How Social Media Is Expanding and How It Helps Your Business

Social networking and social media is no longer a new thing. For over two decades, social media has grown and evolved into something that lets consumers and businesses engage with one another in a meaningful way. Organizations can inform consumers about new products, events, services, and other brands that matter to them. Nowadays, social media networks have integrated itself on a global level as an integral part of our lives.

 Driving the Growth of Social Media

Millions of consumers with smartphones and tablets access social media on a daily basis. Despite the new portable devices that have Wi-Fi, the personal computer remains at the forefront of the social network experience. Portable devices such as netbooks, tablets, and phones make it extremely convenient for people to access their social media. Approximately sixty-three percent of social media users say that they primarily use their smartphone devices to access social media while sixteen percent uses tablet devices to connect to social media networks.

Takeaway Statistics for 2012

In 2012, Pinterest had exponential growth and Facebook surpassed 1 billion users throughout the world. Because social media networks are so accessible, people and businesses are signing up in scores with approximately twenty-three percent of users checking their social media accounts more than five times a day.

• Over one-million websites have integrated Facebook in their business processes.
• Approximately sixty-nine of follows are suggested by social network friends.
• Approximately fifty-six percent of tweets from customers are ignored; Engagement is the key to social media success.
• Since Twitter came out, there have been more than one-hundred and sixty-three billion tweets.
• The majority of users who use Google+ spend well over sixty minutes a day on Google+.
• Google+ is known to increase a website’s traffic by three-hundred and fifty percent.
• There are over five million photos uploaded to Instagram every twenty-four hours.
• Women appear to make up about eighty-percent of Pinterest users.

Propagation of Social Media Options

While Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest are highly renowned, new social media sites and networks are being created every day. There are too many social sites to count, and they are adding a variety of social features and integration. Keeping track or finding relevant social media channels can increase traffic to your website.

It is no secret that Pinterest have grown exponentially last year. Though the growth has leveled out, Pinterest had the largest growth consistently on a year by year basis out of any other social media networks. Look at the graph below for a visual representation of Pinterest’s growth in comparison to other social media networks.

Social Media Consumer Usage and Customer Care Evolving

The use of social media when consumers watch television is evolving; that is even truer with online television networks. In June 2012, there was a reported thirty-three percent of Twitter users tweeting about television content. Roughly forty-four percent of United States tablet users and thirty-eight percent of smartphone users use social media while watching television content. In Latin America, that number is higher at approximately fifty percent.

Word of Mouth in Social Media

It was not long ago when word-of-mouth was limited to people that you were acquainted with; social media networks have far since removed that limitation. Social media allow businesses, and consumers to generate and receive meaningful information from an exponentially larger population. As a result, hyper-informed consumers can make purchasing decisions and talk about those purchases in social media. Businesses can develop brand recognition, render services, sell products, and provide incentives to people that use social media.

Engagement Opportunities in Social Media

Consumer attitude towards ads on social media still evolves. About one-third of users thinks that ads on social media sites are more annoying than useful. Research suggests that marketers have a significant opportunity to engage with people. Roughly twenty-six percent of social media users pay attention to the ads posted by their network acquaintances, seventeen percent of social media users feel connected to brands on social networks, and twenty-six percent of social media users are fine with ads relative to their profile information. Social media likes are the most common action that people take when they see an ad they like. It is also an effective way to build brand visibility.

Social media is complex and has several benefits for your business. The impact that social media will continue to have on business in the future is still yet to be determined but it’s safe to say that it’s already off to a good start.