A guide to ace-ing social media
Fact: Your business needs social media. It is essential whether you have a small shop or a behemoth of a multinational. And with more than three billion people using it every month, it is not going away anytime soon.
Appetite Creative provide a concise look in to some of the most popular social media platforms.
We wanted to give our very concise guide to the most popular platforms and how they can help you and your business.
Let's start with the big one.
2.5bn monthly users means that you will not get a more extensive audience reach than Facebook will bring you. A third of the world, the whole world, actively uses Facebook every month. Well over half of those users do so daily. It is the network on which Gen X and millennials are most likely to share content and amazingly, a staggering thirty per cent of retail shoppers who have recently made a purchase discovered a new product on Facebook.
More Facebook users view content on mobile devices than they do a desktop, and as with a lot of social media, Wednesday is the best day to post on the platform. Specifically, businesses should make their move at 11am and 1pm on hump day.
Half a billion daily active users and almost a billion active monthly users, of a somewhat youthful demographic, means that Instagram is a place to be seen. Over half of teens claim that Instagram is the place to learn about new products, and over half of users specifically follow brands.
The best times to post on Instagram are Wednesday at 11am and Friday between 10 and 11am.
This highly visual platform is the place audiences look to follow brands, and check-in with influencers to see what they are saying, learning, doing, wearing, and buying.
Celebrities such as Selena Gomez and Cristiano Ronaldo have virtual followings of well over 100m and any form of endorsement from such an influence as that will shine a huge spotlight on your brand.
Interestingly, Pinterest is often overlooked as a marketing device. Shame on us all for doing so, as the stats are amazing. Some 60% of women between the ages of 25 and 54 use Pinterest and a massive 80% of millennials say that Pinterest helps them find things to buy. With adult males being the largest growing demographic in terms of new sign-ups, it looks like it is still growing. 200m monthly active users are not much when compared with the Facebooks of this world, but when 10% of consumers are more likely to purchase when referred by Pinterest than any other network, the 200 million seems a lot stronger.
What's interesting with Twitter is that it seems to be more of a power play than other platforms. More than half of its 317m active users are men, and it seems to attract high earners more than others, too. If Pinterest is the cosy trustworthy site to look for cushions, then twitter is the high-flying wall street executive site on which to get serious. It's the site on which President Barack Obama, no less, has a 100m followers (admittedly less than Justin Bieber but we are trying to make a point here).
It is fashionable among high earners in the U.S. and many people rely on it for their news. However, with 84% of these high-rolling twitter users using it to find coupons, deals, reviews, and ideas, we can not overlook it, no matter what we sell.
Businesses will have the best results by tweeting on Wednesdays and Fridays at 9am. Coupons, links, and offers are all winners on Twitter.
LinkedIn is the most popular place to be for the world's top CEOs. Richard Branson and Bill Gates both have well over 10m followers on it and its largest demographic, in terms of earnings, is the $75k and above. It is much more than a place for keeping your CV. It's the best room in the house for hobnobbing with the elite.
Over 13 million companies have dedicated pages on the site, and you should have one, too. In terms of B2B social media leads, Linkedin is to thank for a whopping 80%.
LinkedIn is the place to reach other businesses, business owners and professionals. The largest demographic on the platform is between the ages of 25 to 34. One particular industry served well by this professional platform is financial services. It's also the place for business to business marketing and not so much for retail traffic. The best times to post are Wednesdays from 9am to 10am and at noon. Posting job opportunities, articles, and sharing research on your product or service will gain you more followers
YouTube
Legend has it that YouTube began life as a video dating site. The first video was of founder Jawed Karim fanning his feathers at the zoo, and the name YouTube was registered Valentine's day... How very romantic!
But what could have been the world's world's most popular dating site has since branched out a little since then after the founders recognised the massive opportunity available for business. The number of active monthly users is second only to Facebook. With two million video views per minute, it is the place to be spoken about. It's about the influencers that your kids talk about and what they think of your product. Some of the most popular YouTube stars are in fact young kids themselves, with videos of them playing with toys attracting tens of millions of clicks.
If you can get your product on YouTube, it will be seen.
Snapchat
Another one for the influencers here but with a much younger average viewer than the old dating site we just mentioned, Snapchat can boast an almost incredible 10bn video views per day. Over a third of teenagers say that it's the best site of all, and a quarter of all active users post videos every day. That means word of mouth and endorsement for your business.
Outside of the duotheism of Facebook and Youtube, WhatsApp reigns supreme. With 1.5bn people registered across 180 eighty countries, WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in the world. Some 29m WhatsApps are sent every minute.
People are looking more and more for the opportunity to connect with business the same way in which they connect with everyone else, and that, very often, means via WhatsApp. Opening dialogues with clients, using instant, private, and secure responses, and doing so on the smartphone will create the brand connecting today's consumer needs.
Tik Tok
Tik Tok, the video-sharing social networking service, is the place for your short videos. If your demographic includes anybody from early teens to thirties, Tik Tok is a must.
Available in more than 150 countries, and with over a billion users - 80% of which are active every month - it is a vital tool in reaching Gen Z. Tik Tok is actively recruiting influencers, and they are creating a buzz. In November 2019, it was the most downloaded app in the U.S.
At Appetite Creative, we have the expertise, experience, and effectiveness to help you create a connected experience and keep your brand proud wherever it is. We can give your customers a nearly infinite number of news ways in which they can connect with you, whenever they want to, and wherever they are.
Jenny Stanley, founder and managing director of Appetite Creative.
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