The power and potential of social media networks for advertising and marketing have been noted for years. Even business owners that have yet to start social media marketing know of at least one person who has used a social network to boost their profits. Regardless, some marketing professionals can find it difficult to convince their CEOs that social media is right for their business. Older business owners may think of social media as a passing fad or that the return on investment is too low to bother with social media marketing. The key to convincing business owners about the value of social media marketing is to use data. It’s easy to ignore popular opinion, but it’s hard to ignore the numbers. With that in mind, here are 14 stats that marketers can use to convince business owners to start social media marketing immediately.
According to research from Hubspot, social media delivers 14% of all leads and 13% of all customers.
Social media is an excellent way to get a brand out to the public. According to iMedia, 70% of marketers say that content marketing has increased their brand awareness
Research from eMarketer has shown that 33% of consumers cite social networks as a way they discover new brands, products or services. To not be on social media means missing out on one in three potential customers searching for new things to buy.
According to ExactTarget, 86% believe social efforts will or do provide ROI and that 57% of companies have a dedicated social media marketing team.
According to Content Marketing Institute, social media sites and blogs account for 23% of all time spent online.
72% of adult internet users in the U.S. are now active on at least one social network, up from 67% in 2012 and just 8% in 2005, reported MediaPost.
Brandpoint research stated that 68% of consumers check out companies on social networking sites before buying.
YouTube (and vicariously YouTube ads) have tremendous reach. On average there are 700 YouTube video links shared on Twitter every minute, and 500 years worth of YouTube videos watched on Facebook every day.
A survey of small business owners by eMarketer identified the top three benefits of social media marketing as increased exposure (89%), increased website traffic (75%), and access to marketplace insights (69%).
The most successful companies are using social media marketing. MediaPost reported that 70% of the Fortune 500 companies have Facebook pages, including nine of the top 10 companies.
According to research from Digital Insights, social media generates almost double the marketing leads of trade shows, telemarketing, daily mail or PPC.
Facebook users spend more than 114 billion minutes per month on the social media site and smartphone app, reported Business Insider.
Social media marketing and mobile marketing go hand in hand. According to Digital Insights, 4.2 billion people use their mobile device to access social media sites.
Relevanza reported that 78% of small businesses attract new customers through social media.
If there seems to be a never-ending supply of statistics promoting the benefits of social media, that’s because there is. The simple truth is that social media networks are where consumers are going to communicate with friends, families and business, and to discover new products and brands. The potential for profit is real and as the above statistics have shown, a lot of business owners have begun using social networks to reach new customers and increase their sales. If statistics aren’t enough, try getting a proposal from an outside marketing firm that can show the CEO specifically how social media can be used for a business. As the above statistics show, the potential is too great to ignore.