Social media marketing is poised to pivot

Posted on December 24, 2021 in internet marketing, Internet Marketing Company, Link Building Service, Local Internet Marketing, Marketing, Mobile SEO, Online Marketing, Search Engine Marketing Services, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, SEO Services, Social Media Management, Social Media Marketing Services, Video Marketing, Video Optimization, Video Search Engine Optimization, web video marketing

Just when you might think that your social media strategy is doing just fine, circumstances arise that can cause a small business to re-evaluate that strategy. Uncertainty and volatility seem to be the buzzwords these days and social media seems to be no different. It is always better to know where something may be going in order to pivot with it and make adjustments to give your business a competitive edge. In some recent data published by FinancesOnline, it seems that social media is about to pivot in ways you may not have anticipated. The following is taken directly from that recently published report:

  • Social media has deeply embedded itself into our culture. In fact, a study revealed that 86% of the United States population uses social media daily (The Manifest).
  • Social media is used by practically everybody, everywhere. This makes it a prime spot for businesses to look for leads. It’s no wonder why the majority of top sales representatives rely on these platforms for their strategies. Furthermore, as modern buyers are now more knowledgeable than ever, traditional sales pitches, and cold calls and cold messages might not cut it for you (Top Dog Social Media). Nowadays, it’s not simply about closing a sale but building a relationship. After all, 76% of customers are willing to have a social media conversion with a potential provider and 53% of customer loyalty has been found to be driven by the salesperson’s ability to offer unique insights (OptinMaster).

key social media trends

  • 90% of top sales representatives leverage social media as part of their strategies (LinkedIn). Meanwhile, 89% of top-performing sales professionals say networking platforms, such as LinkedIn are important in closing their deals (LinkedIn).
  • The benefits of using social media for selling and marketing include increased exposure (86%), increased traffic (78%), and higher lead generation (67%). (Social Media Examiner). 40% of businesses have adopted or are planning to adopt social selling strategies (Hootsuite).
  • Influencer marketing has a return on investment of up to $18 for every dollar spent (Influencer Marketing). 70% of teenagers say they can relate more to YouTube creators than celebrities (Google). 49% of internet users rely on influencer recommendations they see on Twitter (Twitter).

shoppers prefer watching live videos

  • If you truly want to capture the attention of your target audience and convert them, you should also explore and leverage user-generated content (UGC) besides influencer marketing.
  • Majority of customers (71%) post about brands on social media to inform fellow consumers about their experience with the company (Lyfe Marketing).
  • Consumers are 2.4 times more likely to see UGC as more authentic than brand-created content (Stackla).
  • Meanwhile, 79% of consumers say UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions (Stackla).
  • The types of digital content that social media users would most likely share are photos (78%) and simple status updates (64%). They are also fine with posting news articles (45%), product recommendations (44%), status updates on personal opinion (41%), video clips (32%), and GIFs (20%) (Crowdtap).
  • Live streaming is expected to make up 17% of all internet traffic by 2022 (Cisco).
  • 80% of shoppers prefer watching live videos to reading blogs from a brand (Livestream).
  • Instagram videos can yield roughly 21.2% more customer interactions compared to images (quintly).
  • Live content gets 27% more minutes of watch time per view compared to video on demand (Conviva).
  • 59% of shoppers want to see posts that will educate them (Sprout Social).
  • 30% of consumers want content with links to more information while 18% want to see more images or some form of graphic. There’s also 17% who prefer seeing videos, 11% who like seeing text, or 7% edited photos (Sprout Social).
  • In general, the types of social media content that are more likely to get more engagement are images (68%), videos (50%), text-based posts (30%), stories (26%), polls (26%), live video (22%), and GIFs (17%). (Sprout Social).
  • 71% of customers expect brands to offer customer support through online messaging platforms (Conversocial).
  • 69% of shoppers say that interacting with a company through messaging apps makes them feel more at ease with the brand (Facebook).
  • Furthermore, 94% of customers are also likely to buy again from brands that deliver a satisfying customer experience over messaging platforms (Conversocial).

– Written by Kevin Sawyer