We don’t want to admit it, but it’d be hard to live without social media. Many 5-10 year olds got tablets for Christmas this year, we’re growing mini techies and teaching adults new things by the minute. In 2014 social media is continuing to gain importance and influences businesses as much as it does us.
Companies around the world are realizing the importance of having an online presence and the convenience of marketing through social media channels, bloggers and photo powered apps such as Instagram. People are constantly following live feeds on Twitter and the brands who best utilize social media get the most buzz.
Social Media Influence:
The leading digital asset management platform for marketers, WebDAM, has shown how social media is influencing marketing strategies in their infographic these are some of the main points:
- 43% of all marketers found a customer via LinkedIn and 52% of all marketers have found a customer via Facebook.
- Landing pages that included videos see an 86% increase in conversions.
- Companies expect to double their social marketing budgets over the next 5 years.
- Emails that include social sharing buttons have a click-trough-rate 158% higher than emails that do not include social sharing buttons.
- Customer testimonials have the highest effectiveness rating for all types of content marketing, with a rating of 89%.
This infographic shows even more changes that 2014 will bring about for marketers:
Businesses are investing in social media in order to stay afloat in today’s fast-paced world. According to an article published by Mashable the San Francisco based newspaper, The Chronicle, is putting all of its employees through a social media bootcamp in order to re-train their journalists to think “digital first”.
Image: Flickr,Juliandunn
The SF Chronicle isn’t the first company to take action. Many businesses as the infographic above shows, are investing in digital marketing, social media research and growing their brand through influencers and bloggers alike. 2014 is the year where any stragglers who haven’t yet embraced social media, will be forced to. Happy new year.