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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
UGC: What it is and How to Use it Correctly
If you are running a business, trying to keep up with social media and feeling the pressure to create fresh content, you will benefit from adding User Generated Content (UGC) into your marketing strategy.
Never heard of UGC? Fear not, as in this post we are going to tell you a) what it is b) how to use it and c) why it could be your new best friend.
Help! What is UGC?
UGC is online content, created and displayed publicly by others—it could be an Instagram picture, a Facebook post, an image on Flickr, a Wikipedia entry or a YouTube video. It is any kind of existing content that (if permission has been granted) businesses or social media managers can curate and repost, using it to fill their feed with beautiful pictures and to market their brand.
Have you ever noticed your favorite restaurant posting Instagram pictures from well-known foodies, giving them picture credit in the caption? Perhaps you remember Coca-Cola sharing images of their followers with personalized bottles during their "Share a Coke" campaign? Or how about Starbucks reposting consumers’ pictures during their 2016 Red Cup Art promo? These are all examples of UGC.
239.5k Likes, 1,254 Comments - Starbucks Coffee ☕ (@starbucks) on Instagram: "[2/5] Round of applause for red cup contest winner @sam_thrive360living and her creative red cup..."
But How Do I Use It?
Just because Instagram pictures, Snaps, Facebook videos and suchlike are posted on social media, they aren’t free of copyright issues. While some consumers may be happy to have their pictures reposted, it’s worth remembering that not everyone feels this way and others could take offense and even pursue legal action if material is reposted without their consent.
Social media analyst Susan Etlinger addressed the ethics behind permission requests in her recent paper, The Impact of Digital Content: Opportunities and Risks of Creating and Sharing Information Online:
“Social media platforms can appear to provide an unending source of free content. However, just because this information appears on the internet does not make it accessible for unbridled use. When looking to incorporate user-derived content, people should be aware of applicable copyright licenses and of the various terms of agreement that users have signed with social media sites.”
There are infinite examples of people and/or businesses using UGC without asking for permission, simply adding in photo credit as a hat tip to the content creator. Yet, by the letter of the law, you should always, ALWAYS ask for explicit approval.
In most cases, it’s very easy to do – just ask! Request approval and tell the content creator how and where the image/video will be used. In the example below, we asked to use an image from Oahu photographer, Misha Kreker (@ikreker) on our own social media channels:
There are other ways—some brands ask for approval in the way of a branded hashtag, as seen in the UGC here, reposted by Air BnB with #airbnbphoto.
Make sure when you post your own curated UGC that you both tag the content creator and mention them with picture credit in the caption.
Another option for generating UGC is creating an online picture competition for your business. Here, online followers are encouraged to submit their own pictures with a unique, branded hashtag and in your competition rules, explicitly state where and how their entries will be reposted.
UGC: My New Best Friend?
If you are a social media marketer or a business owner who needs material, trust us, you will grow to love UGC.
Not only do you get fresh, beautiful content to curate and add to your social content calendar but you will seriously improve your promotion efforts: Studies have shown that UGC is 35 per cent more memorable than other media and that it is a whopping 50 per cent more trusted than other media!
UGC also encourages engagement and drives follower counts, it makes your fans feel seen and heard, it humanizes your brand and it gives an accurate and unbiased representation of your business. As long as you use it correctly, UGC is a must for any social media marketing efforts.
Confused? Have questions? Want to make Cake Media (and not UGC…) your new best friend? Contact us today!
Imua Family Services
We recently had the good fortune of meeting the incredible team at Imua Family Services—a Maui non-profit organization that provides early developmental services for children with special needs, as well as support and resources for their families.
“Imua Family Services’ mission is to, ‘Empower children and their families to reach their full potential.’ Our programs and staff assist children and their families overcome developmental learning challenges in their most critical formative years using play-based instruction designed to help them move forward.”
We were blown away when we found out about the work that Imua carries out here in Maui County and, needless to say, we were delighted and honored to work with them on two very different fundraising projects in the first half of 2017.
Imua Family Services' main headquarters in Kahului, Maui.
The first was the Imua Ball, an annual fundraising gala held at the Hyatt Regency Maui. This year’s event, the Platinum Jubilee, celebrated 70 years of operation for the non profit.
Cake Media were there to help with social media, mostly in managing Imua’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts on the day of the event. Taking on Imua's voice and using it across all our posts, we built up anticipation in the hours leading up to the ball, then covered the festivities as they happened. Our aim was to raise awareness, while encouraging engagement, new followers and—importantly—donations. You can still donate by the way, right here!
We were also taken on by Imua to manage a team of local social media influencers who were helping to get the word out, thank sponsors and spread the use of the #imuaball hashtag. Cake Media had pre-prepared event guides, with key information about the Ball, its performers and key event sponsors and were on hand to provide support as and when needed.
Social Media Prep Kits, created for the Maui influencers.
The second time we worked with Imua was Saturday May 6 on the 2017 Bluesmiths Paddle Imua, a race from Maliko Gulch to Kahului Harbor. The annual downwinder is open to a number of disciplines, including outrigger canoes (OC-1, OC-2, OC-6), Stand-up Paddle Boards (SUP), Surf Skis, Prone Boards and Hydrofoil SUP.
All funds raised from this event go to Camp Imua—a week-long camp for Imua’s children aged 6 to 16. Here they have an opportunity to do all kinds of fun activities such as horseback riding, ziplining and flying in a helicopter, to name just a few.
We know the Maliko race well, having paddled it ourselves a handful of times in an OC-6 and we were in our element working at this event, considering our mutual love of paddling and Laura’s passion for and history of covering sports (yep-that’s my first love! – LG)
Image courtesy of Paddle Imua
Based at the finish line, Jenny took on the social accounts for Imua Family services – covering the day’s events from a human-interest angle that would make sense to existing and potential followers.
Starting at the Maliko Gulch start line before zipping back to Kahului Harbor to see the athletes cross the finish line, Laura took over the social pages for Paddle Imua, sharing content before, during and after the race. Laura’s content was geared more towards people that might have been entering the race, paddlers, sponsors, water people, etc – focusing less on the human interest angle and more on the sport, the conditions, the athletes and the action. Taking on different “voices” for the clients and the respective social media pages that we manage is something that we love to do.
To make a long story short, we had a blast. We relish new challenges and what could be better than working with such an incredible organization and cause?
For more on Imua Family Services and Paddle Imua, give them a follow on Instagram!
Thanks for reading! Laura and Jenny