Social-Media-Digital-Marketing-Must Haves-For-2016- Part II

In Part I of 5 Social Media & Digital Marketing “Must Haves” for 2016, I gave you a bird’s eye view of what is only going to INCREASE in 2016 and recommended concentrating on and implementing these “Must Have” tactics to see fast, powerful and reliable results in your marketing and sales for your B2C or B2B business:

  1. Consumers Are Social. Being on Social Media is a Must.
  2. Consumers Are Visual. Incorporating Images & Videos are a Must.
  3. Consumers Are Mobile. Having a Responsive Website is a Must.
  4. Consumers Are Hard To Reach. Paying for Exposure is a Must.
  5. Consumers Are Searching. Being on Google My Business is a Must.

In this Part II, I am giving you tips on how to implement these tactics to be effective, resourceful and efficient:

1. Consumers Are Social. Being on Social Media is a Must.

Best Tactic: Choose the RIGHT social media channel for your business.

Social media 2016

Social adoption can be challenging, especially if you’re running a business with limited resources!

(1) You don’t have to be on EVERY social media channel. Choose the one that is best for your business. I stand by this when I work with clients: Rather be successful and DRIVE RESULTS on ONE or TWO social media channels than be mediocre on many.

(2) Make sure you are reaching and engaging with the RIGHT current and prospective customers on the RIGHT social channels for your business.

Here is a quick snapshot of each channel to help you:

Facebook is #1:

  • Facebook will continue to be the dominant social media platform in 2016. There have been rumblings that Facebook is losing some traction among a younger audience, causing it to skew a bit older. While this trend may be true, Facebook’s youthful base remains strong.
  • Those on Facebook remain highly engaged with 70% saying they log on daily, including 43% who do so several times a day.
  • Fully 72% of online American adults use Facebook. Usages continues to be especially popular among online women In addition, 82% of online adults ages 18 to 29 use Facebook, along with 79% of those ages 30 to 49, 64% of those ages 50 to 64 and 48% of those 65 and older.
  • Facebook Mobile App statistics are huge.
  • Facebook and Facebook advertising are a must.

Twitter:

  • Considering the high-volume, fast-paced nature of Twitter, it attracts a younger demographic.
  • 37% of adults 18–29, 25% of adults 30–49, 12% of adults 50–64.
  • 88% of Twitter users are on mobile.
  • More stats here.

Instagram:

  • This network is owned by Facebook. They saw that social and mobile was a powerful intersection of synergies. They were right!
  • Instagram has 300 million users. Although Instagram is the new popular kid on the block, and is growing quickly; make sure your target audience is there.
  • 90% of Instragram users are younger than 35.
  • More stats here.

Pinterest:

  • 31% of online adults use Pinterest.
  • Women continue to dominate Pinterest: 44% of online women use the site, compared with 16% of online men.
  • Those under the age of 50 are also more likely to be Pinterest users.
  • 88% purchase a product they pinned.
  • More stats here.

Snapchat:

  • 86% of Snapchat users are teenagers, 70% are female.
  • Only 12% of its almost 50 million daily users in the U.S.
  • More stats here.

Google+:

  • Demographics for Google+ are somewhat elusive. Even still, Google+ belongs to Google, so it has great potential for SEO value and just for THIS, you MUST create a page for your business. See MORE in #5 below.
  • More stats here.

Linkedin:

  • LinkedIn dominates the professional social network segment.
  • 1 in every 3 professionals in the world has a LinkedIn profile.
  • It is the only major social media platform for which usage rates are higher among 30- to 49-year-olds than among 18- to 29-year-olds.
  • You must have a Personal Profile or Business Page on Linkedin.
  • More stats here.

YouTube:

  • There are more than 1 billion users on YouTube and the number of hours each month that viewers are watching videos has been steadily increasing by 50% year over year.
  • Google owns YouTube and YouTube videos are ranked routinely high on Google’s search pages.
  • YouTube videos are very easy to share online. This makes integrating them into any social media strategy plan just as simple. By distributing YouTube videos on other popular media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Reddit, your business exposure can instantly increase exponentially.
  • Create a YouTube Channel For Your Business and optimize your videos for search and clicks.

2. Consumers Are Visual. Incorporating Images & Videos are a Must.

Best Tactic: Create COMPELLING, INTERESTING, ATTRACTIVE and — USEFUL visual content.

Social media 2016

Statistics [INFOGRAPHIC] show that visual content captures the attention of your target audience, and will be shared. Content with images gets 94% more views than content sans images. It doesn’t matter what industry, topic, niche, or specialty, images matter.

Here are fantastic tips by Kim Garst on the best types of visual content to create:  13 Types of Visual Content That Get Shared Like Crazy!

3. Consumers Are Mobile. Having a Responsive Website is a Must.

Best Tactic: Keep content short, create content that is truly optimized for mobile.

Mobile Marketing 2016

A responsive website means creating a single website that automatically optimizes its design for mobile, tablet or desktop, depending on which device is being used by the web visitor. Mobile web traffic is so omnipresent that all websites need to serve mobile users from the same website.

Because of this, Google is penalizing search rankings of companies without a responsive design.

The forecasted number of mobile users in the U.S. for 2016  is estimated to reach 198.5 million unique users.  The need to have a mobile-friendly website is the norm and no longer an item to place on the back burner, to address later.

Building a responsive website is the perfect time to rethink your content to make it more readable and accessible, regardless of what device it’s being viewed on. Develop a content strategy that shifts the focus back to the user!

If you don’t have responsive design, you need it.

4. Consumers Are Hard To Reach. Paying for Exposure is a Must.

Best Tactic: Set a small budget to start. Test which ads work best. It takes time to get it right. Don’t give up!

 

Advertising

Numbers show a continuous decline of all-things-organic on all the main platforms. Relying on organic reach is not effective anymore. Advertising is the only sure thing you can do to grow an audience on social media. Its Pay-For-Play!

If you’re spending money to advertise online, social media ads may very well earn you the biggest returns!

Social media advertising isn’t just a buzzword anymore. It’s a real, tangible driver of leads and sales. Facebook, Twitter and other social networks are filled with hundreds of millions of consumers. Why wouldn’t you take advantage?

Boosting content to your current fans so that they see your content in their newsfeed is a must. Paying for advertising allows you to reach your specific targeted demographic.

This is so powerful. You can market to a particular age group, gender, location, and other parameters — something that has NEVER existed in marketing before.

Here are 7 of the best social media advertising tips that will help you with creating successful ads to reach your target audience.

5. Consumers Are Searching. Being on Google My Business is a Must.

Best Tactic: Make sure your business in registered and set up your page today!

Social Media Marketing 2016

Google My Business is a key part of Google’s strategy to harness the power of the Google suite of tools to get more traffic to your business.

This means that Search, Maps, Google+ are all closely tied into My Business. Due to the unparalleled reach of Google and their services, plugging into the Google My Business network means your customers can now find you easily through Search, Maps, and Google+, and you don’t have to struggle and rely on complicating SEO tactics to be ranked top of SERP (search engine results) pages!

Google My Business doesn’t just serve businesses with a storefront. You can also sign up and instead of listing your business address, add the area you serve or just details of your brand.

Benefits-of-Google-My-Business

Benefits of Google My Business: Google+, Google Search, Google Maps

 

Sign up HERE to get my blogs directly to your inbox! I keep them practical and useful to help you get results for your business.

 


 

FOOT NOTE: So chuffed that these two blogs — 5 Social Media & Digital Marketing “Must Haves” for 2016, Part I and Part II  — are the lead articles and top feature in MARI SMITH’S Social Scoop-Mari’s Weekly Top Picks.

Mari-Smith-Social-Scoop-1


 

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