15 social media stats every business owner should know

In every sector, at every marketing meeting, business owners are told just how important social media is to their future. But what does that really mean? What is it that makes social media so different, and why is it so essential for any business today?

Below are some stats that'll show you why social media is where your market is today, and why any business that wants to be alive in the next 5 years should be doing all they can to get on board.

Social media is showing no signs of slowing down. 

For any business, the most important thing is to get your brand and message in front of your target audience. However, that can be a lot easier to do if you know where to find that audience, and today, they're on social media.

This applies to your current audience, with nearly 80% of Australians using social media. As well as your future audience, with 95% of those aged between 12 and 24 using social media regularly. Globally, by the end of 2018, social media is expected to encompass 2.5 billion users, and that’s an audience no business can afford to ignore. 

1. Social media builds trust and loyalty

BREAKING: Your audience doesn't like ads.

The average person exposed is to as many as 5,000 ads per day. So it's not surprising that they're starting to tune out. 

Research has shown that trust and affinity are strongly linked with exposure, and exposure is the driver behind one of the rules of marketing in this new digital world, known as the 7 touchpoints before a sale. Social media is perfect for engaging with your audience with content and building a relationship before any sale. So when the sales message arrives, it’s more readily accepted.

A recent study indicated that 74% of consumers use Facebook to follow brands for future engagement, it’s a way to retain an audience without putting them off with a hard sell. All of which is supported by the findings that 53% of Americans who follow brands on social are more loyal to those brands.

2. Social media increases brand awareness 

This is not just about brands people are already familiar with, social media as a whole is an incredible vehicle for discovery, with 60% of Instagram users say they discover new brands and products through the app.

Instagram is not alone, with all social media being a fantastic way for your message to reach out to new people.

Social media can also separate you from the competition, with brands on social media being viewed as being more progressive, invested in their business and understanding the importance of servicing their customers.

“28 percent of consumers said social media plays a valuable role in helping them become aware of new brands and products [and helped] eliminate brands from consideration for 30 percent of consumers.”

3. Social Media humanises your brand

Let’s be honest here, most people like dealing with other people, not companies. In the past it's been difficult to get your brand's personality across to your audience. With social media it’s the exact opposite, its all about the person, the relatable attitude behind the accounts that makes the connection with the audience. 

Whether it’s written content, a video or just an amusing tweet, social media allows your audience to relate to your message through the human personality putting that message out there, the two-way interaction that is almost impossible to achieve in any other medium, and it really does pay off in the long run. With that relationship comes trust, and ultimately brand loyalty. That loyalty is important, research shows that loyalty is based on 86% likeability and 83% trust, and you don’t get either of those from an ad. You do get them from being relatable and building a relationship on social media though, and that brand loyalty pays off not just in continued sales, but of advocacy from your customers.

4. Social lets you capitalise on word-of-mouth 

Unsurprisingly, people trust their friends 92% more often than they do ads. But social media is a platform where people are defined by the brands they follow. So a simple like, comment or share from one of your followers is all endorsement a user needs. Equally important is the impact reviews are having on businesses. A major double-edged sword for businesses who don't know how to handle negative reviews, but an excellent way for customers to gather research and gain an understanding of the business before they commit to a purchase. Recommendations matter, with people acting on them 10 times more often than they would an ad, and humanizing the brand only increases that kind of engagement. 

5. Social Media helps you understand your audience

The digital world excels in collecting data, and with the help of tools such as the Facebook Pixel, (a small piece of code you place on your website that collects information on your visitors. Stay tuned for an in-depth look at how your business can use the Facebook Pixel) you’ll be able to gain a deeper understanding of who your audience really is.

6. Reach your audience earlier in the sales cycle

Social media allows you to take advantage of powerful targeting options. Providing a significant advantage over AdWords and PPC: allowing businesses to all this tracking allows you to reach your audience before they start searching for you. (This has big implications for reaching an audience who hasn’t yet realised a need or pain point). 

This is not just about brands people are already familiar with, social media as a whole is an incredible vehicle for discovery: 60% of Instagram users say they discover new brands and products through the app. Instagram is not alone, with all social media being a fantastic way for your message to reach out to new people.

Social media can also separate you from the competition, with brands on social media being viewed as being more progressive, invested in their business and understanding the importance of servicing their customers.

“28 percent of consumers said social media plays a valuable role in helping them become aware of new brands and products [and helped] eliminate brands from consideration for 30 percent of consumers.”

In addition to this, The other thing is, that level of targeting doesn’t add to the cost, and in fact, social media advertising is relatively inexpensive, with costs well below $1 per lead in many cases. 

7. Social increases website traffic and search rankings

Getting your message out there means you also increase your brand recognition, and even people who have never visited your site or seen an ad will remember the brand. But how does that benefit you? It ties in with the other online activity you do.

 There are two challenges to getting visitors to your site through search engines. The first is to get your site high up in relevant search results to get noticed, which is the one most of us are familiar with. However, there is a second, and that is getting the person to click on your link once they have seen it. When you search on Google, you probably do what I do, look at the first 5 or 6 and pick the one that seems the most interesting or relevant. But how do you make sure that one is yours?

Social media marketing can help here too, and it can do so with both parts, so let’s start with your search position. In a recent case study, a company that received 130,000 Facebook shares suddenly found themselves at number 1 position in the results for several of their keywords. Now, there is probably no connection between likes and ranking, but what is certain is that your links being shared in such volumes really does have an effect. More links, from sites that Google considered valuable like social media platforms, really does help with search engine optimization.

It doesn’t stop there, as we discussed, getting to the top of those search results is only half the story, you also need people to click on the link. So, going back to how we use search engines, given a choice of the top five or six results, would we be more likely to click on a link for a brand we recognise? Of course, I would for certain, and I’m sure you would be the same. So, think about what else social media does for our brands. It raises awareness and recognition, meaning that we are more likely to get clicks from the search when our message is seen.

The beautiful thing about this is that not only does that mean more visitors, but a better click through rate also improves our SEO rankings, so our result position organically improves as well. Social media really is at the core of what people do today, with around half of the population of Australia using Facebook every day, and other platforms catching up fast, there is no question that this will change any time soon. Take advantage of social media now and see the benefits of more effective marketing as a result.

8. Social boots your search click-through rate

Brand awareness is not just desirable for short-term sales, studies have shown that it also improves click-through rates long term, meaning that all marketing initiatives see improved results moving forward. The results are not minor either:

“when consumers were exposed to both search and social media influenced by a brand that overall search CTR went up by 94 percent.”

With companies engaging in selling on social media, nearly three quarters show an increase in sales in the following 12 months, and it’s that overall effect that makes social media such a powerful tool for marketing today.

9. Provide richer experiences and better customer service

Today, your customers will expect you to be on social media, in fact, they don’t just expect a social media presence, they expect the social media service that in every industry consumers are becoming accustomed to. That means full 24/7 support to deal with their issues and fast response times if they have any queries, and statistics show that those companies that are able to deliver this are the ones customers gravitate towards. With over 67% of consumers now looking to social media for their customer service needs, every business today needs to be online and delivering for their customers. A recent study by the Aberdeen Group showed that companies that do engage in social customer service see much bigger annual financial gains (7.5 percent YOY growth) vs. those without (2.9 percent). 

Social Media is the future of your business

Far from being the latest, short-lived marketing gimmick, social media is the most effective way of reaching your audience, not just today but for the foreseeable future. It has become so integrated into our lives now that its importance as a way of communicating with potential customers can only increase.

That is why it is crucial to get involved today, it’s not the time to think ‘I missed the boat on that one’, because social media is only just getting started. Using social media for your marketing is incredibly effective today, but more importantly, by establishing your business presence on social media now, you are ready for the future where it becomes even more important to your marketing.

If you need some help getting things sorted or getting it all down on paper, then get in contact with the team here at iST Digital. Call 9443 2221 or Email:[email protected]