A few years ago, many people were asking the question, is social media a fad?

Today, more and more businesses are relying on social media to complement their overall marketing plan.

This is because social media is seen as a low cost alternative to traditional marketing.

As a result, this makes it a very attractive option for businesses that don’t have a huge marketing budget to work with.

In this article, I’m going to cover seven social media statistics that you can apply to your business to help generate higher engagement, more sales, and help you reach the right audience.

7 Social media statistics

Key takeaways

The following list of social media statistics was adopted from a report by Hupspot.

1. Don’t forget about Pinterest

When people talk about social media, they immediately think about Facebook and Twitter.

This probably surprises a lot of people, but Pinterest can be a great tool to drive website traffic.

The next time you plan to share content, don’t forget to pin it on Pinterest.

2. Don’t take social media lightly

A lot of companies are starting to realize that they don’t necessarily need a huge marketing budget in order to drive sales.

For example, Procter and Gamble cut their budget by $10 billion.

They didn’t do this because they were losing money. They did it because they saw more value in going digital.

The next time you are planning out your budget, if you don’t end up with a large marketing budget, don’t panic.

Your next step should be to check out social media channels to see which one can help.

3. Pinterest can drive lots of sales

Your blog or website can be a great place to drive sales. So can your social media channels.

When choosing the channels to sell your products on, there are lots of ways to sell products on Facebook, I wrote about them here.

But don’t overlook Pinterest.

4. Reconsider auto-posting

One of the biggest social media mistakes I see most businesses make is that they want to auto-post everything.

While I use Hootsuite to segment my social media streams and Buffer andFacebook’s scheduling tool to schedule out updates, a lot of my updates are done manually.

It’s ok to schedule out updates when you know you won’t be available for an extended period of time.

Don’t do it often. It can hurt your business, especially on Facebook.

If you are auto-posting because you don’t have enough time in your day, it might be a good idea to cut back on how many networks you are on.

This way you can develop a consistent posting strategy and scale your business when you are ready.

Remember, your customers are not robots. They want to feel like they are important to you, not just someone to sell to.

5. The switch from traditional marketing to social media marketing

If you previously relied on traditional marketing to reach new customers, don’t forget to explore social media.

More and more marketers are spending the bulk of their time on digital channels.

This isn’t just because it costs less, but because more of the people they want to connect with are spending their time there.

6. Social media has a higher lead-to-close ratio

More and more consumers are no longer relying on billboards and TV spots (outbound marketing).

This is because there are more opportunities to find and buy new products and services.

Social media has been a big reason for this shift. It has also proven to be more effective.

When creating your next marketing campaign, while the allure of television sounds great, don’t forget to consider all of your options to see which one will help you reach your the bulk of your audience.

7. Call-to-action’s are very important

If you want to generate better engagement, be sure to include a  clear call-to-action to let people know what you want them to do.

Here are some examples on how to create a call-to-action.

On a blog post you can include ask a question, encourage someone to send you a tweet, or leave a comment on your post.

On Facebook, you can create call to action buttons to include with your posts. I also wrote about some call to action button examples in case you need some ideas.

Remember, the goal is not to assume your readers know what you want them to do. Be deliberate in your messaging.

Over to you

I hope these social media statistics have encouraged you to think more about how and where  you market your business.

This way you can begin to connect and engage more with the right people.

Question: Which of these social media statistics do you plan to start using in your business? Leave a comment below and let me know.

BY CHRISTIAN KARASIEWICZ

http://www.christiankonline.com/social-media-statistics-infographic/