatter, but as the number one platform for government leaders, and with 80% of users falling into the ‘affluent millennial’ bracket, this might just be your ideal outlet. 75% of B2B marketers Tweet, with 85% claiming that it is a key platform for the provision of customer service. The best time to Tweet is 3pm on weekdays. You can manage your network in ‘lists’ and the use of effective hashtags (#) allows conversations to be tracked and measured.
YouTube
A video channel covering everything from hilarious antics of children and animals to instructional manuals for just about everything. Over 1.9 billion people log-in monthly, and 70% of those use a mobile device to view the videos. If the younger generation is your target market, you will find more 18-34 year olds watching YouTube videos than any TV network. Over 50,000 years’ worth of product reviews have been watched in the last 2 years, on mobile devices. Worth considering if video content is how you market your products and services.
A visual platform where images take centre stage. With 1 billion users, 71% of whom are under age 35, Instagram also boasts 25 million business profiles. 60% of users have admitted to seeking out new products on Instagram and 80% of users follow at least one business account. The use of original unique images is key, and hashtags (#) help to monitor trends and conversations, and enable your target audience to find you amidst the 95 million daily posts.
Conclusion
Maintaining active profiles across all social media platforms is a time-consuming exercise, but with the right target marketing and audience profiling, plus relevant, unique content and imagery, the investment should pay dividends.