The Importance of Social Media Marketing To Your 2014 Business

Social media networks were a novelty five years ago, however nowadays their importance is no longer debated. Yes, businesses have undoubtedly realized the power of social media and accepted that social media promoting needs to be a part of their selling and PR mix. In Social Media Examiner’s 2013 Year End Report, marketers currently place an extremely high price on social media marketing:

• eighty six percent of marketers stated that social media is vital for his or her business

• eighty nine percent of marketers stated that accumulated exposure was the top advantage of social media marketing

These are the definitive advantages of social media marketing that are listed:

• increased exposure
• accumulated traffic
• Developed loyal fans
• Generated leads
• Improved search ranking
• Grew business partnerships
• Reduced promoting expenses
• Improved sales
• Provided marketplace insight

Social Media is a Game Changer

It’s obvious that social media can continue to have a major impact in 2014 on marketers and business owners: They currently have theability to reach out and communicate on a private level with their audience everyday. This is often a game changer for businesses participating in promoting, sales, customer service, and alternative business activities. This is often extremely powerful and has never
been available with traditional marketing! The success gap is widening between businesses that are taking advantage of social media in a casual, unexpected manner and people taking a more planned and strategic approach.

This has important implications:

• Businesses that use social media strategically are more highly satisfied with the results than unexpected users, who are more skeptical about the value of social media. 

• Businesses that use social media as a part of a planned company approach are 1.5 to 2 times more probable to anticipate revenue growth than unintentional users. Much has changed over the last year in social media, and it can and will change in 2014. 

Here are my best tips for thriving Digital and Social Media marketing in 2014

Some Powerful Stats and data from 2013:

Social is currently the highest web activity. Americans spend more than thirty seven minutes daily on social media, a higher time-spend than any other major web activity, email checking included. Take a look at this info-graphic from Digital Insights on social media facts, figures and statistics from 2013:

Facebook continues to be the leading social media network and continues to grow.

Here are the newest facts and figures:

• Facebook currently has 1.26 billion users

• Facebook averages 1.23 billion monthly active users

• There are 128 million daily active Facebook users located in the USA

• Facebook averages 945 million monthly active mobile users

• Facebook usage is highest in North America: Facebook has fifty nine percent of all net users in North America as active users. 
• Google+ only achieves fifteen percent and Twitter twenty five percent.

• Google+ is currently the second largest social network at simply over five hundred percent, with Facebook still dominating at seventieth.

• Keep in mind that a Google+ account is necessary whenever someone creates a brand new Gmail account. this is often pushing up the account ownership stats. But no other social network has Google’s web assets leverage. 
  

Read more on how vital Google+ is for your business and how it has a major impact on web search results for your business:

The number of individuals who watch TV has fallen behind the amount/the quantity of individuals who watch YouTube on a daily basis. This makes it clear that televised content is undergoing a decline, online consumption of video is on the incline. Many corporations have taken advantage of this by advertising or promoting campaigns on YouTube before they debut on TV. Take several of the 2014 Super Bowl XLVIII ads (like Budweiser) that were shown on YouTube before the big game and were rewarded with triple YouTube views. LinkedIn continues to be the number one professional business network and continues to grow but not at the pace of Pinterest, Google+, or Twitter.

 Here are some numbers from Visual.ly

Pinterest is the quickest growing social network as of right now. The visual net is driving the rise of Pinterest and Tumblr with growth rates of eighty eight percent and seventy four percent and increasing in over the last twelve months. Pinterest in addition is among the leading referral sources for organic traffic, which is good for high search rankings.

Some social media networks have a more active user-base than others. statistical research has discovered that over ninety five percent of Facebook users log into their account on a daily basis. That range for Twitter is sixty percent and for LinkedIn is thirty percent.

What area unit two key factors driving the social internet in 2013 and 2014?

According to the worldwide internet Index study it is:

• Mobile – the amount of individuals accessing the net via a smart phone increased by 60.3% to 818.4 million within the last two years. In the USA, there are currently one hundred and one million daily mobile users. Facebook’s one hundred and one million US daily mobile users make up a extraordinary seventy eight percent of its 128 million daily US users.

• Older user adoption – On Twitter the 55-64 year age group is the quickest growing demographic with seventy nine percent rate of growth since 2012. The fastest growing demographic on Facebook’s and Google+’s networks are the forty five to fifty four year age group at forty sixth and fifty six percent resultantly. 

So maybe that’s the reason your folks and grandparents aren’t visiting that much any longer — they're too busy on Facebook and Twitter!

The top challenges businesses have in applying social media are:

• Lack of your time
• Inability to determine actual value
• Problems with integration social media with alternative business activities
  Lack of budget

I absolutely acknowledge this, and hear of it many times from my clients first hand. But these trials can be overcome, if social media is planned and done strategically!

Social Media Channels- The Right One to Choose??

Business Proprietors ought to concentrate on how social platforms,  help them reach their goals with relevant audiences, whether or not that’s generating sales or larger visibility. A part of my job is helping business owners decide which networks are best for his or her business.

Here are the most well-liked ones:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• Google+
• Pinterest
• Instagram
• StumbleUpon and Digg social bookmarking
• Slideshare presentation sharing

 And after all, blogging is key! Here are some tips to generating admirable online content to feed your social media networks!

Integrate!!

Social media isn't a boundary unto itself.  It should be integrated and work hand-in-hand with all of your alternative marketing and PR initiatives which ought to be continued to achieve all of your promoting touch points and your eventual success.

These can include:

• Email marketing and growing your email list
• Search Engine Improvement
• Event promoting (speaking and networking)
• unsolicited mail
• online ads (Google Adwords)
• Print display ads
• Sponsorships
• Mobile marketing
• Radio/TV Ads

 Sharing is Caring!

I know this sounds basic, but you need make sure your web site, web log, and email newsletters include social “share” buttons for folks to simply share your content on ALL their social networks. Don't forget to add your social network links on your email signature.

So, what can Social Media Do For Your Business?

Making social media a priority for your business can enable your business to:

• Be found!
• Establish a stronger brand
• Boost sales
• Share expertise and information
• Tap into the knowledge of consumers
• Interact and receive valuable client feedback
• Free advertising: happy customers mention your company, this is often the strongest word-of-mouth-marketing

• Build a community

Social media undoubtedly must be a part of your Business Marketing in 2014!