You have spent time and energy to create great content for your site. Now what? Great content is very helpful for long term search engine optimization but it takes time to experience the full benefits. If you want to see immediate results, social media marketing is a must!
Which Social Media Websites Should I Use For My Business?
The best answer to that is, as many as you will actively use. Realistically most business owners are very busy and will not take the time to use multiple social media outlets. Certain social media outlets are okay to maintain a more passive presence, such as LinkedIn and Pinterest. It is great to actively post content and updates on both of those sites but simply having a LinkedIn profile (completely filled out with accurate information) is a good idea, as is sharing custom graphics or photos of the products or services your business offers on Pinterest. Other social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram require a more active, daily or even hourly presence, and will in turn provide more immediate results.
Most social media websites offer advertising to help business reach a large audience. Facebook and Twitter actually limit the organic (non-paid) reach of posts from a business page. A page with 10,000 Facebook fans may see a typical post reach only 200 and 500 fans without paying to “boost” the post. If a post is very popular with the fan base and the post receives a lot of interaction (likes, comments, re-shares etc) Facebook will “serve” the post to a wider audience. Even very popular posts will rarely reach 70% of a pages total fan base, even if the page has a large following. Using demographic targeted advertising available on Facebook and most other social media outlets, will allow posts to reach many more people, both fans of the page and those not associated with the company’s page.
Here are some helpful facts to help you decide which social media sites to use. These are statistics published in January of 2015 by pewinternet.org and provide info based on American adult internet users in 2014.
Facebook Demographics:
71% of Internet Users Use Facebook (stagnant from previous year)
66% of Men (stagnant)
77% of Woman (up 1%)
18 – 29 year olds 87% (up 3%)
30 – 49 Year olds 73% (down from 79%)
50 – 64 Year olds 63% (up from 60%)
65+ 56% (up from 45%)
Twitter Demographics:
23% of Internet Users (Up from 18% the previous year)
24% of Men (up from 17%)
21% of Women (up from 16%)
18 – 29 year olds 37% (up from 31%)
30 – 49 year olds 25% (up from 19%)
50 – 64 year olds 12% (up from 9%)
65+ 10% (up from 5%)
Instagram Demographics:
26% of all internet users use Instagram (Up from 17%)
22% of Men (up from 15%)
29% of Women (up from 20%)
18 – 29 53 % (up from 37%)
30 – 49 25% (up from 18%)
50 – 64 11% (up from 6%)
65+ 6% (up from 1%)
Pinterest Demographics:
28% of all internet users (up from 21%)
13% of Men (up from 8%)
42% of Women (up from 33%)
18 – 29 year olds 34% (up from 27%)
30 – 49 year olds 28% (up from 24%)
50 – 64 year olds 27% (up from 14%)
65+ 17% (up from 9%)
LinkedIn Demographics:
28% of all internet users (up from 22%)
28% of Men (up from 24%)
27% of Women (up from 19%)
18 – 29 year olds 23% (up from 15%)
30 – 49 year olds 31% (up from 27%)
50 – 64 year olds 30% (up from 24%)
65+ 12% (up from 13%)
http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/demographics-of-key-social-networking-platforms-2/
So what do these numbers mean? Facebook far outranks all other social media sites in pure user numbers but appears to be slowly losing users. All of the other networks are experience growth but at varying rates. If you are targeting people between the ages of 18 and 29 both Facebook and Instagram are great choices. Studying these statistics will help you make a more informed decision on where you can reach your targeted demographic best.
What Should I Post On My Social Media Accounts To Grow My Business?
This is where that great content you have on your site comes in. You do have great written content that is extremely relevant to your products or services right? If your answer is no, it is time to change that. Hire a marketing agency that employs professional writers if you don’t care to write, or don’t have the time to write good content. If you don’t utilize a blog for your business, you should strongly consider making one. Blog writing is a great way to actively update your website with current, up to date information. Great written content helps your website in many ways from conversion optimization to search engine optimization.
Use Custom Graphics and Photographs to Maximize Your Social Media Reach
Visual content like photography or custom made graphics that are unique to your site are another important factor of online marketing success. This applies to both on your website and on social media. Social Media Examiner (a leader in the social media marketing industry) states that posts with great visuals receive on average 87% more interaction and 35% more reshares. This helps your posts perform better organically (non-paid), as well as when you pay to promote your posts. This principle holds true on all social media websites that aren’t completely visually oriented such as Instagram and Pinterest.
When your content is reshared your posts will reach more fans of your page and even those who may have never heard of your company. Social media is an effective tool to keep your brand name at the top of the mind of people who are familiar with your company as well as to reach those who have never heard of you before.
How Do I Get Started?
The Maneuver Up Marketing team understands the how’s and why’s of social media marketing. We stay current on social media trends and can help your business stand out from the rest. We can help you identify your target audience and also help you reach them for maximum return on investment. Our staff of professional marketing specialists, content writers and graphic designers can help you develop, initiate and execute a marketing plan specialized for your business. If you would like to learn more, call and chat with our team today at 231 257 1952.
