Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest – these are but a few of the myriad of social media sites used today. As a perceptive business owner, you are already using at least a couple of these-right? After all, social media sites provide you with an inexpensive and simple method of letting people know who you are and what your company does.

But in using social media, do you keep up with the latest statistics and updates that can help you better use your various social media accounts? If not, no problem! In this post, we will recap some of these, as well as mix some tips for making the most of social media sites.:

  • Social media sites, especially Facebook, are critical for driving site traffic. In fact, Facebook and Twitter are responsible for 50% of referral visits in small businesses. Should you choose to use only one of these, select Facebook as it is responsible for 48.1% of referral visits.
  • In order to get links and traffic, you have to give them, too. The more you link to other sites, the more others will link to you.
  • Become a part of your local organizations by getting involved with volunteer opportunities, conferences, seminars, etc. As you become known, people will connect more with you online and your business will be mentioned more on social media sites. A recent study found that small businesses get 11 times more traffic than their larger competitors, simply by being involved with their community and having personal relationships with their customers.
  • When small businesses have special deals/offers for their social media followers, and then encourage those followers to share the offer(s) with their friends, they increase their business by more than 25%.
  • Twitter followers increased by 102% when businesses start a blog.
  • If Facebook were a country, it would have more citizens than the U.S. Facebook has 1 billion users, America has 310 million citizens. Do not overlook the far-reaching potential of Facebook!
  • Of adult online users: 12% of adults use Pinterest and Instagram; 16% use Twitter; 20% are on LinkedIn and 66% use Facebook.

Using social media and marketing together has an even greater impact than using either one of them alone. Recently, Tom Pick showed 72 of social media marketing facts and statistics. Here is just a brief recap of his findings.

  • Marketers rate social media as the second most important factor in business promotion. In fact, strong content placed first at 82% with social media at 64%.
  • Facebook brings in 77% of leads in B2B companies; LinkedIn provides 65% of professional leads.
  • Top executives should be involved in social media; 77% of buyers say they are more likely to buy from a company where the CEO uses social media.
  • Sunday is the best day for B2C Facebook interaction.
  • Only 5% of Facebook wall posts are answered by brands. Be a part of the minority and take the time to answer Facebook posts- especially those that may be negative as those can do more damage!
  • The U.S. has the largest number of Facebook users.
  • Keep Facebook posts entertaining, interaction driven and up to date. Studies show that 52% of consumers have quit following a brand on Facebook because posts were repetitive and boring.
  • 82% of the American population makes up Twitter’s 200 million users; approximately 25% of all Twitter users are considered extremely active as they have multiple daily check-ins.
  • Google Plus is expected to have 400 million users by the end of 2012; 63% of users are male but only 17% of Google Plus are considered active users.
  • Pinterest users spend an average of 90 minutes per month on the site; it is tied with Twitter at 3.6% for referred social media traffic it sends to websites.
  • 83% of Pinterest users are women.
  • Favorite American Pinterests are fashion, desserts, clothes and birthdays; U.K. faves are venture capital, blogging, resources, crafts, web analytics and SEO marketing.
  • Social networks and blogs account for 23% of all time spent online.
  • 92% of blog users who post multiple times daily acquire a customer through their blog. Monthly posts resulted in a gain of 66% and sporadic posting resulted in 43%. However, most bloggers (60%) only post weekly and 10% post daily.
  • B2B companies with active blogs build 67% more leads per month than those without.

Okay. So, there you have it- a long list of reasons to take advantage of social media sites. If you are not using social media, why not? If it is because you don’t have time or knowledge, talk to Page Progressive. We have people who will be happy to get you started. If you are using social media, how has it changed the way you do business? What tips would you share with others for making the most of social media sites? We would love to hear from you. Leave your tips below or post them on our FacebookTwitterGoogle Plus or LinkedIn walls.