The Latest Social Media Strategy
Hardly a week goes by that we’re not shocked by a new development in the realm of social media marketing. Last week’s big news was the fact that we’re now able to create and upload cover photos on Twitter. A few weeks before that, we learned that the Twitter founders were cooking up an all-new social media network dedicated to quality content curation. What is inbound marketing other than a lifestyle of learning, anyway? We’ve compiled a few of the most mind-boggling stats from Awareness Social Marketing Software’s all-new whitepaper 6 Mind-Blowing Social Media Facts. From ignoring clients on Facebook to Twitter’s brand-new status as a major search engine, we’d be lying if we said we weren’t a little surprised at some of these developments:
1. Your Competitors Aren’t Social Enough
Almost all companies ignore their clients attempts to offer feedback and build relationships? Well, that’s a pretty serious problem for their brand image and a big opportunity for your company to pull ahead! Consumers now view opinions posted online as the second most trustworthy form of marketing and brand research. Your leads and clients are watching what’s posted on your Facebook page, and it’s imperative you respond.
Here’s another secret: you don’t have to reinvent the wheel each and every time you receive a wall post. While your responses to clients questions, compliments and complaints shouldn’t be overly formulaic, establishing criteria for how to respond can streamline your social media monitoring.
2. Pinterest Drives Purchases
Pinterest is a B2C marketer’s dream come true. It also appeals to consumers in a world where peer recommendations influence purchase decisions and appealing images out-perform sales calls. What’s most interesting about the latest data is that Pinterest drives really qualified traffic; people who are ready to make larger purchases. Referrals purchases from Pinterest tend to be almost double the final price of other social media networks, indicating that users view it as a place to discover product solutions. Keep in mind that images of products with prices listed have a tendency to perform 36% better than priceless pins.
3. Facebook is Addicting
Facebook, even though your IPO was a little disappointing, it looks like you’re still getting some serious love from your members. Consumers spend more time on Facebook than other major social media networks – Twitter time tends to be around 13 minutes and the average length of a LinkedIn session clocks in at just 8 minutes. Once a day isn’t always enough, either – 23% of Facebook users check their accounts at least 5 times daily!
Unlike Twitter, research has indicated that posting frequently on Facebook can actually decrease engagement and fans, so make each post count. Awareness, Inc. recommends that marketers make a habit of including a photo or a video with each post, which have been shown to increase engagement by 16% and 9% respectively.
4. Quality Content Counts
The latest research indicates that consumers are still primarily motivated to follow brands on social media by the possibility of scoring sales, deals and discounts. Quality content comes in a close 4th, however, and the strong social media following of consistently humorous brands like Old Spice and Taco Bell supports this theory. Create marketing people love by experimenting with humor or posting content worthy of shares.
5. Search and Discovery is Social
I shouldn’t be so shocked that Twitter iss becoming a major search engine, considering that personal recommendations are now nearly twice as effective as television advertising. There’s no better time than now to add targeted keyword listening to your social media strategy. By searching terms that are related to your industry, you can position yourself as an expert by answering real questions from real people. Wine marketing mastermind Gary Vee has been offering wine recommendations in response to random queries for years. Chicago-based small business Foiled Cupcakes takes their strategy a step further by doing keyword-specific searches on terms like shoes or chocolates that are relevant to their buyer personas and then striking up a dialogue.
Regardless of whether your inbound marketing strategy requires social media monitoring in 16 minutes a day or whether you can adopt targeted keyword listening, it’s time to graduate from Social Media 101 by mastering topics like How to Use Hashtags on Twitter and moving towards advanced inbound marketing strategy like optimal link placement.
How Will These Social Media Discoveries Affect Your Inbound Marketing Strategy?
