Each year in February The Pew Research Center releases its annual report on how Americans are using the Internet. The Pew Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends that shape America and the world. Their annual statistics can be of great help when you choose a social media site for your business.
For me, there are two key takeaways in Pew’s Social Media Update 2014 that was released a few weeks ago. They are:
1. Americans Use More Than One Social Media Site
But Facebook is still home base. 53% of American adults now use two or more social media sites on a regular basis. In 2013 that number was only 42%. But Facebook remains the most popular site: 71% of all Internet users have Facebook account and 79% of those who use just one site report using Facebook.
2. Facebook Users Are Highly Engaged
The meteoric user growth has waned, but individual engagement has increased significantly on Facebook. 70% of users go to the site every day and 45% of them visit several times a a day. A whopping 65% of Facebook users frequently or sometimes share, post or comment, as well.
What This Means For Your Business
- If all your efforts until now have been on Facebook, now’s the time to test another platform (or two). In doing so, you’ll need to consider where your ideal clients and customers are hanging out. For example, if you want to reach brides, test Pinterest. You can find a lot of help on the web in this area and Google can lead you in the right direction, but please be sure you look only at the most recent reports.
- The people you need to reach are likely using Facebook and may be in the 45% who access it more than once a day. With that in mind you should post on your page more often and also look for opportunities to gain better visibility. Try boosting some of your page posts, especially those that will result in an action, such as a visit to your blog.
- I also encourage you to test community-building ads on Facebook. Facebook ads can be highly targeted, inexpensive, and very effective. We all want organic fan growth, but Facebook is a crowded place and unless you have a celebrity following, your people will not likely find your page without some effort on your part.
Will this report have an impact on your social strategy?
See the full report here: http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/social-media-update-2014/
