Brandon's Marketblog

In this day and age social media is everywhere, whether you have a number of accounts or none there is a good chance social media impacts you. In recent years social media has become a major part of people’s day to day lives. Of my short 25 years lived years on earth, I can think of 8 different platforms that have once consumed me or continue to consume me in one way or another. Putting this in to context on a large scale, there is currently 3.397 billion active social media users. When compared with the total worldwide population of 7.7 billion it equates to 44% of people on this earth currently active on one or more social accounts. (Slideshare.net, 2019

It is no wonder with the sheer presence and reach social media has worldwide, businesses started to take advantage especially within a marketing context. Giving businesses the ability to connect to consumers on a worldwide scale at the click of a button, at any given time is quite appealing to any business.

Below is a chart the depicts audience penetration vs the leading social media networks in 18-34 year olds.

Image: (Smartinsights.com,2019)

As you can see Facebook is easily the most effective platform to reach that demographic of consumers. If a business was to implement marketing strategies incorporating such platforms, there is potential for huge growth and awareness if done correctly.

In saying that, not everything is black and white with social media advertising. As it is a 24/7 operation, customer expectations increase and with that so does your resources. It opens the door for worldwide access and with happy customers comes unhappy customers. Meaning the greater risk of adverse coverage on a larger scale.

Below are some facts that represent the impacts of social media on businesses.

• 78% of people who complain to a brand via twitter expect a response within an hour. (Lithium.com, 2019)
• Facebook is leading among all the social websites with 82% of small businesses registered; it is followed by YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn with 73%, 47% and 47% respectively. (Source: Mediabistro).
• 71% of users of social media websites say that they are more likely to purchase products from the brand they follow online on different social media websites (Source: Digitalsherpa)

If you would like to find out more on social media marketing and its outstanding effects. I have attached a video by the one and only Gary Vaynerchuck, who I feel is an expert on social media and digital marketing. Enjoy!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rSWdW2GQI4

Sources:

Lithium.com. (2019). Consumers Will Punish Brands that Fail to Respond on Twitter Quickly | Lithium. [online] Available at: https://www.lithium.com/company/news-room/press-releases/2013/consumers-will-punish-brands-that-fail-to-respond-on-twitter-quickly [Accessed 14 Mar. 2019].

Slideshare.net. (2019). Digital 2018 Q4 Global Digital Statshot (October 2018) (v2). [online] Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/DataReportal/digital-2018-q4-global-digital-statshot-october-2018-v2 [Accessed 14 Mar. 2019].

Smartinsights.com. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Screen-Shot-2016-06-14-at-14.49.54.png [Accessed 14 Mar. 2019].