If you’re not digital, you need to be
For any business to reach it’s full potential in 2020 and beyond, you’ve got to get digital!
What do I mean by that?
Well, first of all, you’ll need a website. That’s a no-brainer. You can either pay someone to do it for you, or you can do it yourself. If you’ve never done it before, it is easier than you might think. You don’t need to just be an online business to need a website. All businesses need a website. It need not be complicated, but you’ll most definitely need one.
Find out how to build a WordPress website in 30 seconds here.
Global digital uptake
To put it in perspective for you, Hootsuite (a huge social media management platform) and We Are Social (an international creative agency) have released their report “Digital in 2018”, showing the digital trends and uptake across 239 countries. It is astounding.
Here is a snapshot:
Key findings from the report include:
- Internet user numbers increased by 7% in the last 12 months, reaching 4.021 billion, or 53% of the world’s population
- Global social media usage increased by 13% in the last 12 months, to 3.196 billion users
- Mobile social media usage increased by 14% reaching 2.958 billion users, with 93% of social media users accessing social from mobile
- Internet users are projected to spend a combined total of 1 billion years online in 2018, of which 325 million years will be spent on social media
Social media future trends
Now, to get your brand and your messaging out there, social media is a must. Social media has exploded and won’t be slowing down any time soon! With over 3 billion people across the globe on social media, you can’t afford to ignore it. Make the most of this rapdily expanding group of people, who are looking for your content.
Here is a snapshot of social media use:
That’s a bit insane! Over 3 billion people on social media, representing 42% of the total population!
Take note that 39% of the total population access social media via mobile, so make sure your them is mobile friendly.
So which media platforms are these 3 billion people accessing?
The top 5 social media platforms
Facebook has been around since 2004, and is still the dominant force in social media, with 2,167 million users in 2018, up by 15.82% from 2017. Some new social media trends are changing things up a bit on social media, with platforms like LinkedIn and Tumblr gaining momentum. Here are my top 5 social media platforms, to help you with your business:
Facebook can be both for personal use and for business use, where users can set up a business account that is linked to their personal account. You can add other users as ‘friends’, sharing with them photos, videos, links and messages. Facebook Messenger is now huge with 1,300 million users, which is up by 30% since 2017. Of all of the platforms, I like Facebook the best.
https://www.facebook.com
Twitter was created in 2006, and has 330 million users in 2018, up by 4.1% from 2017. Twitter users post messages or ‘tweets’. In November 2017, Twitter changed it’s restriction from 140 characters in tweets to 280.
https://twitter.com
Instagram has been around since 2010, and has 800 millions users in 2018, up by 33.33% from 2017. Instagram is owned by Facebook and is growing rapidly. It is centred around images and videos.
https://www.instagram.com
Pinterest has 200 million users in 2018, up by 33.33% from 2017. Depending on your business, you either love Pinterest or struggle to find how it’s useful. I fall into the ‘struggling’ group on this one. That said, I am getting more used to Pinterest, and now I have a new found love for Canva (see my page on business branding), I find myself creating social media images and inforgraphics with my branding on them, so that I can post them to Pinterest. I am yet to notice much success with Pinterest, but plenty of people who have online businesses swear by it as an excellent source of traffic to their site.
Tumblr
Tumblr was created in 2007. Of all the social media platforms, it seems to have experienced the most rapid growth, with 794 million users in 2018, up by 44.36% from 2017. Tumblr is a social media site that allows people to share their blogs.
Some other important social media platforms you can’t ignore:
TikTok
Hasn’t TikTok just taken the social media world by storm?! TikTok is a video sharing social network service platform. It is used to create short dance, lip-sync, comedy and talent videos.
LinkedIn has traditionally been for professionals and businesses who want to get connected with other professionals. It has evolved fairly rapidly in to much more than that, and now people are starting to share their content more and more. The content is largely business and work-related. Be sure that if you use LinkedIn, you keep your posts professional. If your post looks spammy, you will be unfollowed very quickly. At the end of the day, it is for professionals, so make sure anything you post adds value. That can be said across all platforms, but particularly for LinkedIn.
LinkedIn now has 260 million users, and has increased 145.28% (!) from 2017.
YouTube
YouTube was created in 2005 and is now owned by Google. It’s a platform where you can share videos, upload your own videos, watch and rate others’ videos, and subscribe to users. It is absolutely massive, with 1,500 million users.
WhatsApp has been around since 2009. It’s an instant messaging and VoIP (voice over IP) service. It is owned by Facebook. They now have a WhatsApp business app, so that businesses can interact with their customers. With 1,300 million users, it sure is an active platform!
Webtalk
Webtalk is both a social and professional platform with an added bonus of an affiliate program. It’s a bit spammy for my liking but it may work for you.
A summary of the key global social platforms
Here’s how the social platforms all stack up:
In top spot you’ll see Facebook, followed by YouTube, then WhatsApp.
All the social media platforms are free. Just sign up and away you go.
Don’t be scared by social media. It’s easier than you think, but you do need to make a concerted effort to do it. Just choose one at a time. Sign up, and become familiar with what they offer and how it all works. You will find the ones that work for you and the ones that don’t. I would encourage you to persist, and maybe stick with the top 5 that you like the best.
Which social media platform have you had the most success with? Leave me a comment below!
Hi Melissa, this was a great read for me as I had no idea at the statistics for social media. It just shows the potential that you have for your online business if you are willing to invest a little of your time every day into social media. My personal favorite is Facebook too, but that is probably because I’ve been on it since it very first began and I understand it. Same can’t be said for all the others, but since starting my website I have joined twitter, pinterest and G-Plus and now use them regularly.
Your post has reminded me of just how many other platforms are out there that I should think about joining, so thanks.
Hi Stefanie, it’s an eye opener, isn’t it? There is so much potential for us to harness social media. I have to make sure though that I don’t get distracted by it.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your thoughts. I hope you have success with your social media strategy.
All the best
Melissa
Thanks for this valuable information. I think going digital is a no-brainer in this day and age. More and more businesses are getting websites and they’re growing their traffic, leads and most of all income. Most are STILL living like it’s 1980 and they’re struggling to make ends meet. You are doing a great job here so well done.
Hi Brandon, thanks for stopping by and leaving me a comment. Going digital certainly is a no-brainer. I think for people who have been in business for a very long time without technology, or who feel they haven’t needed it up to now, are beginning to realise that it just won’t go away, and that they can actually leverage their business with it. I’m sure that it can be a bit scary for people who have seen the world of work completely revolutionised, if they have not kept up. I think for many people who find themselves in this situation, they think it is too hard to make a start. It doesn’t need to be though, and that’s why I wanted to share here that a website can be built in under 30 minutes. Anyway I’m speaking with the converted, I know.
Thanks for leaving your thoughts Brandon. All the very best to you.
Cheers
Melissa