I was at a networking meeting at the Chamber of Commerce in Palm Bay last week, and someone asked me, in all earnestness, does my little business really need a website and social media? And I said, “YES”.
Ten years ago, I wasn’t so sure about any of this internet marketing, but as my sister and brother in law built their own internet marketing firm around that time, and helped me get started on my own website, blog and social media, I have learned quite a bit. I know how to post on my facebook and twitter accounts, and because I have learned how to promote without trying to sell, I have received quite a bit of positive feedback from my social media outlets.
Other people have discovered that I am quite a good writer, which is something I have always loved, but never thought I was good at. And I now know that what you write and post out on the internet not only get your site to rank on the web, it continues to live on and gather more power over time.
What I have discovered is this. Social Media and Websites have power. If you are smart you will harness that power and get it to work for your business. Don’t believe me, take a look at these statstics:
- For context, as of May 2019, total worldwide population is 7 billion
- The internet has 4 billion users
- There are 499 billion active social media users
- On average, people have 6 social media accounts
- The average daily time spent on social is 142 minutes a day
- 91% of retail brands use 2 or more social media channels
- 81% of all small and medium businesses use some kind of social platform
- Social media users grew by 202 million between April 2018 and April 2019.
- That works out at a new social media user every 6.4 seconds.
- Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp handle 60 billion messages a day
- When asked 81% of teenagers felt social media has a positive effect on their lives
What does that all boil down to? Some staggering numbers if you ask me.
- Social networks earned an estimated $8.3 billion from advertising in 2015
- $74bn was spent on social network advertising in 2018
- 38% of organizations plan to spend more than 20% of their total advertising budgets on social media channels in 2015, up from 13% a year ago
- Only 20 Fortune 500 companies actually engage with their customers on Facebook, while 83% have a presence on Twitter
- People aged 55-64 are more than twice as likely to engage with branded content than those 28 or younger
- 96% of the people that discuss brands online do not follow those brands’ owned profiles
- 78 percent of people who complain to a brand via Twitter expect a response within an hour
Those are huge numbers, yes. But if you take into account that your business is at least a small part of this, can you see where having a social media presence and a website should be just as important to your Brevard County business as it is to a national company?
I know that for my massage therapy company, at least one-third of my clients find me on social media and the web. Another third check to see if I am still in business if they have wandered away, and more people check me out before they ever book an appointment. On my Facebook page alone, I get referrals because someone has posted in one of the city pages asking for a reputable massage therapist. Without my Facebook Business page, people who know me and have used my services would not be able to refer others to me.
Take a moment to read this post again, and I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject. Perhaps a cup of coffee and a chat?
Valentina Boonstra
