How effective is social media?

[SicilianDragon]

My experience with social media has not been all that amazing. (been doing it for years.) Does anyone have any stats they can share that could inspire me to keep at it? 

[Jnix284]

Hi @SicilianDragon 

I can definitely understand your frustration with social media and not seeing results, but social media is a long game - at least for me, it has been. Sure there are knock-out brands, companies, influencers, etc. who have overnight success or thousands of followers, but it's because of who they are and the fact that their content resonates with their audience (Nike, Hubspot, you name it, they have an audience who wants to engage with them). 

What I learned is that for most companies, B2C or B2B, you're trying to use social to create an audience - and that is a key difference.

Look at Sebastian Vettel, a Formula 1 driver with a massive fan base, who joins Instagram and posts a poignant video about retirement and within 1 day had 1M followers, now 2.1M.

An unknown person with the same message would not achieve those results, and sometimes you have to remind yourself of that.

Here is a stat to help you keep at it, a positive outlook from a semi-anti-social media expert 🙂

I worked for a regional homebuilder for almost 8 years, my first day I posted a pic to Facebook of our Superintendents wearing super hero t-shirts (at the sales managers request) and dove head first into the world of social media. I worked with Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter - built content, messaging, stories, and grew an audience, a local following through sharing our story, behind the scenes, construction pictures, volunteering, team events, but no homes for sale (except ads).

3 years in and we started using HubSpot (game changer) and as soon as I had clear conversion data, I learned about our first home sale attributed to Facebook (organic), another year and we had 3 homes sold with Facebook as first contact/conversion, and after 5 years I pulled up our Databox dashboard to share our first sale resulting from Instagram. A HOUSE, the largest purchase most individuals will make, and they found us on social media. It collectively blew all of our minds. 

Just one conversion, was enough to cover the entire social media budget I had ever spent, four was enough to open new marketing channels, and eventually, the entire marketing ops budget was self-sufficient with clear ROI from social channels. Was it all social media? No, absolutely not. Our website was a powerhouse, we had a strong Realtor and homeowner referral network, and demand in the market for our locations. Social media wasn't mission critical, but with regular and consistent posting, it paid for our marketing budget. 🙂

[kvlschaefer]

This is amazing, @Jnix284!

Thanks for sharing this inspirational story 🙂 

[danmoyle]

This is GREAT, @Jnix284! 

[danmoyle]

@SicilianDragon it can be difficult sometimes for sure. I'm going to come at from a different POV. Less about stats and more about experience. 

As I've used social media (professinally and personally - the lines are blurred), I've found amazing connections and opportunities along the way. I've been asked to speak at events, I've had people reach out to me personally to connect with the companies I work for, I've helped people whether I was working in mortgages. podcasting, or marketing. I may not have an exact stat to share, but I can tell you that overall, social media has been a great place to connect, help, and network. 

If you want to chat about it, there's a meeting link in my signature and we can commiserate together about the downsides of social media marketing, but also revel in the positives. Keep your head up! 

[SicilianDragon]

I scheduled some time with you. I look forward to discussing my current view on social media success with you. Thanks! 

[kvlschaefer]

This is a great POV, @danmoyle!

Thanks for sharing 🙂 

[kvlschaefer]

Hi @SicilianDragon,

Don't get discouraged 😄 

Social Media is an ever-changing world that can be hard to keep up with but look at those successful brands and individuals who have left their mark online. 

Here are some interesting statistics about social media to get you inspired:

• On average, Facebook has 1.8 billion daily active users. What's even more impiressive, it has nearly double that amount of monthly active users. (HubSpot)
• About 66% of users say that Instagram helps them to interact with brands. (Instagram)
• 47% of Twitter users prefer brands that are culturally engaged. (Magna)
• Long-form content (in other words posts that are about 2,000 words long) perform better than short-form content on LinkedIn. As a matter of fact, the longer the LinkedIn post, the better it performs. (OkDork)

I also wanted to invite our community members to this conversation.

Hi @danmoyle, @Jnix284, @DavidDennison, @Sam62, @JenBergren, @Levi - Do you have any exciting social media statistics or success stories you can share with @SicilianDragon?

Thank you!

Best,

Kristen