One in every five minutes spent online on a cell phone is dedicated to Facebook. More than 100 billion hours of video are watched by users on Facebook and the number of businesses that have a Facebook page is a staggering 65 million. Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat are not far behind. The power of YouTube is such that it reaches more people in the U.S. than any cable network!

Social media is everywhere!

Expenditure on social media advertising almost doubled to $31 billion in the year 2016 compared to the 2014 figures of $16 billion. And not surprisingly social media stalwarts Facebook and Instagram are reaping the rewards with the former grabbing 69% of expenditure by marketers on advertisement and the latter generating more than 1 billion dollars in revenue in 2016.  The arms of the social media platforms are far reaching as these statistics reveal:

• Facebook tops the list among social media channels 68% of the total adult population in the U.S. use Facebook
• Among internet users, close to 79% use Facebook
• Millennials also are avid users of social platforms and 81% of them are on Twitter every day.
• Snapchat reaches 41% of adults in the age group of 18 to 34 every day.

It is easy to see the power of social media. Just consider these statistics revealed by a study carried out on more than 2700 social media pros in countries including UK, US, Australia, South Africa, Canada and many others. In fact professionals from 111 countries participated in this social analytics study. The findings were as below:

• As social media flexes its muscle, social media marketing teams pick up strength as the survey found. The team size as far as social media marketing is concerned is growing every year. In 2017, there was a 15% drop in agencies or companies that said they have only one or two social media marketing professionals.
• While social media marketers are allocating budget across various social media channels, conversion goals and traffic have not been clearly defined. 
• A huge number of 47% of those surveyed indicated they would prefer to use software to help achieve optimal strategies for social media marketing. 

Reasons why social media marketing is important for marketers:

If the above figures do not tell the complete story, here are some factors to consider to see why social media marketing needs to occupy center stage in every business:

• Leverage the fast growing industry.  Experts believe the growth will be to the tune of 25% each year in the coming years. Given these figures, it is vital to consider investing in social media if you already haven’t.
• Attract new customers and increase brand awareness: Among small businesses, 78% already are using social media to promote brand awareness and attract customers. Social media channels help validate your brand as they are already an accepted, credible way of communication for billions of users. More than 64% of users indicate they would prefer a brand that has a social media presence.
• Grow your business:  Social media is a quick way to grow the reach and revenue for businesses given the number of users that are active every day on various platforms. Social media helps you connect and engage with your existing customer base effectively. 

Let us help you ramp up your social media marketing!  Contact us to start today!