Social Media for Business 2019
Upon Facebook'due south inception in 2007, sharing the details of our lives online became the new normal.
More than 10 years later and it's even more commonplace, with platforms similar Facebook and Instagram boasting more than than 242 and 126 one thousand thousand users, respectively.
The world of social media is already saturated, and new, shiny platforms are infiltrating the space every day. Every bit a consumer, it's hard enough to determine on which networks you'll choose to spend your time. When it comes to social media marketing, that minor annoyance tin turn into a full-fledged business organisation trouble.
With so many options, how are marketers supposed to choose which platforms they devote their finances to and, more chiefly, their fourth dimension?
G2 sought to gain a more complete understanding of the social media platforms – and their particular features – that will give your team the best bang for their buck. To do and then, nosotros surveyed more than 400 marketers from a diversity of job levels and company sizes to learn more than about their social media strategies.
Read on, or jump ahead to the section you're looking for:
Virtually popular social media sites for marketers
Least pop social media sites for marketers
Almost and least popular Facebook features
Most and to the lowest degree popular Instagram features
Snapchat and its office in social media marketing
Most impactful social networks for marketers
Social media marketing trend to look out for in 2019
Fundamental takeaways
2019's state of social media marketing
From this, nosotros've learned which social media sites are almost popular, which features drive the nearly touch, and how social media marketers can maximize their efforts to see the greatest ROI.
Allow's have a look at what we found.
The near popular social media sites for marketers
- YouTube
- Snapchat
According to survey results, here are the most popular social media platforms for marketing professionals, based on the percentage of respondents that reported their visitor using the platform in their marketing efforts.
In an almost-unsurprising result, Facebook is king. The platform proved to be the nigh popular option for social media marketers, with more than 80 per centum of those surveyed reporting that they use the channel in their efforts.
Why this is the case is upwardly to estimation, but we have a few theories.
By a large margin, Facebook has the biggest user base of operations of all of the social media platforms, seeing more than 2.2 billion monthly agile users. YouTube boasts the 2d-largest user base of operations but still trails Facebook by a good flake – 330 one thousand thousand users, to be exact. And fifty-fifty with its championship as the "2d largest search engine behind Google," only 43.5 per centum of marketers utilized YouTube in their efforts.
Since marketing is all about reaching your audience, it's understandable that the vast majority of marketing professionals are turning to Facebook. This holds especially true for companies with fewer resource. Whether lacking time, headcount, or finances, marketing on the platform that everybody uses seems like the easiest (and nearly efficient) mode to ensure y'all're getting your message in forepart of the right people.
That said, targeting the most people doesn't necessarily mean your team's content will magically appear in front of your audience. Understanding exactly how to advertise on Facebook is critical if you desire to see success. This means defining your audition, testing unlike Facebook ad types, and more than.
Trailing Facebook in popularity past simply 20 percent was Facebook-owned Instagram, with 61.2 percent of respondents leveraging the photo-sharing platform in their marketing efforts.
While Instagram doesn't have quite the number of users as its parent company Facebook, it beats out all social media channels on an important cistron: the willingness of users to engage with ads. Research shows that 2.2 pct of Instagram users volition interact with an advertizement. Facebook, which boasts the 2nd-highest engagement charge per unit, comes in at but .22 percent. This metric alone is enough for marketers to prioritize Instagram over whatever other platform.
What's interesting is that Facebook and Instagram were the but two social networks leveraged by more than l pct of survey respondents. This begs the question, why? Especially when at first glance, it seems similar LinkedIn offers an experience much closer to that offered by Facebook, with things similar status updates and groups appearing on both networks.
Here'south our theory. While Facebook and Instagram may offer two entirely different user experiences, their features for marketers are actually quite similar (likely due to the relationship between the two companies). This makes information technology peculiarly easy for marketers to repurpose content across the ii channels.
For example, both networks accept their ain version of a live streaming feature that notably favors vertical video – something considered a big no on other platforms (but particularly YouTube). If your team is already planning to go live on Facebook, it's simple to take hold of a second device and stream it on your make'south Instagram account, too.
More likely than not, though, information technology comes down to the fact that both platforms' advertising efforts are powered by Facebook Ads Manager. That's right – if you're trying to learn how to annunciate on Instagram, you'll need to use (or create, if yous haven't already) your visitor's Facebook account.
Least popular social media sites for marketers
Coming in 5th, 6th, and 7th were LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Pinterest, respectively.
That said, this doesn't come as too big of a surprise. As mentioned earlier, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and fifty-fifty Twitter and YouTube accept massive audiences – and there'due south a reason for information technology. While each of these networks serves a unique purpose and offers a different user experience, they have i principal aspect in common. Their audience is largely undefined, with users of all ages, all genders, and coming from all over the world.
On the other hand, sites like LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Pinterest cater to a much smaller audience. LinkedIn, for example, sees users who primarily log on to network with like-minded professionals, search for a new job, or build their personal make.
By nature, there will be fewer marketers leveraging these channels, but there's an obvious do good: the channel alone starts filtering your audience for you.
The fundamental takeaway here: in social media marketing, there's no i-size-fits-all answer. Only because Facebook was the most popular site for marketers surveyed doesn't necessarily mean it'southward right for your business.
On the other hand, don't stray abroad from channels similar Pinterest or Snapchat. Your key priority is reaching your audience. If that's where they live, follow them at that place.
To understand why marketers are using whatsoever given platform, we asked which features they were leveraging the most. Next upwardly, we'll await at some of the most popular social media channels to understand how exactly they're being leveraged past marketing pros.
Well-nigh and to the lowest degree popular Facebook features for marketers
There are plenty of Facebook features available to marketers, but some proved significantly more popular than others.
Facebook Messenger favored by marketing professionals
Co-ordinate to the survey, about lx pct of marketing pros on Facebook are taking advantage of Facebook Messenger, which proved to exist the most pop characteristic. This checks out – whether information technology's an actual homo on the other side or a Facebook chatbot, Messenger (which sees 1.3 billion monthly active users on its own) is a convenient style for marketers to stay in bear upon with customers, respond questions, and answer to feedback.
Facebook Alive less pop than expected
On the other paw, just 34 percent of marketers surveyed were using Facebook Live. Given all of the contempo hype around alive streaming, this is surprising. In fact, Facebook Live was one of those features we expected to accept the social media world by storm.
Whether the characteristic is still too new (it wasn't made publicly available until December 2016) or too time-consuming, we can't say for sure. But if you're a part of the 66 pct not taking advantage, yous may want to reconsider.
Since nosotros're less than iii years in, it's a relatively new feature, and at that place's nonetheless an opportunity to establish your brand every bit an early on adopter in a less crowded space. Statistically, alive streaming is more than appealing to audiences, with lxxx per centum of people preferring a live video over a traditional weblog post.
Could Facebook Groups be on the come up?
Only 24.ane pct of respondents said they leveraged Facebook Groups, simply we expect to see this number grow in 2019. Hither's why.
In 2018, Marker Zuckerberg himself claimed that Facebook would exist prioritizing posts from friends, family, and agile communities over businesses and other public content.
So, what does this mean for marketers?
First and foremost, it ways that annihilation you post from your Facebook business organisation folio volition probably come across a dip in visibility. Not cracking, but not the terminate of the world, either – especially if you lot consider testing out a Facebook Group.
Depending on your marketing goals, there are two means to consider using Facebook Groups.
If yous're looking to brand up for lost visibility from your Facebook business page, consider creating a complementary Facebook Grouping to serve as an insider community for your customers. They can offer feedback and communicate with one another on best practices, while your marketing team tin can offer exclusive content, behind-the-scenes updates, and more than. With Facebook Groups, you can continue to engage with your audience without the possible negative impact of the algorithm update.
On the other manus, if your Facebook Page didn't seem to be afflicted past Facebook'due south algorithm change, consider using Facebook Groups to perform market research in 2019. Bring together Facebook Groups that would be relevant to your target buyer persona for an inside look at their daily life. What practice they talk about? What is most of import to them? How do they adopt to communicate with brands, and other customers? Anything to increase your agreement of their priorities is valuable.
Instagram features marketers tin't get enough of (and the ones they ignore)
In recent years, Instagram has released feature later on feature. Some were adopted rapidly while others savage flat. Let's accept a look at which came out on top.
Instagram Stories are not just for influencers
Following the lead of major brands similar Taco Bell and HubSpot, 67.half dozen percent of surveyed marketers reported using Instagram Stories in their efforts.
Instagram Stories is a 2016 Instagram feature that allows users to post photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours. An Instagram Story can be a photo, video, or just text on a colorful background.
Different your typical Instagram post, which will announced in the feed, on the explore page, and on an account's profile filigree, Instagram Stories appear every bit circles in a row at the elevation of the homepage. The circumvolve will be the profile picture of the business relationship that posted the story.
On a brand'south Instagram contour, a colorful ring effectually the profile movie will signal that information technology'southward posted an Instagram Story.
While this feature has proved popular, information technology begs the question: why would nigh 70 percent of marketers waste matter good content on something that's going to disappear in 24 hours?
Here's the surreptitious. Instagram Stories help marketers "hack" the Instagram algorithm.
With more than than ane billion monthly active users, Instagram tin can exist a hard platform to break into. The algorithm favors posts with high levels of engagement – lots of comments and likes. This means that those posts will exist additional near the top of a user's feed, while the posts with less engagement volition not.
Marketers with an upward-and-coming brand profile may lack the necessary engagement for maximum visibility. Since Instagram Stories announced along the top of the app'south homepage, instead of buried within the feed, marketing pros can still get their content in front of their followers.
From there, Stories can help increase your account'south visibility. If users recognize that y'all regularly post valuable content within your Instagram Stories, they may exist more inclined to appoint with your actual posts in the futurity. Since engagement is key, this increase in interactions volition aid boost your posts in both your followers' feeds and on the explore page.
For the brands that accept been able to establish an Instagram presence, Instagram Stories offer an even more appealing benefit.
I of Instagram users' biggest qualms has e'er been the inability to add together links to individual Instagram posts. Accounts are allowed ane link in their Instagram bio, and other than that, nothing.
Instagram Stories, on the other paw, do allow links – with one caveat. Your account has to take a minimum of 10,000 followers or be a verified Instagram account. For a social media pro who'south had a little time to establish their profile, this is no problem, and links can be an effective method to encourage your followers to consummate a specific telephone call-to-action – a long-time struggle of social media marketers.
Instagram Sponsored Ads
More than half of the marketers surveyed reported using Instagram Sponsored Ads in their larger strategy. As mentioned earlier, Instagram sees the highest ad-engagement rate of any social media platform. That statistic speaks for itself, so it should come as no surprise that more than half of marketers surveyed are using Instagram Sponsored Ads.
With Instagram Ads, y'all'll select targeting criteria based on your audience's historic period, location, and interests. While this isn't the most detailed criteria, its simplicity can make Instagram an obvious pick for even the most inexperienced social media marketing pros.
IGTV hasn't defenseless on quite yet
IGTV (Instagram TV) is still a new characteristic, having just launched in June 2018. It's a standalone app that features vertical, long-grade videos and different channels that are connected to specific Instagram accounts. Users tin view IGTV either on the IGTV app or from the original Instagram app.
Unlike Instagram Live, on which videos are filmed in the moment, IGTV videos can exist professionally filmed, edited, and uploaded to the IGTV channel at a subsequently engagement. The result is that IGTV videos are typically of a much college quality
Nevertheless, merely 16 percent of marketers reported having used the feature.
This checks out. Unless you accept an incredibly engaged Instagram following (think: Instagram influencers, brands that heavily cater toward millennials, etc.), it may exist a ameliorate utilise of fourth dimension to devote your video efforts elsewhere.
In general, consumers accept short attention spans. On a network that has traditionally exclusively offered pictures, slides, and short-grade videos, it may be hard to convince an audience to engage with content for upwardly to an hour at a time. Specially when those viewers had already been turning to YouTube for their recipe tutorials and makeup videos.
Snapchat and its role in social media marketing
Just over 20 per centum of those surveyed reported using Snapchat in their marketing efforts, merely of those that did, one particular characteristic reigned supreme.
And it may surprise y'all.
More than 65 per centum of the marketers reported using Snapchat Discover as their number 1 Snapchat feature.
Snapchat Discover is a page within the app populated by marketing content from various brands, referred to as "publishers." These publishers, including notable names like The Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed, The Nutrient Network, and more, feature short-form videos, slides, and longer articles that viewers tin "swipe upwards" to read.
It's not the cheapest option, with full-fledged ads starting at a steep 50K per twenty-four hours – but those are typically reserved for major publishers or big brands. That said, for companies with money burning a hole in their pocket, it may be worth it. Snapchat has reported that Cosmopolitan, ane of its leading publishers, can see several one thousand thousand views per twenty-four hour period on their Snapchat Find ads.
While there are more expensive options (with ads costing up to $250,000), Instagram notably introduced a much more than affordable tier in November 2018. This $50 per day choice features a brief, 10-second advertizement between Snapchat Observe videos, and opened upwardly Snapchat advertizing to a much wider audition of marketers.
With this more affordable offering, it makes sense why Snapchat Discover is the number one choice for marketers. A custom Snapchat geofilter will target a smaller and less-targeted audience than Discover, simply may cost yous the aforementioned, or more than, depending on the size of your location and the amount of time your filter is attainable.
Most impactful social media platforms for marketers
Often, social media marketers – especially those coming from smaller businesses – accept just enough budget to devote to their presence on one or two platforms.
When that's the case, it'due south critical you focus your efforts on the platform(s) that offer marketers the greatest ROI.
To determine this, we asked marketing pros to rate the platforms from the most impactful to the least impactful.
And so which platform was reported as the near impactful by the most marketers?
We'll give y'all a hint – there's a reason information technology's besides the most pop.
That'due south right – 27 percent of marketers reported Facebook equally being the most impactful social network to their marketing efforts.
As mentioned above, Facebook features quite a few free offerings, similar a Facebook business folio or a Facebook group.
Additionally, advertising on Facebook can be every bit expensive or cheap every bit y'all want it to be. That's right, it'southward all up to yous!
While we can't give you an exact answer on the cost of Facebook Ads (it works like an sale), we can offer a chip more caption on why it can be then affordable. If at that place'due south an opportunity to show an ad, Facebook volition look at the multiple brands "bidding" for that spot. Notably, it'south not just how much they're behest that counts.
Facebook volition too consider the advertizement'south quality and relevance and its estimated activity rates. That ways that even if you aren't the highest applicant, Facebook may notwithstanding select your ad for its quality and impact.
Additionally, since Facebook is already weighing the potential impact of ads before information technology shows them, you can assume the ads you are showing will likely have a higher conversion charge per unit on Facebook than they volition on other platforms.
Combine the to a higher place factors and it'south no surprise that lxxx pct of surveyed marketers are leveraging Facebook.
From Twitter to YouTube to Instagram to Facebook, in that location are a bunch of social media platforms you can utilize in your marketing campaigns. Discover and compare the best social networks for your concern right here:
Social media marketing trend to look out for: micro-influencers
Now that you lot have an understanding of the social media platforms and features that are virtually pop, information technology's fourth dimension to wait frontwards at the social media trends that will be almost meaning in the coming year.
To do this, we asked those surveyed about the trends they idea would take the marketing world by storm in 2019.
I of the most popular responses? Influencer marketing.
Influencer marketing can have many forms, merely i of the about popular iterations is Instagram influencer marketing. It'south a subsection of marketing that focuses on using influential figures across social media platforms to impact your audience'southward ownership habits and brand loyalty.
This tactic has become aggressively widespread, and is expected to continue growing as everyone from former Bachelorette stars, to professional person athletes spring on the transport of their favorite brand.
That said, you lot don't need to pay the big bucks to book the Instagram star with millions of followers.
In 2019, consider using micro-influencers.
The term "micro-influencer" refers to Instagram influencers with an audience of between 2,000 and 50,000 followers. Why employ an Influencer with a smaller audition, you ask? Well, you'd be surprised at the benefits.
If your marketing team is on a budget (and aren't we all), micro-influencers will be significantly more cost-effective than signing up an A-listing celebrity. Whereas Kyle Jenner once charged 1 million dollars for a single post (that'south a real fact!), Instagram estimates that a micro-influencer will run you anywhere from $75 to $3000+. They're also more open to trades, and may even promote your offering for complimentary samples, services, or event passes.
And they may give you lot more bang for your buck, too. Considering they accept a smaller audience, it's likely that the followers they practise have are more engaged with their posts. With a smaller customs, there's a more than intimate (and therefore, trusting) human relationship between the follower and the content creator. You may never know if the former Bachelorette actually likes those pilus vitamins, just if a micro-influencer is promoting something, there'southward a good chance they really employ and beloved it.
Fundamental Takeaways
- Facebook and Instagram are the most popular social media platforms for marketers
- On both platforms, Live streaming has not nevertheless been embraced
- Other than YouTube, marketers don't seem to be prioritizing video on their social media channels – written and movie posts are all the same more popular
- Snapchat'due south introduction of a more affordable offering encouraged small advertisers to hop on board
- If you want the most bang for your buck, surveyed marketers reported that Facebook was the virtually impactful platform
- Go along an middle out for brands using micro-influencers in 2019 and beyond
Final Thoughts
While stats near marketing – and social media marketing, in particular – should always be taken with a grain of salt (individual results will ultimately depend on a brand and their audience), these results gave us a loftier-level wait at the features marketers already love, the features on which there is opportunity to be an early adopter, and some insights into 1 of the biggest social media marketing trends still to come.
If you're going to be a successful social media marketer, information technology's critical yous can clearly demonstrate ROI, and to practise that, yous need to take the all-time possible agreement of which features and sites volition fall flat, and which volition push the needle.
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