February 2025 Edition

The Power of Social Media

by Dawn Varga

February 27, 2025

Did you know that in January 2024, the USA was home to 207.0 million adult social media users, equating to 77.4 percent of the total population 18 and over?

You are probably aware that Facebook is still the most used social media platform, but did you realize that people use Facebook over 19 hours every month?

Social media marketing cannot be ignored by businesses. The power of social media to engage consumers, promote products and services, and build brand awareness is something that companies must consider as a top priority in their marketing plans.

We have broken down (acronymically and statistically) below to provide you more insight into “The Power of SOCIAL MEDIA.”

S - Show Off Your Products & Services –75% of social media users browse social media to research products. Provide a variety of information to help consumer make an informed decision about your product including product promotions, customer testimonials, use and instructions, special offers and more.

O - Occur Where People Are Searching - Users spend an average of 2 hours and 27 minutes per day across 6-7 social networks and messaging apps. Don’t limit your company by occurring on only one social media marketing site because the content you can post and the audience you can reach varies from platform to platform. Take full advantage of all the high-profile social sites.

C - Communicate Information Effectively - 80% of people remember what they see, compared to 10% what they hear and 20% of what they read according to Jerome Bruner, Psychologist. Your text content is important but be sure to pair your text with engaging images and videos to maximize your audience’s interest and retention.

I - Increase Website Traffic -87% of users visit a brand’s site or app after interacting with them on social media. Social media is a great way to increase website visitors. Make it easy for consumers to navigate to relevant pages on your website by providing direct links in your social media posts.

A - Acquire New Leads -96% of users who follow brands on social media interact with those brands. By creating engaging posts and then interacting with new social media followers, you are also gaining potential customers. Every follower you gain will see your future posts and may eventually become a valued customer.

L - Learn From Your Customers - 20-30% of American customers post negative comments about companies on social media, but 60-70% post positive comments. Monitoring and evaluating what is being said about your business on social media can help you determine where improvements can be made.

M - Maximize Your Reach - There were 207 million adult social network users in the United States in 2024. Having a solid presence on the various social media networks provides the unique opportunity to reach an exceptionally large audience that you may not have otherwise engaged with due to budget constraints or lack of current contact information.

E - Engage With Your Audience – 30-40% of customer-business interaction takes place through social media. More and more companies are offering customer service through social media messaging apps. Social media storefronts and online ordering has also become more prevalent for businesses looking for ways to optimize their sales opportunities.

D - Develop Brand Awareness – 74% of marketers use visual assets in their social media marketing. Be sure to communicate a consistent brand image in all your visual content and across all social profiles. We mentioned this above as well but remember the importance of creating and sharing quality visual content that is both engaging and memorable.

I - Increase Sales and Revenue - 73% of marketers believe social media marketing has been “somewhat effective” to “very effective” for their business. Marketers analyze the effectiveness of all their campaigns on all platforms, and this number goes to show that social media is a marketing platform that should not be ignored when it comes to increasing your bottom line.

A - Attract New Customers - 71% of consumers who had a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend the brand to family and friends. Social media offers the unique opportunity for “uber-word-of-mouth-advertising”. Not only will customers share their experience verbally, they will also share your company’s posts, links,images, tags, etc. to other users on each of the social platforms providing a direct referral and increased potential for new customers.

Sources: DataReportal, GlobalWebIndex, Sprout Social, The Manifest, Statista, Buffer, Sprinklr, Forbes

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At OnTarget Digital Services, we pride ourselves on supporting your business with practical, budget-friendly digital marketing solutions. Our mission is to help you expand your online presence and achieve your goals without overstretching your resources.

Ready for your business or organization to have a strong presence on social media?

How to Create a Killer Social Media Strategy [8 Simple Steps]

Article from American Marketing Association

Working in social media without a strategy is like throwing together random ingredients, hoping to create a Gordon Ramsay-approved meal. News flash: It just doesn’t work like that. There are so many parts involved in social media marketing, you need a good strategy to succeed.

Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or just starting to dip your toes into the world of social media, this blog will show you how to build a robust social media marketing strategy that will help you navigate the complex terrain and drive your business forward. Let’s dive in.

What is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing refers to the use of social media platforms to promote your business, products, or services.

Social media marketing includes any and all activities carried out on social media with the intention of promoting your business. These may include sharing content, engaging with potential customers, and promoting a new product.

What is a Social Media Marketing Strategy?

A social media strategy defines how a brand intends to use social media to achieve its goals. It’s like a map that guides social media activities to ensure that they align with the business goals and deliver the desired results.

A social media strategy outlines details like target audience, social networks, content plan, key performance indicators (KPIs), and engagement techniques – more on that later in the sections that follow.

8 Steps to Build a Social Media Marketing Plan

1. Set goals

Every great social media plan starts with clear objectives and goals. Goals will help you define what you want to achieve and dictate how you invest your time and energy. They will also help you track the right metrics while measuring ROI.

This goes without saying, but all your goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Once you have your goals, break them down into smaller objectives. Objectives are easier to scale, alter, and keep track of in order to attain the larger goals in your plan.

Examples of social media goals:

Increase brand awareness by x% in 2024: Brand awareness is about making your brand known or familiar. A few things to consider here include: What are your business values? What is your brand personality? What causes do you care about? In the context of social media, this means posting less promotional content and posting more authentic content that amplifies your brand story and voice.
Generate leads and sales to xx in Q4: The primary goal of every marketing activity is to generate revenue. In the same vein, social media should be viewed as a revenue-generating channel. It is now increasingly easier to sell through social media with the introduction of native shopping features.
Grow social audience to xx followers by 2024: The best channel to build an engaged community is social media. It is where most people “live.” Therefore, your brand should be actively finding new ways to reach new audiences that might be interested in your content but haven’t discovered your page yet.
Provide holistic and prompt customer care: We’re past the age where a business having an active social media presence was considered revolutionary. Now, almost every business has a social media presence. The primary differentiator now is social media response time. Customers value prompt responses on social media, whether in the comments or DMs.

2. Research your target audience

In order to create a foolproof plan, you need to understand who you are communicating with, down to their biggest pain point and most pressing need. The effectiveness of your communication is based on how well you know your audience. If you don’t know who you’re speaking to, your content will always miss the mark.

When researching your audience, use social media tools to gain insight. Don’t rely on your gut or make assumptions where data is available. Defining your audience based on demographic, psychographic, and geographic information will help you determine the kind of content that will perform well.

However, it should be noted that audiences behave differently across various platforms. So, it is important to go further and define audiences based on social networks. Different social media platforms cater to different audiences. So, your Facebook audience might be different from your Twitter audience, which will impact the type of content you create for different platforms.

READ REST OF ARTICLE HERE

Salted Caramel Pretzel Blondies

View Recipe on The Pioneer Woman

They're sweet and salty heaven!

Ingredients:

2 sticks salted butter, plus more for the pan
2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 cups mini pretzel twists, roughly crushed by hand
1/2 cup toasted pecans, roughly chopped
3/4 cup dulce de leche
Flaky salt, for sprinkling

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350˚. Lightly butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on 2 sides. Butter the parchment.
Melt the butter in a medium pot over medium heat; let cool slightly. Add the brown sugar, eggs and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Add the flour and baking soda. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir until about halfway blended. Add all but ½ cup of the pretzels and all of the pecans and stir to fully combine. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared baking dish.
Dot the dulce de leche over the top and gently swirl into the batter. Top with the remaining pretzels and a sprinkle of flaky salt. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan on a rack. Use the parchment overhang to lift the blondies out of the pan, then cut into pieces. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

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