Social Media Guide for Businesses 2019
By Anthony Indraus April 29, 2019
Social Media Strategy for Business Updated for 2019; There was once a time where social media platforms were numbered, full of glittery and sparkly profiles, with no such a thing as business pages (yes I am talking about MySpace, and Hi5). But times have changed and now we have an endless list of social media platforms to choose from.
Whilst social media pages are a key element in any business’ marketing strategy; offering direct customer interactions and relationship building aspects, It is a misconception that your business needs a page on every single social media platform out there (That is a lot of pages to maintain).
Choosing the social media platform that suits your business the most will save you a lot of marketing money and get you the highest ROI as you will be marketing directly to users that match your ideal customer’s persona.
So which platform should you use? there are a few questions you have to ask before determining which platforms to utilise in your social media strategy, creating a customer persona by answering the following questions should be your first step:
- Who is your ideal customer? Age, gender and location.
- What is their job or role?
- What are their pain points? and what are you offering to alleviate or eliminate them?
- Where do they go to find information?
- What are their major interests?
Answering those questions will help you create a rough sketch of what your ideal buyer would look like and in turn will make it easier to determine which platform will work best for your business. Now it’s time to dissect some of the most popular social media channels to help you determine which one(s) to pursue.
Social Media Channels
The behemoth of all social media platforms with 2.23 Billion monthly active users, an average of 35 minutes spent per day making it the holy grail of social media marketing.
Demographics:
Source: SproutSocial
- 62% of Females and 74% of Males Use Facebook.
- 81% of 18-29 year olds use facebook.
- 75% Live in an urban area.
- 75% of adults who make more than $75,000 use Facebook.
Marketing Statistics:
- 78% of Consumers discovered a product through Facebook.
- 89% of B2C businesses advertise on Facebook.
- 30% of Marketers think Facebook offers the highest Digital ROI.
- Only 31% of businesses use Facebook Messanger.
- The Average Facebook user clicks on 8 Ads per month.
While Facebook has to be the centerpiece of your social media marketing strategy, there are a few considerations you have to put in mind, Facebook users are extremely critical about ad targeting, most just ignore its existence and they do NOT like the sales pitches so your posts have to be educational rather than just sales offers.
Conclusion: Facebook is a great medium for Business to Consumer marketing, while Business to Business marketing might not be as effective.
The land of the opinionated and the 140 character limit god recently increased to 280 characters, with 326 Million active users a month, with over 500 Million tweets per day, makes it the land of efficient marketing, it is a great way to communicate with your prospects with a high chance of going viral; after all 34% of marketers use Twitter to successfully generate leads.
Demographics:
- 24% of Male Internet Users, user Twitter.
- 21% of Female Internet Users, User Twitter.
- 37% users are between the age of 18–29 , 25% are between 30–49.
- 25% Live in urban areas, 23% live in suburban areas.
- 27% Make more than $75,000 annually.
Marketing Stats:
- 71% of users are reading the news there.
- People are 31% more likely to recall what they saw on Twitter.
- 75% of B2B Businesses use Twitter.
- Twitter ads are 11% more effective than TV ads during events.
Twitter is a very great marketing tool, but to stand out you need great content, repeated tweeting and responding to tweets, make sure you have a plan and schedule tweets using tools like HootSuite or Buffer.
Conclusion: In a recent survey 49% of respondents prefer connecting and interacting with brands on Twitter than any other social media channel, on Twitter your customers and prospects want to hear what you have to say.
Linkedin is the network of professionals, with 590 Million users over 200 countries and an average of 4 hours of surfing spent per week, Linkedin is the ideal social media channel for businesses and professionals to connect.
Important Statistics:
- 45% of Linkedin Users are in upper Management.
- 2 Million posts, articles, and videos are published on Linkedin every single day.
- Linkedin is the Leading Social Media Channel for B2B Marketers
- Posts with images get twice the comments and engagement.
- 91% of executive rate Linkedin as their number one destination for industry-relevant content.
- 50% of B2B web traffic originating from social media comes from Linkedin.
Conclusion: Linkedin is the perfect platform for your B2B strategy whether you are a new business after generating new leads or a freelancer, but it requires a pretty active and engaging presence.
Demographics:
- 64% of Instagram Users are between the ages of 18-34
- 50.3% Of users are Females, while 49.7% are Male.
- 60% of People say they discovered products using Instagram.
Instagram has been enjoying steady growth and being embraced by marketers everywhere and for a good reason, it’s visual and users are emotionally invested in what you share on it which makes it a powerful marketing tool but one that needs careful planning,
Marketing Statistics:
- 80% of users follow at least one business.
- 75% of users take action.
- 70% of users are more likely to buy via mobile.
Here are a few tips to get the most out of Instagram:
- Create a great identity with your profile, include a great description and a link to your website. Utilise the space!
- Create a guideline for your content, consistency with your posts is key.
- Only post interesting visuals, make sure they are beautifully designed.
- Put together a posting schedule and use an automatic posting tool (try to keep it daily).
- Interact with other users, repost interesting photos that match your marketing persona and use the “@” to mention the original contributor.
- USE HASHTAGS, yes use custom and popular hashtags to attract followers don’t be shy.
- Make use of Instagram Stories and Live Features.
- Follow and comment, be active don’t just post photos, use the search feature and comment on hashtags related to your business but STAY AWAY from sales pitches.
- Reach out to influencers.
- Start a Contest or giveaway.
Before we go on telling you why Pinterest is good for a business’s marketing strategy, I want you to check out their success stories page. While Pinterest is quite a different social network, it is a place where everyone shares visual interests so it kind of is a Super Instagram, sharing the same principles, you need a lot of research and planning to succeed on Pinterest.
Demographics:
- 81% of Pinterest Users are Females.
- Millenials use Pinterest as much as Instagram.
- 50% of Pinterest Users are from the U.S.
- The Median age of a Pinterest user is 40.
- Half of Pinterest users make over $50,000 per year.
But why Pinterest?
It Converts and drives traffic
Pinterest offers the simplest cycle of purchase, See It, Like It, Buy it. Directly pinning products from your website with a simple description and a direct link to the purchase page reduces the sales cycle and increases the conversion rate.
Organic Marketing
Posting visually interesting pins will help you gain more inbound marketing through users sharing your pin and saving it to their own collections, exposing you to more prospects than any other social media channel.
It is addictive
Pinterest thrives on its addictive nature, the average time spent on Pinterest is 14.2 minutes per visit!
Great discovery platform
Being able to easily find out what your prospects and current clients are interested in for the possibility of new products and new revenue streams.
Conclusion
While we can discuss more Social Media Networks like Snapchat, Tumblr, TikTok .. etc we will just focus on the ones we listed, again as we mentioned you don’t have to create an account on all of the aforementioned social media platforms, try focus on one or two to start with and find the one that best connects YOU with your ideal audience, after all; you can have millions of followers but none of them really wants your product, focus on the channel that offers the most returns. SHARE. ANALYSE. REPEAT.
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