When you create and share content on
social media, it should align and support your marketing goals, however, misinformation and unrealistic expectations often undermine efforts to achieve those goals. The good news is that like other types of internet marketing, businesses have access to a wealth of social media data that they can use to reassess their strategy and make necessary changes. Check out these four social media stats from a recent study by The Sprout Social you shouldn’t ignore when evaluating your strategy.
1. 77% of consumers say they’re more likely to buy from a brand they follow on social media over one they don’t follow.
When consumers follow your brand on social media, you’re able to create a relationship and sense of community that goes beyond the typical brand/consumer dynamic. Even if you have followers who’ve never bought from you before, they’re more likely to consider your brand because they’re already familiar with you. Having an active follower base also creates ‘social proof’ which helps to attract more followers, and therefore, more potential customers.
2. 67% of consumers say that they’re more likely to increase their spending with a brand they follow on social media.
Not only are followers more likely to buy from you, but they’re more likely to spend more when they do buy. An example of this is when consumers decide to follow your brand because they like a particular product. After a while, they discover other products through content from you or other followers. Before following your brand, the consumer was only buying one product, but after following your brand, the consumer becomes aware of other products and starts buying them. If consumers like you enough to follow, they’re more likely to not only buy from you but also buy more from you.
3. 50% of consumers follow brands on social to learn about new products or services.
Consumers don’t follow brands on social media because they love being sold to. They follow brands because they want to know about the latest and greatest things coming out. Also, you can’t expect consumers to go through the trouble of visiting your website to learn about your new products or services, but sharing news from your brand on social media makes it much more likely that they’ll see and buy from you. Like newsletter subscribers, social media followers want the latest information, not repetitive messages about the same old products or services. Make sure to provide value to followers, not a sales pitch, or else risk having them unfollow you.
4. 45% of consumers are more likely to research a product or service when a brand’s employees post about that product or service.
When your employees share content about your brand on social media, consumers pay attention because people don’t usually post content about their work or company. ‘Employee advocacy’ is the promotion of a company by employees on their social networks and it’s a powerful way to extend your brand’s reach. According to the study, consumers are more likely to investigate a product or service if they see an employee share related content. By getting employees excited about the company, they can act as ‘brand ambassadors’ which creates more opportunities for conversations about your product or service on social media.
Get More Out of Your Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing can be extremely beneficial for creating brand awareness and increasing engagement with consumers, but if your strategies don’t support business goals, you won’t get much out of your efforts. It can be over overwhelming for brands to figure out where they’re going wrong with social media which is why hiring professional marketers can give the boost your social media marketing needs. As an Orlando based digital marketing agency, we’ve worked with local and national brands to transform their social media marketing from duds to studs.
Let us help you develop a social media marketing plan that works for your business, not the other way around. Call us today at (407) 682-2222 for a free strategy session.