Social Media Analytics: Gaining Popularity in Online Strategies

Social media has a tremendous reach across the globe. According to Facebook’s Q4 2015 Earnings report, Facebook has 1.59 billion monthly active users at the end of Q4 2015, up from 1.39 billion monthly active users by end-Q4 2014.

According to internetlivestats.com, 500 million tweets are sent per day. The website expandedramblings.com reports that 39% of all US social media users use Twitter. While Twitter and Facebook have a 50:50 proportion of male and female users, Pinterest, another major social media platform, is dominated by women; 80% of the 70 million Pinterest users are female. Instagram is also favored by women; two thirds of Instagram users are female.

An article on Montfort.io reveals the results of a 2014 survey by RJ Metrics across 50,000 Pinterest users. One interesting result is that 84% of female Pinterest users were still active in their fourth year. When we think about professional social media sites, Linkedin comes to mind, with its 414 billion plus registered members.

Students and recent college graduates, who number more than 40 million, constitute Linkedin’s fastest-growing demographic, according to Linkedin’s website.

The sheer number of social media users across the globe means that any business would be foolish to ignore the power of using its platforms for marketing and increasing brand recognition. Social media reaches a wide range of people across age groups, geographies, professional status, and tastes. As Facebook states in its annual report of 2014, “Facebook focuses on providing value for all kinds of marketers, including brand, direct response, small and medium-size businesses, and developers. We help them achieve their business objectives, whether it is driving online sales, in-store sales, or awareness of their brand.” According to the numbers given in Facebook’s Q4 2015 earnings report, 96% of Facebook’s revenues in Q4 2015 came from advertising revenues.

According to Social Media Analytics, a research PowerPoint from IBM, 20% of tweets contain brand or product references. According to a study by BlogHer entitled Women and Social Media in 2012, 81% of US internet users trust information and advice that they get from blogs. Blogging is an important tool used by companies to market their product. According to a blog article on hubspot.com, companies who blog get 97% more links to their website. In addition, B2B marketers who blog get 67% more leads than those who don’t.

Social media analytics is the study of information gained regarding usage of social media sites. Thus, you can study the social media habits of your target customers, the kinds of brands they prefer, the trends they are following, their most tweeted about subjects and so on, say experts at SEMGeeks.

As a business owner, you may want to track conversions, the number of people who achieved a direct result such as signing up for a trial, completing a form, or buying a product, after visiting your company’s social media site or reading a social media post by your company. Reach, or the size of the audience you are communicating with, is a necessary metric that helps you to see where you are in terms of your goals. Engagement, the total number of likes, shares and comments on a post or a tweet, indicates whether and how potential and actual customers are engaging with your company via online mediums.