Imagine a world without social media. No tweeting or scrolling through Facebook walls or watching videos on YouTube. Just you and I sending old letters and messages. As difficult as it is to imagine, that’s how it was a few decades ago.
Over the years, the numbers of visitors on social media pages have increased infinitely. It’s almost impossible to find someone who isn’t on at least one social media platform. People have begun to use social media for more than just checking up on people or putting what’s on their mind out there. There’s a whole lot of stuff happening on this internet side of the world.
Social media now represents the number one place to put your ideas out there. And businesses too aren’t shying away from maximizing this awesome invention. A whole lot of social media marketing strategies are being applied for businesses. There’s an opportunity to reach a wider audience and exhibit their goods and services. Sellers can now build lasting relationships with their target customers. All the while the customers in turn share their services and refer the business to other clients.
The possibilities are endless and in fact, mind blowing. Did you know there are over 2.8 billion people on social media networks? Yet, one must thread strategically in 2018 in order to attract the right audience. Ensure that you are not wasting valuable time and resources casting your net on the wrong side of the boat. It’s important to know the kind of opportunities social media offers. Then identify which is most suitable for your business.
By far the most popular social network among all age groups. We all love Mark Zuckerberg for this impressive idea. In 2017, an average of 1.9 billion people use Facebook for various activities monthly. 75% spending more than 20 minutes on this platform daily. We know this is a huge number. This number includes 83% of all online women and 75% of online men between the ages 18 and 49. Facebook allows for lengthy posts including pictures, videos and graphics of all sort. For businesses hoping to cast their net wide, Facebook is your best bet.
Following Facebook closely in population is YouTube. It’s the network that’s better than TV and has about a billion unique users monthly. Their service is unique. They offer video content to viewers and IS the giant of the visual side of social media. Most YouTube subscribers and users are between ages 18 and 49 and are predominantly male. A 2017 statistics shows that it is 55% male and 45% female. Since the percentages are close, it is safe to say that it is a place for all. About 2 million people are viewing a video or another on YouTube per minute. If your kind of business requires a demo of some sort, this is definitely the right marketplace for you.
Next in order of monthly users is Instagram. With over 600 million users monthly, Instagram is currently the fastest growing social media network. Again, females seem to use the app more as 38% of online women are on Instagram while 26% of online men use the app. Its users are mostly young vibrant people with 90% of all users falling below age 35. Instagram is an avenue for sharing pictures and short videos, another visually appealing app. It’s no wonder sellers like to promote their goods and services by posting pictures of their products on this media platform, hoping to get substantial amount of likes and comments that would earn them a top spot on the “search”. Instagram users also respond well to this marketers as 53% of users follow brands. Again, if you’re looking to target young women from all works of life, this is the marketplace for you.
Twitter offers a medium for people to post their thoughts and experiences in a few words. Although the number of words allowed is limited, businesses can post catchy tweets to promote their business or to release the latest news. Twitter ads for businesses also offer users the ability to reach a wider range of prospective clients and target audience. A large percentage of its 317million monthly users are between the ages 18 to 29, we can conveniently conclude that this is a place to reach out to the younger generation. Recent statistics show that 53% of Twitter uses never post any updates and spend an average of 2.7minutes on the app daily. Again this app is quite popular among the male folks with about 22% of online men users as compared to 15% of online women.
This platform offers the visual side of social media content too. A lot of entrepreneurs posting pictures of their works and including relevant links. Pinterest has about 317 million monthly users worldwide, most of which are female. An average of 45% of online women use the platform compared to 17% of online men. However this population is evenly distributed among the age range 18 to 64.
This social media platform offers something unique to users, the likelihood of your pin showing up thousand of tomes over and over again. The half life of a pin is said to be about 151,200 minutes; in short, your pin never gets old. It is also said that people who are referred to e-commerce sites through Pinterest are 10% more likely to make a purchase than users of other social media networks. Apparently if you run an e-commerce site and you’re targeting the female audience, you should seriously consider investing more time on this social media platform.
This is where professionals and those seeking to build bigger careers meet to share views and opportunities. LinkedIn has 106 million monthly users, and is mostly dominated by males. 31% of online males use this platform while 27% of online women do. Its users are mostly people with large annual income who are less likely to use other apps. Sometimes businesses share their services on this platform which is not a bad idea at all, considering that it consists of a lot of financially buoyant people. However, be sure that the type of services you offer are those that will interest work-savvy people who probably think critically and more seriously.
As already established, generating the right traffic for your kind of business depends largely on where you’re sorting for your target audience. It is important to identify the uniqueness of your brand, what it stands for and the kind of people that would be interested in investing their time and money on your business. A clear understanding of this will help you strategise towards exploiting the right social media network for your business as well as its marketing tools. Bear in mind that if you do your homework thoroughly, the sky is just the starting point for your business in the coming year.
If you truly want your business you not only thrive but also excel and stay ahead of all competition it faces, the above mentioned social media strategies need to be a part and parcel of your arsenal. Social Media and in extension the millennials generation are dictating the tune for all of business, and as such your business needs to become one with this space in order to take home its share of the bounty that abides in the years to come.
To help you craft your message and fine tune it to your social media audience, drop us an email at info@www.donnasantos.com
Posted By
Donna Santos
Categories
Corporate Media, Industry News
Tags
corporate video, marketing, photo and video production, videography