Sprout Social Download
Francisca Revelo
Building a beloved brand is not simply about what you sell, but the connections you make with the people who love and trust your brand. At Sprout Social, we believe there is no place where this is more vital than social media. Our intuitive platform offers comprehensive social media management solutions, including publishing and engagement functionality, customer care, influencer marketing, advocacy and AI-powered business intelligence. We enable organizations of all sizes to be more open, real and empathetic on social media and create the kind of authentic connection with their consumers that drives businesses forward.
With nearly 5 billion social media users worldwide and across several platforms, social media presents many opportunities. Social media has become a much more cross-functional and collaborative channel in the last few years. Where it had once been used solely for brand awareness, now there is an impact of social media on business across several teams: customer experience, sales, product development, content and marketing.
While interpreting the data for each social network individually, we consistently notice that the highest times of engagement are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays generally between 9 a.m. and noon. Midweek mornings prove to be a successful time across most social platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Pinterest and TikTok see higher engagement in the afternoons.
With a solid Facebook marketing strategy, businesses can target the right audiences at the right time with their content. Keep in mind, engagement also has to do with how often you post on social media and what you post. Not all social content translates well across every social media platform. Posting the right content on the right platform makes a difference.
This could reflect an interest in developing news and updates as the day unfolds, as well as a desire for entertainment. Keep in mind many brands use Twitter as part of their customer service strategy, as an alternative to traditional customer support options. Brands should continue to build trust between their customers and proactively improve customer experience through social listening.
A social media management tool like Sprout Social can help you drill into your analytics and develop tailored findings for your brand accounts across all networks, holistically and individually. Gain competitive insights by comparing your performance to your competitors, to find new opportunities for engagement.
With features like post tagging and cross-network reporting, you can separate different factors like post author or types of content, and drill down into how your posting time influenced your social success.
Brands are no strangers to social. But, by and large, brands have only just begun to realize the value of truly connecting with consumers and treating social as more than a channel for promotion. Here are the top five findings from our research on the business value of building connections through social channels:
Social also gives brands the opportunity to connect people on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Seventy-two percent of consumers who identify as conservative want brands to use social to help individuals connect with each other; 85% of those who identify as liberal share the same desire.
Based on personal experience, nearly half of consumers (46%) say social has introduced them to new people, while 44% say it has helped them understand a different point of view. As brands embrace their role as relationship builders, doubling down on social to power connections is the logical next step.
Consumers want brands to use social to help them connect with others for several reasons. More than half of consumers (55%) want brands to use social to help connect like-minded people with each other, while more than one third (36%) are looking for communities they can belong to. And over half of conservatives (51%) and liberals (54%) would like to connect with people who are different from them.
Consumers are increasingly interested in learning about the humans who make up their favorite organizations. When a CEO has an active social presence, for example, 70% of consumers feel more connected to that brand. Of those respondents, almost two thirds (65%) say when a CEO uses social regularly it feels like real people run the business.
With a stronger grasp of what content makes their audience tick, brands can better leverage social to connect with their audiences and build community. When it comes to using social to help consumers connect with each other, 46% of consumers would like to see brands create interactive social content, while a little over one third (37%) believe brands should promote user-generated content.
Which topics brands choose to highlight also matters to consumers. Over three quarters of consumers (76%) say brands talking about natural disasters or crises could unite people on social, while 74% point to education as an appropriate topic for conversation. Other social issues consumers see as opportunities to unite an audience include environmental issues, human rights and poverty.
In an increasingly divided society, connections matter more than ever, and people want brands to lead the way. Building these relationships, however, takes time. Brands will need to rethink how they leverage social media to nurture connections with and among their audiences. Brands that shift their strategic emphasis on social from revenue to relatability will be the best equipped to engage with people on an emotional level and uncover connections in an otherwise divided environment.
By their very nature, social platforms bring together communities interested in ongoing conversations. Social helps brands get front and center with their target audiences and leverage rich, interactive content experiences to share important messages and values. In a lot of exciting ways, social continues to push brands to reimagine what transparency looks like and how they can best achieve it.
On an even grander scale, brands that build strong social relationships founded on transparency remain top of mind with people and boost their bottom lines. Industry research finds nearly three-fourths of consumers (73%) are willing to pay more for products that guarantee total transparency.
Unsurprisingly, people prefer when brands admit their mistakes and are generally forthcoming with company information. What you may not know, however, is the impact of addressing specific topics that not every brand covers by default. For example, 46% of people want brands to be transparent about their employment practices on social, outpacing topics like financial performance. Similarly, the same number of people (53%) want brands to be transparent about product or service changes as well as company values, requiring more coverage than marketing or employment practices.
The mere presence of a CEO on social media has the added bonus of creating a positive impression of his or her brand. More than half of consumers want CEOs to have a personal presence on social media, such as their own Twitter handles or Instagram accounts. And 63% of people say CEOs who have their own social profiles are better representatives for their companies than CEOs who do not. This is in addition to the reputational benefits CEOs with their own social profiles already earn, such as seeming more approachable, accessible and human.
As with social overall, brands must learn what people desire from CEOs on the channel before they can educate company leaders on how to best champion transparency efforts. Consumers want CEOs to keep their posts focused on business needs over personal updates, but the bottom line is that CEOs are more likely to make a positive impact when they share transparently on social, no matter what they post about.
Findings from this report show a clear need for improved transparency now. People believe transparency is more important from brands than ever before, and they want the businesses they support to be especially transparent on the communication channels where they interact every day. As social has increased opportunities for people and brands to readily connect, it has also driven heightened expectations on which the majority of businesses are falling short.
1. Elevate social transparency as a business strategy, not just a marketing effort.
Every member of your brand helps drive honest communications, and it only takes one poor interaction to turn off customers. Transparency must be an overarching business pillar, not a responsibility that marketers and customer service representatives own in a silo.
3. Hand CEOs the megaphone.
Modern leadership means CEOs should embrace modern engagement channels and take their executive presence outside the boardroom. Your CEO sets the standard for active, honest sharing on social and empowers your employees to authentically share, too.
Social offers diverse options to find and connect with millennials on the platforms they find valuable. Given the millennial preference for companies and executives that communicate transparently on social and emphasize core values, any employer planning to grow in the coming years should take note.
Is there anyway to integrate Asana and Sprout Social? I am afraid that while using both systems may be great that there might also be some duplication of work. We do often have to move social posts back a few days or so depending on the project. A little nervous that we will have to duplicate the effort in both systems if they do not integrate.
Instagram quietly crossed 2 billion users in 2022 and brands are still scrambling to get more Instagram followers. Below are the top social media statistics for Instagram.
The concept of buying something you saw on social media is nothing new. From product recommendations to first impressions from brands, the impact of social media on consumers is well-documented.
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