The state of Social Media in 2015

Social Media: The phenomenon

Why YOU can not ignore it... • It is word of mouth on steroids• It is current, relevant and invasive • 1 in 4 people in the world use social networks• Searching Google for social media returns

70100000 results• Everyone is talking about it, from teenagers to

local grocers and even leaders of countries

Social Media: The phenomenon

Social Media: The phenomenon

Social Media: The Phenomenon

“Social Media is about sociology and psychology more than technology.” ~Brain Solis Principal of FutureWorks 

“With the growing reliance on social media, we no longer search for news, or the products and services we wish to buy. Instead they are being pushed to us by friends, acquaintances and business colleagues”. ~Erik Qualman 

Social Media: The Phenomenon

“I love social media because it exists at the intersection of humanity and technology. ~ Steve Jobs

"On Twitter we get excited if someone follows us. In real life we get really scared and run away."~Unknown

“Social media is here. It’s not going away; not a passing fad. Be where your customers are: in social media.”~Unknown

Social Media: Myths

These are the most common myths of social media:

• It is free• You can just appoint anyone in-house to run

your social media • You need to be on EVERY social media channel • Social media can replace real-life networking • Social media is full of internet trolls

Social Media: Myths

• Only teenagers are on social media

• Social media can replace your website

• You can not measure return on investment

• You can not generate leads on social media

• Too much content will reveal trade secrets to your competitors

Social Media: Myths

• Social media does not compliment traditional marketing

• Social media is a fad • Social media creates negativity • Social media is too informal for business

Social Media: Fears and Pitfalls

Lack of commitmentInconsistencyRules/regulations/complianceNegative feedback Mixed messaging and toneCompetitor snooping Costs

Social Media: Facts

Social Bookmarking (stumblopen.com)

• Interact by tagging websites and searching through websites bookmarked by others

Social News (reddit.com)

• Interact by sharing and commenting on news Social Video & Photo Sharing (youtube.com)

• Interact by sharing videos and photos Social Networking (facebook.com)

• Interact by adding friends, commenting and sharing

Social Media: Facts

The statistics do not lie:• 1 in 4 people world wide use social media • By 2017 there will be 2.55 billion users• 67.7 % of internet users use social media at

least once per month • Over 3 billion active internet users

Social Media: Facts

How do marketers see social media?• 92% of marketers indicate that social media is important for

their business • Facebook and LinkedIn are the most popular choice for

marketers, with 54% choosing FB as their preferred platform• 64% said they dedicated 6 hours or more to social media

per week • 92% said the top benefit of social media was increased

exposure with increased traffic on the website 80% and developed loyal fans

(Study done by Social Media Examiner, 2800 marketers took part and results were released in 2014)

Integrated Social Media

Social Media: Where it all begun and why

“Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission - to make the world more open and connected.” - Mark Zuckerberg

YouTube was built for home use and Facebook was never intended to be a marketing tool – this was the age of innocence.People slowly, through their needs, pushed these channels to become what they are today.

Social Media: Where it all begun and why

This is the society we have become

Social Media: Trends

• Paid advertising• Rich media • Integration marketing • Online shopping• Group/forum participation • Personal brand building • MOBILE USAGE

Inbound Marketing

Social Media: Facebook, the King of Kings

Facebook is undoubtedly the biggest and most powerful social network in the world. What makes it unique?

• It currently has 1.4 billion users but is aiming for 5 billion users• Facebook is driving initiatives for internet accessibility world wide • It dominates the social media advertising space• Facebook is focused on growing offline too• It is a public company • Facebook has adapted to changes in technology and user

behaviour

Social Media: Facebook

• 21 minutes – the time the average user spends on Facebook a day

• Largest opportunity - communicating with consumers in a non-obtrusive way

• Users share 1 million links every 20 minutes• Posts that contains photos make-up 93% of the most

engaging posts.• Question posts “get 100% more

comments than standard text-based posts.”

Social Media: Twitter

• 284 million active users (over 600 million total users)

• Twitter is a micro blogging social site that limits posts to 140 characters

• 88 % of Twitter users are on mobile• 500 million tweets a day• Use hashtags to gain 2x more

engagement• Image links can get 2x the engagement rate

Social Media: LinkedIn

•LinkedIn has 347 million registered members•Total revenue at the end of 2014 was $643 million (a growth rate of 44% over the previous period)•There are over 39 million students and recent college graduates on LinkedIn•Biggest opportunity is B2B marketing

Social Media: Google +

• 540 million active users• Social network built by Google that allows for

brands and users to build circles• 25 – 35 year olds are most active• Average monthly time spent on

Google + is 7 minutes• A Google + presence can assist

with search engine optimisation

Social Media: Ideas

Social Media: Groups

Social Media: Tips

Create a social media strategy:• Identify your target audience• Select the right platforms • Align your strategy with your business objectives

and sales targets• Ask yourself what do I want people to know? • Define what you can and cannot do• Develop a tone and style

Social Media: Tips

Create a social media strategy:• Identify key staff members to involve• Educate staff members• Create a content plan considering seasons,

events, plans etc• Allocate time • Find tools to assist you• Monitor and adapt

Success Stories

Ellen’s Oscar Selfie • A simple selfie, with arguably the most famous

faces in Hollywood, goes viral• The most retweeted picture on Twitter • This tweet generated $1 billion worth of

advertising for Samsung

Key Learning: Keep up to date with the latest

trends

Success Stories

Arby’s• This was the biggest

tweet during the 2014 Grammy awards

• 79834 retweets• Arby’s bought this hat for

over $44000 and auctioned it off for charity Key Learning:

Keep an eye out for opportunity

Social Media: Remember this!

Training

Social Media: An Introduction (30/09/2015 09:30 – 12:30)

LinkedIn for Business (26/10/2015 13:30 – 16:30)Facebook for Business

(16/11/2015 09:30 – 16:30)