Tag Archive for social

30 Social Media Statistics

June 28, 2011 Molly White No comments

Here is a list of 30 Social Media Statistics from the last several months. These were orginally posted by Jeff Esposito, and then reposted to All Facebook.

  • 5 percent of online shoppers note that social media influenced them to visit a retailer’s website (Foresee)
  • 82 percent of 18-29 year olds utilize a form of social networking (Pew)
  • 42 percent of American internet users over 18 actively use Wikipedia (Pew)
  • 40% of corporate Twitter accounts engage in some kind of customer service (Burson-Marsteller)
  • In 2011 marketers will increase their social media usage by 75 percent (Brian Solis)
  • 48 percent of consumers combine social media and search engines in their buying process (GroupM)Staff Members Dedicated to Social Media
  • 10.5 percent of CMOs say social marketing efforts are effectively integrated into their overall marketing strategy (MarketingProfs)
  • 97 percent of the top US charities utilize Facebook in their marketing efforts (UMass Dartmouth)
  • Of all social networks, YouTube has the highest Net Promoter Score with 50 percent of users saying they would recommend it to a friend (MarketingProfs)
  • ~140 Million Tweets are sent each day (Twitter)
  • 24 percent of adults have posted a review of a product they have purchased (HubSpot)
  • 41 percent of the companies report that there is no staff dedicated to social media (Useful Social Media)
  • 89 percent of companies note that social media will become a useful cog in their marketing mix moving forward (Useful Social Media)
  • 35 percent of small businesses utilize social media in their marketing mix (eMarketer)
  • Facebook expects to bring n $4.05 billion in ad revenues this year (eMarketer)
  • Facebook is the leading social network for nine out of 13 Asia-Pacific countries (Edelman)
  • One out of every six minutes spent online is on a social network (comScore)
  • 73 percent of the US internet population visits Facebook each month (comScore)
  • 62 percent of Facebook users between 35-54 years of age have liked a brand (eMarketer)
  • 64 percent of Twitter users are female (Pew)
  • 85 percent of LinkedIn users are Caucasian (Pew)
  • 47 percent of journalists will use Twitter as a source for a story (Digital Journalism Study)
  • Less than 3 percent of micro businesses utilize Twitter (Vistaprint)
  • 61.2 percent of Facebooking females list themselves as married less than a year, compared to 44.3 percent of males (AdAge)
  • The average media site integrated with Facebook has seen a 300 percent increase in referral traffic (Search Engine Land)
  • 61 percent of Facebook users who have liked a brand note that they are more likely to purchase from that brand (AllFacebook)
  • 96 percent of Americans use Facebook (Business Insider)
  • 80 percent of social media marketers are using the platforms to increase brand awareness (eMarketer)
  • Only 8 percent of US internet users utilize Twitter despit despite having a 92 percent awareness level (Edison Research)
  • 46 million Americans check their social media profiles daily (Edison Research)
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Facebook Business Page vs. Personal Facebook Profile Pages

June 23, 2011 Molly White No comments

Yesterday, I attempted to write a blog listing all of the businesses in the Lutherville Timonium zip code that have a presence on Facebook, Foursquare or Twitter.  It was a time consuming venture on it’s own, but with the added bonus of my two little girls interjecting every 5 minutes, it proved to be beyond my attention span and time limits for the day.

However, in the time I devoted to it, I came up with about 15 businesses and their listings. Of those businesses, THREE were misusing Facebook!! That’s 20%!!  What were they doing wrong?

They were acting as a person on Facebook.

I can see where they made this mistake to begin with (because as a person you can actively solicit people to be your friend) and why they are continuing on this terrible path (because once you acquire all of these friends, what are the chances that every last one of them will like your new business page), but it kills me that they do so!  To me, it is as big a faux pas as double dipping.  There is a distinct reason that Facebook has created a separation between businesses and people.  It’s very simple; receiving friend requests from businesses is more invasive than robo-dialing, direct mail, and spam combined.

That same reasoning is why there are limitations when acting as a business page on Facebook.  Facebook allows businesses to comment on and interact with other businesses but unless a person has a completely public profile, a business can not comment on or interact with a personal profile on Facebook, except within the confines of their business page.

And speaking of completely public profiles, many businesses that are misusing personal pages, are misusing them to such an extent that much of the information that they would like to share with the public is kept hidden by Facebook’s privacy settings.  That’s because people who don’t know the difference between a personal page and a business page, often don’t know about the control they can exert over their privacy settings (which btw, are set up mostly in favor of protecting people, in my opinion).

Aside from the reason stated above, an actual Facebook business page is far more appealing for businesses than a personal page because of the huge amount of customizations that are available.  It’s true, a business can not go out and actively solicit people to like them, but you do have the ability to make your page as useful, if not more useful than your website.

You can add custom tabs to a business page that are just like pages on a web site.  There are several free Facebook apps that allow you to set up a shopping cart on your Facebook page. Open Table has a free app that allows you to let people make reservations right on your page. And there are free Fan-gating apps that let you create a landing page directing people to Like your page in order to receive some fan only content/benefit.

To acquire new fans you can use Facebook advertising to solicit people to like your page, at a totally affordable price!

Oh and, as a person on Facebook, you are limited to 5,000 friends, because it’s reasonable to assume that no person has more than 5,000 actual friends.  As a business, the sky’s the limit on who likes you!

 

 

 

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Behind the Curtains of Facebook Business Pages

June 20, 2011 Molly White No comments

The thing about social media sites is that they are all about showing the “Great and Powerful Oz”, in other words, they show the person behind the curtain.  Who is it that is running or working for businesses that you like on Facebook or follow on Twitter, or whose blog you read?

Is it the business owner herself? Is it a random employee? A person in the marketing department or someone like me, a person outside of the organization who is hired to run the social media?  And what’s the real difference?

If the person is doing his or her job correctly, the difference is nill.  The voice of the business on social media sites should convey the same tone that has been delivered via their additional marketing efforts.

In the case of small businesses, many times, an owner simply doesn’t have the time to dedicate to the maintenance and development of social media outlets.  I on the other hand, am on Facebook ALL day long.  I read it from my phone when I’m not in front of my computer and I have the tab on my computer pinned in my Chrome browser.

To run a Facebook page effectively, one must not only update and communicate with their fans, but must also stay up to date an in tune with their vendors, competitors and community and what they are doing on Facebook.  It’s good business sense to also go ahead and like those pages personally, as well as on behalf of the business.

For example I work for several businesses in the events and wedding industry. I am happy to say that I have been happily married for more than 7 years. I do however, follow a wide variety of wedding and event blogs, wedding vendors, bridal retailers and brands, and a handful of caterers, photographers, florists and other businesses associated with event planning as well as wedding sites and magazines.  They are not only a source of information, but also of inspiration.

I also meet, email and speak with my clients regularly and have acquired a solid feel for the way they conduct themselves in their businesses.  Because it is my job to act on their behalf when on Facebook, Twitter or blogging.  While I may not be a traditional employee, I am in fact, part of the staff, for my clients. I even had the privilege of attending a client’s wedding this past Spring and was included in the company baseball outing just last week.  Just a day’s work for this Social Media Manager :)

I run my own business, but I feel like I am part of each of my clients businesses as well.  It’s the best of all worlds and I absolutely love what I do.

 

Courtesy of Business Insider

 

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Want More Fans, Use Facebook Ads

June 7, 2011 Molly White No comments

I spend a lot of my time reading sites like AllFacebook, InsideFacebook, Social Media Examiner, Social Media Today, and Mari Smith. These sites post multiple items a day, every day of the week and their main focus is Facebook for Businesses. Search any one of them and you will find that they all recommend on some level or another, the use of Facebook Ads. As do I.

Ever notice them on the right hand side of Facebook? They’re little but they’re mighty powerful. Especially when you see them over and over again. Ever wonder why they seem to follow a pattern or seem perfectly suited to you?

It’s because the amount of granular information available to target your audience is Ahhhmazing!!!!

Any page with more than 1,000 fans!?! The possibilities are endless! Have competition in your business? Target their customers! Are you a small business whose customer is likely to be a fan of a Nationally recognized brand? Target that brand! And you can build your list with as many specifics as you’d like.

The icing on the cake is the ability to target friends of fans! Because if you see an ad on the right hand side of Facebook that says that your friend also likes that business, aren’t you more likely to like it too?

Targeting your audience is only half the battle. You also have to come up with an image that is 110×80 pixels big and a 135 character call to action. Not to mention that you then should create a custom landing tab on your Facebook page that is just for the ad. In the landing tab you need give people a reason to like your business. Because once you compel someone to click on your ad, you then need to make them click the like button.

Once you’ve done all that, you can select to run your campaign for a specific period of time or to just run it continuously. If you run it for a set period of time you get to select the budget for the duration of the campaign or set a daily budget. Yup, you spend what you want to spend, and Facebook even helps out by giving you a suggested price per click of the ad. In most cases it’s between 80 cents and $2. The suggested price per click means that that is the absolute most you would pay per click, not what every click will cost. The most expensive clicks occur during the highest traffic times on Facebook.

With your budget selected you’re ready to roll. Let the campaign begin and then watch what the Ad analytics tell you! You’ll be able to see the reach, clicks, impressions and success of your campaign and based upon this newly gained knowledge you can chose to tweak and change you ad at any time!

Want to try it? I’ll hold your hand through the whole process, it’s easy, I promise!

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Join Pinterest Now, Thank Me Later!

May 31, 2011 Molly White One comment

My love of Pinterest makes me think of the opening lines to Ke$ha’s song “Your Love is My Drug”.

Maybe I need some rehab,
Or maybe just need some sleep
I’ve got a sick obsession,
I’m seeing it in my dreams

I’m looking down every alley,
I’m making those desperate calls
Im staying up all night hoping,
Hit my head against the walls

Because, truly, I am addicted to and obsessed with Pinterest.  I joined over the weekend and haven’t stopped browsing it’s pages since then.  I’d heard about it through sites like Techcrunch and Mashable, and then I started hearing friends on Twitter talk about it.  But the tipping point for me was when a friend on Facebook, wrote this status update:

And that sealed the deal for me. I had to see what all the fuss was about. And am I ever happy I did!

So what exactly is Pinterest and why am I so into it?

It’s like browsing an endless supply of magazine’s and catalogues that have been flagged and marked so you only see the best stuff inside.  And it’s all grouped together in categories for the easiest browsing possible.  To start off, check out the TasteMakers section:

Here you can browse through a variety of people and categories (boards as they are referred to in Pinterest), to get a feel for what’s going on. Once you get comfortable with it, you can then start to pin things yourself. Pinning something is simply adding a visual link to a website. For example I’ve pinned these DIY hanging baskets in my DIY category.

If you were to view this image in Pinterest, you could click on it and be taken to the website that offers the tutorial on how to make these. These, by the way, were the inspiration for my next house project; hanging baskets in my kitchen to hold my cooking magazines!  I started a whole DIY board full of projects I would like to undertake, some for the home, some crafty fashion stuff, and some gardening goodies.

There is something for everyone on here and each picture will lead your mind in a whole other direction of browsing and searching.  Not to mention that it is a great way to categorize your own stuff too!  And of course there’s an iphone app for it!

I’m so into this site that I’ve sent requests to friends that aren’t technically inclined and to many of my clients because I think this could be useful to pretty much everyone.  For my friends that enjoy shopping and fashion, this is a great way to find the latest trends.  For my clients, this is a useful tool to showcase their products.  For my friends who cook, there is endless food porn and inspiration.  For crafty people, this is a gold mine of inspiration! Whatever your interest is, there’s something on Pinterest for you.

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Why is Everyone Checking In?

March 19, 2010 Molly White No comments

The SXSW event (an interactive media conference in Austin, TX) was this past weekend and many people in my twitter stream were in attendance.  I knew this not only because they tweeted about it, but also because they were checking in like crazy at all the events.

Checking in, huh? What? What’s that?

Checking in is the latest craze in social media.  It is mostly mobile, due to the fact that you should be physically present at a location when you check-in.  Depending on the location based service, you can win badges, claim titles, leave information about the location, and/or review the location.  You can also see the information that others have left behind.

Some of the location based services have made check-ins into a game, helping to generate buzz and encourage people to use their service, while others have made their mark by encouraging people to leave detailed reviews. Gowalla and Foursquare are the two most well known services and are as of the latest report, neck and neck with each other in terms of users.

So what’s all the fuss about? There are several aspects of location based social media that are important to businesses.

1) the review side; obviously good reviews are desirable and the more good reviews a business can accrue, the better.  When someone is using a social service to search for a specific type of business, i.e. a bar, restaurant, retail location, in a targeted area, they are more likely to frequent the business that is the most well reviewed.

2) the competition side; to gain points, badges, and titles in the location game, a person must visit a business with great frequency, thus encouraging people to come back the same business over and over.

3) On both the review and gaming side is customer data.  By utilizing social location services businesses can get a glimpse of their customers habits. Businesses can see when people are most likely to visit, what they like the most, or dislike the most, and so much more.

4)Many of the services auto-populate to a person’s twitter and Facebook news feeds.  For example, unless I tell Foursquare not to, it posts to my Twitter stream and to my Facebook account, informing all of my friends about my location.  This can encourage dialogue and further recommendations or not, about whatever business that I am visiting.

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Facebook is going to be getting into the game as well. Techcrunch is reporting that Facebook is going to use QR codes to allow people to check-in at businesses. What a great tie-in that would be to a businesses fan page!

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The benefits of being involved in social location are many. If you and your business haven’t yet gotten on board the social location train, you should consider it.  There are creative marketing campaigns that can be directed specifically towards the social location services and your customers can have a lot of fun with it in the process.  Even the BBJ is talking about it!

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