Social media marketing is not just a trendy word, it is fast becoming and in some cases already is a viable acquisition channel for most businesses.
In fact, Hubspot reports that 70% of business-to-consumer marketers have acquired a customer through Facebook.
If you are still having trouble convincing your boss that social media is worth the investment, here are 28 must see statistics for 2013 to make him/her jump on board.
YouTube
photo credit: webtreats
This may be well-known now, but it’s worth mentioning that YouTube is the #2 search engine on the web making it one great resource for traffic and leads.
As a matter of fact, Zappos reports that YouTube drove 250,000 visits to its website in 2012.
If you have no clue where to start with YouTube, check out our Complete Guide to Video Marketing.
Another resource is an interview that David Siteman Garland with James Wedmore. James talks about how he finds keywords with high search traffic, creates videos for those terms, and ultimately turns those views into email leads.
1. 700 YouTube video links are shared on Twitter every minute (source: Relevancy Group)
2. 500 years of YouTube videos are watched on Facebook every day (source: Relevancy Group)
3. The equivalent of 100 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube each minute (source: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers)
4. 99% of US online specialty retailers use YouTube, up from 93% in 2012 (source: L2)
Facebook
photo credit: Scott Beale
With close to a billion active users on the site, Facebook is a behemoth in the social media world.
Amy Porterfield is an expert on Facebook Marketing and has a great blog post about how to increase fans on your page.
Also, if you haven’t looked into Facebook Ads, it’s one channel worth checking out. In fact, at SmartShoot we were able to attract more leads at half the price on Facebook than we were on Google Adwords.
5. 79% of social media log ins by online retailers are with Facebook, compared to 12% for Google+, and 4% for Twitter (source: Gigya)
6. Facebook will account for 13% of worldwide mobile ad revenue in 2013 (source: L2)
7. Facebook users share 2.5B pieces of content on the site each day (source: Nielsen)
8. 70% of business-to-consumer marketers have acquired a customer through Facebook (source: Hubspot)
LinkedIn
photo credit: TheSeafarer
With over 238 million users, LinkedIn is a great site for businesses looking to increase traffic and leads, as well as individuals looking to market their expertise for new career opportunities.
Kristi Hines wrote a fantastic guide to LinkedIn marketing on the KISSmetrics blog. If you’re just starting out, it’s definitely worth a read.
9. 43% of US marketers have found a customer through LinkedIn (source: A Sales Guy Consulting)
10. 61% of social media users primarily use LinkedIn for professional networking (source: Lab42)
11. 60% of LinkedIn users have clicked on an ad on the site (source: Lab42)
12. 51% of online business-to-consumer marketers use LinkedIn, compared to 83% for business-to-business (source: Brafton)
Twitter
photo credit: tveskov
I’m proud to admit that I’m one of the 50% of companies who have acquired a customer on Twitter.
Brief story, I was on a sales call with a company trying to sell a solution that monitored Twitter and helped identify leads.
I wasn’t completely convinced that you could find leads on Twitter so I put him to the test and did a search for “video editor needed” through the Twitter website.
While there were plenty of tweets of businesses promoting their own services, I landed on a tweet that was actually looking for an editor.
I did a public reply and we manage to set up a call and ultimately closed the sale. While it’s not a scalable solution, it is worth looking into if you ever have a spare 20 minutes.
13. Twitter users send 400M tweets each day (source: Nielsen)
14. 50% of technology companies have acquired a customer through Twitter (source: Hubspot)
15. 25% of consumers who complain about products on Facebook or Twitter expect a response withing 1 hour (source: American Express OPEN Forum)
16. 69% of online business-to-consumer marketers use Twitter, compared to 80% for business-to-business (source: Brafton)
Google+
photo credit: dullhunk
From a usability stand-point I absolutely love Google+. However, it does feel like a desert sometimes.
But marketers must remember that Google is in it for the long run with Google+ and they starting to integrate more Google+ features into the search results.
In short, do not ignore Google+ or you might see your competitors whizzing right by you 5 years down the road.
17. 70% of brands have presences on Google+, up 4% from Q4 2012 (source: Simply Measured)
18. 41% of online business-to-consumer marketers use Google+, compared to 39% for business-to-business (source: Brafton)
19. 12% of social media log ins by online retailers are with Google+ (source: Gigya)
20. Facebook’s share of social logins dropped from 54% to 49% during 4Q12, while Google’s share increased from 25% to 31% (source: Janrain)
Pinterest
Melanie Duncan and Michael Stelzner did an amazing podcast interview about how to drive more traffic to your site with Pinterest.
And if you thought Pinterest was only a place for pictures, then again. In collaboration with Krizia de Verdier, we did a Slideshare on how you can drive more YouTube views with Pinterest.
21. 90% of US online specialty retailers use Pinterest, up from 81% in 2012 (source: L2)
22. 83.8% of luxury brands have a presence on Pinterest (source: L2)
23. 69% of brands have presences on Pinterest, up 10% from Q4 2012 (source: Simply Measured)
24. 25% of online US women use Pinterest, compared to 5% for men (source: Pew Research Center)
Instagram
photo credit: Howie
I’m not an expert on Instagram and primarily use it to share photos with close friends.
However, there are marketers using Instagram in creative ways. From running contests to featuring their customers, marketers are taking advantage of this under utilized social network to build a deeper connection with their audience.
25. Instagram users upload 40M photos to the site each day (source: Nielsen)
26. 41% of brands post 1 or more photos per week to their Instagram accounts, up from 34% in Q4 2012 (source: Simply Measured)
27. 59% of brands have presences on Instagram, up 9% from Q4 2012 (source: Simply Measured)
28. 17% of teens say Instagram is the most important social network, up from 12% in 2012 (source: Piper Jaffray)
Conclusion
What social network has the most potential for your business? Where have you found success in acquiring new customers? Tell us in the comments below.
