How Marketers Are Effectively Using Social Media in 2017

344 social media managers ostend that social media positively influencers revenue and sales

Social media is everywhere and is vastly expanding - but what effect practice the various social platforms take on a company'southward brand sensation, engagement, revenue, and sales?

Considering of the range of platforms available it can be difficult to know where to start, what platforms your target audition is using, and what content to share to increment engagement.

Download Paid Member Resources – Social Media Strategy Guide

Sympathize how to best use social media in your marketing strategy every bit an individual or as a business organization.

Admission the Social media marketing strategy guide

Smart Insights partnered up with Clutch, a service which helps businesses make B2B buying decisions, to find out what and how social media is being used in marketing and its effects on content distribution.

Y'all can view the total free report here.

Over half of those surveyed (52%) said that social media has positively influenced revenue and sales.

It is expected that every bit social media ages the number of companies that view social media every bit a positive influence will increase.

What are the leading social platforms?

Information technology was reported that Facebook (89%) and LinkedIn (83%) are the most valued social media platforms to use, which is no surprise as Facebook has the largest user rate and LinkedIn has been created with B2B objectives and aims in mind, making it a perfect platform to generate leads and increase conversion.

Facebook has a wide range of users globally, making it a perfect platform for companies to target their desired customer. With features like groups, pages and 'likes' it tin can likewise bring together a group of users with similar interests making it much easier for brands to target a larger audience all with their desired personas.

Instagram is a great platform for companies and brands that rely heavily on visuals and storytelling to increment engagement, generate leads and convert potential customers. National Geographic is a perfect example of this, with high-definition images and long captions to help increase their followers' emotions

Other social media platforms that are popular include Youtube, Twitter, and Instagram. However, platforms such as Google+, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Reddit remain low in value.

Pinterest, a visuals board, can give the aforementioned content to target audiences as Instagram (a more than popular social platform), and with the integration of stories and filters on Instagram and Facebook information technology has rendered Snapchat's trademark media platform obsolete in the eyes of many businesses. Yet, Snapchat remains the social platform teenagers spend the well-nigh time on, making information technology a valuable asset to your marketing strategy if your brand's target audience is Generation Z.

What content engages customers?

With users scrolling through 300 feet of content per mean solar day, Kat Hahn from Facebook suggests how brands can stand up out, in a mode that reflects the style users eat content on social media:

• On the get - brusque and snappy
• Lean forward - interactive content
• Lean back - immersive content, longer and goes into particular

Content on social media should educate and engage your audience - brand sure that the content positively reflects your brands' aims and purpose.

According to the study, written articles (27%), videos (26%), and images (24%) are the iii most engaging content on social media.

Videos and images are great types of content that appeal to social users that want quick and like shooting fish in a barrel to digest information.

"These content types are effective in getting cut-through in newsfeeds, so information technology is important not only to use these types of content but to invest in them and then the quality is at that place" - Dave Chaffey, Smart Insights CEO / Co-founder

Visual content is easier to share on social making its distribution potential larger and reaching a wider and more diverse audience.

Surprisingly, promotions/offers and infographics don't perform as well as articles, videos, and images. This may be due to users wanting to outset understand the make, its values, aims and purpose before rushing to a purchase - asking themselves what can this product/service do for me?

Original vs shared content

Nearly 80% of businesses share by and large original content and just 19% of companies share only original content.

Sharing and posting content that just your company produces increases your own make sensation and shows customers more about yourself.

Sharing your own content that has not been published/seen anywhere else can drive higher engagement, after all, users don't desire to encounter the same content on their social feeds. producing original content can increase engagement rates with your brand.

What engagement metrics are most important?

Date and conversion rates remain the well-nigh popular metrics. If a mail is successful it volition have high engagement rates (likes, comments, and shares) and as high conversions.

When considering other metrics such as impressions, this remains the least important at 3%. Impressions refer to the amount of users' feed your post has reached:

How exercise B2C and B2B companies use social media differently?

58% of B2C companies said social media has a more positive influence on the revenue and sales than B2B - purchasing decisions are more likely to occur on social media for B2C customers than B2B.

Still, social platforms differ betwixt B2C and B2B companies.

Facebook still remains the virtually valuable social platform for B2C companies, with many of their customers making purchasing decisions online. However, LinkedIn (93%) is the well-nigh valuable social platform for B2B companies so Twitter (83%).

This is because of the professional nature of these platforms, it'due south much easier to attain and engage with business organisation professionals and professional person company pages/profiles.

The challenges of social media

With many disruptors in social, it tin can exist hard to make your brand be seen, just many challenges of social media marketing include the admin behind it.

The top 3 challenges to social media marketing are:

• Non enough resources, including human and financial
• No formal strategy in place
• Building followers and social media influencers

Having no formal strategy in place is a massive obstacle - without one information technology will be difficult to see management, plan content and runway key metrics to constantly manage and optimize engagement and leads.

Key Takeaways

• 52% of businesses say that social media positively influencers acquirement and sales
• Nearly 80% of businesses share mostly original content
• 44% of  companies apply social media management software
• Only 28% of companies apply social media marketing agencies
• More B2C companies (53) consider investing more time and coin in social media valuable than B2B companies (46%)
• Written articles (27%), videos (26%), and images (24%) are the three most engaging types of content on social media

Share this post