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Organic Social Media Success IS Possible!
Have you ever been told that it's impossible for your social media posts to gain serious traction, without spending $ on sponsored ads? While ever-changing algorithms can have an impact on how your posts are seen by existing and potential followers, organic posts are still very successful. You do NOT have to spend money for online ads, especially if that takes you beyond your marketing budget.
Take this post (pictured below) for example, would you believe it reached a massive 226.9k people on Facebook, with 3.2k reactions? The same post reached 11.4k people on Instagram, with 837 likes. Zero dollars spent. We have managed this account for @leodasmaui for almost six years and our posts normally reach audiences of at least five figures. In 2022, this account reached 998.5k people on FB, with a further 287k ppl on IG. Again, zero paid advertising dollars spent.
The key to getting your posts to reach far and wide without spending heavily on advertising is fairly straightforward:
Engage your followers, respond to their messages and comments. If you grow and nurture your online community, they will become your biggest advocates
Make good use of User Generated Content (UGC). Customers/guests create some incredible content, as seen in the picture above. This image was taken by a guest—we asked for permission, tagged it correctly, and reposted
Use “National Days” and events to your advantage. The picture above uses the #nationaldessertday hashtag - be on the lookout for national and international days like this, adding those hashtags can really further the reach for your content
Be consistent. Over the course of the last six years, we have posted consistently for this client, using a recognizable online voice, a strong sense of branding, and regular post timing. It works!
Of course, it helps if your subject matter is something highly photogenic that everyone loves, in the case of dessert from Leoda’s Kitchen and Pie Shop!
If you would like to learn more, or feel like you need help achieving your social media marketing goals, please get in touch!
Updates to Facebook Business Pages
Ever since Facebook introduced their “meaningful interactions” update in January 2018, engagement on business pages has dropped significantly. Despite the fact that 80 million businesses use Facebook pages and every week, two out of three people on Facebook visit a local business or event page, that drop has been by than more than 50 per cent over the last 18 months, according to this report from BuzzSumo and Buffer.
The update to the Facebook algorithm prioritized posts from friends and family, which made it much harder to get page content seen in news feeds. However, Facebook recently announced a series of changes to mobile versions of its business pages to make connections with their user base “simpler and more valuable.”
This is how the social media giant aims to improve those connections through their new layouts, which will be different for each page category:
Recommendations
Facebook has retired their star rating system for customer reviews. Instead they have added recommendations to pages, this allows users to write in-depth reviews of at least 25 characters in length, with pictures and text. They have also added category-based business tags which are easily selected, easy to search for and work like hashtags for your business.
As Facebook say, “People can easily indicate if they recommend your business to others by simply answering "Yes" or "No", and can explain why with tags, text and photos. By selecting a tag, they can help themes emerge in the feedback from Recommendations, making it easier for potential customers to see what your business is known for.”
Actions
People will now be able to tap on a simplified and prominently featured selection of buttons to take actions like book an appointment for a haircut, order a pizza, send a message or write a Recommendation, all on mobile. Page managers will have the option to select the action buttons that make the most sense for their business.
Increased Visibility for Stories
Page Stories were added to Facebook in 2017, yet have never been as visible as those on Instagram and their original home, Snapchat. With Facebook’s new changes, the content can now be viewed by simply tapping on the business page profile photo.
Customized Business Info
Businesses can now feature information such as hours and prices, recommendations and restaurant menus much more prominently on their pages, as well as special events and offers.
Events
700 million people use Facebook Events each month and now businesses will be able to sell tickets directly through Facebook Pages. Facebook is also creating event-specific ads to help with promotion and marketing.
Jobs
To help more local businesses hire people, Facebook are expanding Jobs to all people and businesses across the world in the coming months.
Maui Jim Ocean Shootout 2018
We genuinely love what we do, especially when work means providing social media support for the Maui Jim Ocean Shootout at Kā’anapali Beach!
The annual two-day event sees watermen and women from all over the world competing for a $50,000 purse in 10 individual sprint races and a team relay race. This is across a number of ocean sports, including; Surf-ski, OC-1, SUP, Prone Paddleboard and Swimming.
This was our fourth consecutive year working on the Shootout for competition host Kāʻanapali Beach Hotel. Working closely with race athletes, Maui Jim and the Kāʻanapali Beach Resort Association, we covered the event’s social media live on Instagram and Facebook.
Our weekend also saw us providing coverage for the 14th annual Wa‘a Kiakahi, an important event organized by the Hawaiian Sailing Canoe Association (HSCA) that welcomes sailing canoe crews from across Hawai‘i. Over the course of three days here in Maui, the crews race against each other and share their knowledge about the history of traditional Hawaiian sailing canoes with the public at Ka’anapali Beach.
Such a fun few days at Cake Media Maui!
Social Media Statistics You Need to Know
We are always on the lookout for new and useful social media statistics, as they provide interesting bite-sized pieces of content to share across our own social media channels, as well as key information about an industry that is evolving and growing by the day.
Every year We Are Social releases a huge amount of stats, centered on the growth and usage of social media across the globe. It makes for intriguing reading and, we think you'll agree, there's some pretty mind-boggling numbers in their latest offering, "Digital in 2018" from Hootsuite and We Are Social.
Below, we give you some of the key takeaways and the figures that impressed us the most. Enjoy!
Did you know:
- There are now 3.196 billion people using social media, which is up 13% from last year.
- 11 new people start using social media every second, which is about 1 million people every day.
- More than 3 billion people around the world use social media at least once a month.
- The total number of global Instagram users increased by a third over the past year.
- There are more than 800 million monthly active users of Instagram.
- Instagram age demographics skew younger, with roughly 30% falling between the ages 18 and 24, and another 30% falling between 25 and 34.
- The most popular Instagram hashtags are, in order, #love, #instagood, #fashion, #photooftheday, and #beautiful.
- Instagram users are also highly likely to use Facebook (95%) and Pinterest (54%).
- Users under the age of 25 spend 32 minutes a day on the platform, while those over 25 spend 24 minutes a day on it.
- 80% of Instagram users follow at least one business on Instagram.
- More than 300 million accounts use Instagram Stories every day.
- Around 50% of businesses make regular use of Instagram Stories.
- The number of daily videos produced daily on Instagram has quadrupling over the past five years.
- About 60% of top brands use the same filter for every post, creating a consistent brand “feel” on the platform.
- 60% of Instagram users claim they’ve discovered at least one new product on the platform.
- Instagram has a follower interaction rate of 2.2%, higher than any other social network.
- Instagram posts with hashtags tend to get 12.6% more engagementthan those without.
- The total number of Facebook users has grown 15% year-over-year, with more than 2.17 billion users at the beginning of 2018.
- On Facebook, the number of users aged 65 and up has increased by 20% over the course of the past year.
- Though the number of teenagers using Facebook is growing, it’s growing at a slower rate than other demographics, at just 5%.
- Organic reach and engagement has dropped 10% over the past year.
- The average reach of a post is just 10.7% of your total page likes.
- The average Facebook engagement rate for all types of page posts is just 4.20%.
- The average Facebook engagement rate for video posts is 5.23%, for photos it’s 4.4%, and for page links it’s 3.9%.
- 95.8% of social media marketers believe Facebook offers the highest ROI of any platform.
- Twitter has more than 330 million monthly active users.
- Roughly 46% of Twitter users are on the platform daily.
- More than 36% of Americans aged 18 to 29 use Twitter. That percentage drops with each subsequent age group.
- Like many other platforms, individuals with a college degree are more likely to use Twitter. 28% of degree-holders use the platform, compared to 24% with some college education, and 14% with a high school education or less.
- 80% of Twitter users accessing the platform on a mobile device, and 93% of video views are on mobile.
- Roughly 500 million tweets are sent per day, which illustrates Twitter as one of the most active social media platforms.
Staying on Top of Social Media Trends
Do you find it hard to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of social media? With the release of new platforms, features, updates and the continuous shift in algorithms, remaining on top of online trends can be tough, not to mention time consuming.
However, being informed is crucial when it comes to being a successful online marketer. To give you an insight into how we stay up to date to best serve our clients, we have some suggestions for keeping you in touch with what's new in social media.
Blogs and News Sites
Blogs and social news websites offer a fantastic way to stay well versed in online trends. Subscribe to blogs or check back weekly (once a month if you are really short on time). Our favorites include:
* Buffer Blog – Thoughts on Social Media and Online Marketing
* HubSpot
Google Alerts
A simple, powerful way for keeping up to date on industry news, your own business and competitors is Google Alerts. In short, you will be alerted by email every time Google discovers new search results for the topics you want. Ask for alerts on the social media channels that you use, receive news about industry changes and monitor your own business (and who is talking about it) online. Trust us, you will save A LOT of time!
Sign up here
Twitter may be in decline but we find that it is still a highly valuable resource for staying abreast of what’s happening in the news and across social media. We like to choose who we follow, shall we say, “wisely” and what could be easier and less time consuming than following industry leaders and scanning their 280-character tweets? Don’t forget that checking out what’s trending on Twitter can be helpful too. As well as Buffer, Social Media Examiner and those mentioned in the blog section above, profiles we get a lot out of include:
* Mashable @mashsocialmedia
* Wired @WIRED
* Social Media Today @socialmedia2day
* AdWeek @Adweek
* Tyler Anderson @tylerjanderson
Podcasts
Podcasts are one of the best ways to stay briefed on industry updates. If you feel like there is not enough time in the day to add any more to your to-do list, podcasts could be the medium for you. Maximize your time by listening to a pod while you’re driving, taking public transport, having your morning coffee, taking the dog for a walk, anything – that is really the beauty of podcasting, you can take them with you anywhere you go. Our personal choices include:
* Social Media Social Hour Podcast with Tyler Anderson
* The Science of Social Media from Buffer
* Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield
* Social Pros by Jay Baer and Adam Brown