To all the business owners out there who are looking to grow their client base and their business, this social media marketing blog is for you.
If you want to thrive in the business world today, it’s important to know what’s going on with social media marketing and how it can improve your business’s marketing strategy.
But don’t just take our word for it. Social Media Examiner’s 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report is out. They surveyed 3,700 marketers ranging from individual business owners to companies employing over 1,000 people to find out how they’re using social media, what they want to learn, and what their plans are for the future.
You could sift through all 53 pages on your own if you really wanted to, or you can keep reading for important highlights, statistics and insight.
96 Percent of Marketers Are Using Social Media Marketing
Are you in the majority? It’s one thing to have social media accounts set up, but it’s not effective marketing if you don’t have a strategy in action to make the most of your accounts.
Investing in social media marketing doesn’t mean ditching traditional marketing efforts either. On the contrary, 84 percent of marketers strategically integrate their social and traditional marketing efforts. The integration is what makes marketing more accessible. Your audience doesn’t want to be talked at. Conversations, interactions and experiences are what make an impact, and social media provides that missing dynamic that people crave.
Facebook Is No. 1 With Social Media Marketers
Used by 93 percent of marketers, Facebook takes the lion’s share of attention in the social media space. When marketers were asked to choose one social platform for marketing purposes, 52 percent chose Facebook. The closest runner-up by a long shot was LinkedIn at 21 percent. (LinkedIn is currently the third most used network with 71 percent of marketers.)
Yet Facebook still maintains an air of mystery. 68 percent of marketers think there’s more to learn about Facebook, and they’re right. The platform is constantly evolving and changing its mysterious algorithms for visibility and reach.
Regardless of the learning curve, marketers still find value in spending their social advertising money on that network. 84 percent of marketers buy ads or boost posts on Facebook. Why? Because there are millions of people logging into Facebook every day to check out what’s new with their friends, family, coworkers and favorite brands, and paid Facebook advertising works.
62 percent of marketers have plans to increase their efforts with Facebook in the coming year. The slight decrease from the previous year is attributed to an increase in Instagram use.
Learn how to use the most basic of Facebook’s ad tools in this free download.
Twitter Is Still #2
Twitter is currently used by 79 percent of marketers, but it’s not where most are spending on advertising. While 66 percent of marketers plan to increase Twitter usage in the future, most have no plans of advertising on the network. So it’s a safe bet to say Twitter is solid marketing outlet without needing an ad budget.
This is fantastic news for small businesses who may not have a lot to spend. Though your outreach can feel constricted when you’re working with a maximum 140 characters, Twitter provides an opportunity to have a voice, extend your reach and drive traffic to your website.
What Are Marketers Posting?
Visuals — photos and graphics, not videos — and blogs are the most used types of content at 71 and 70 percent, respectively. Visual social networks like Instagram and Pinterest were developed to take advantage of this. Interestingly though, marketers say blogging is more important than visuals by a margin of 11 percentage points.
Why? The answer lies in content marketing, and specifically the sharing of engaging, interesting or helpful information with a client base in an effort to establish credibility, name recognition and client loyalty. People love visuals, but good content shared over time is what creates a real, lasting connection between business and consumer.
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Social Media Is a Long-Term Investment…
It’s important not to gloss over the phrase “shared over time.” More than half of marketers who have used social media for two or more years report their efforts have improved sales. Though the report does note 49 percent of all marketers say social media has not helped them improve sales, the Social Media Examiner suggests that’s largely the result of insufficient tracking tools, and we agree.
This goes back to the important role content marketing and social media has in a buyer’s journey. In businesses with a longer sales cycle, it takes work to keep clients engaged enough to come back. You don’t want to bombard them with sales pitches. When you’re sharing helpful information, tips and photos, it can be harder to gauge success in the moment and keep track of the fact that your ROI will find you down the road.
Your social media goal is to establish a loyal fan base who will continue doing business with you and send new clients your way. Do this by getting your name out in the world, setting yourself up as an industry expert and building connections with your clients.
But It Can Start as a Short-Term Time Commitment
According to the survey and 3,700 marketers, six hours is the magic tipping point when you begin to see results. If you invest six hours each week on social media marketing, there’s a good chance you will see increased exposure for your business like 91 percent of survey respondents. 81 percent saw an increase in website traffic.
Over 50 percent of marketers reported an increase in business partnerships, and 66 percent enjoyed greater lead generation. Keep at it for over a year and search engines will take notice. You’ll begin to see better search rankings as you become more relevant in the online world.
When used effectively, social media may help you save money too! 52 percent of small businesses — defined as 10 or fewer employees in this survey — saw decreased marketing expenses at the six-hour investment mark. (If committing to six hours a week is too much for you, let OutboundEngine handle your social media marketing.
The (Near) Future of Social Media
Within the next year, 66 percent of marketers plan to increase their use of Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. They also plan to increase their usage of visuals, videos and blogging.
Nearly half of all marketers (45 percent) would choose blogging as the single most important form of content. Business-to-consumer marketers consider visuals and blogging equal, while 57 percent of self-employed marketers stress the importance of blogs. No matter how you look at it, all signs point to blogging, which is a great outlet for content marketing.
What We Do
OutboundEngine takes clients’ marketing efforts to a new level by providing engaging and relevant content in the form of email newsletters and social media posts. We increase your brand’s exposure and keep you top-of-mind with clients for the long term.
We know that planning, crafting and executing a thoughtful content marketing and social media strategy takes a lot of work, particularly when you’re also juggling everything else it takes to run a small business. Save yourself those six-plus hours each week and let our expert, full-time marketing team do the work for you. Because, as we learned from the 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, social media is here to stay.
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