Maryland Social Media

Social Media Monday (Vol. 6, No. 8)

December 14, 2015

The secret of happiness is variety, but the secret of variety, like the secret of all spices, is knowing when to use it. ~ Daniel Gilbert

Mr. Gilbert’s point could not be more accurate in the realm of social media and digital marketing. Facebook might be a good fit for one community, and Twitter for another, but deciding to use your limited time on a platform that has little value for your agency makes zero sense. Throughout the last few weeks we have discussed the big players in social media but there are still many more that might be worth investigating for your agency or a program you are running.

Top Story

It is important to know the value of other social media applications and platforms even if all systems are not a perfect fit. The numbers below show some high level facts about a few of the second tier social media tools.

Social Media Facts:

Facts about the rest
1. Tumblr averages 120,000 daily new user signups
2. SnapChat has 100 million daily active users
3. Periscope has 10 million registered users
4. plus.Google.com has a bounce rate of 49.48%
5. 71% of all Snapchat users are under 34 years old
6. Google+ visitors average 6 mins 47 secs per month
7. 78% of Tumblr users access the platform via a mobile device
8. Periscope users collectively watch 40 years worth of content daily
9. Google+ represents 3% of all social sharing in world
10. 28% of adults use more that three social media sites

Research from expandedramblings.com

Google+

Google+ is the company’s fourth run at social networking and it is believed that the website grew, based on user count, very well within the first year. Three different executives at Google have led the development of the tool, which has undergone substantial changes leading to a redesign in November 2015. It has been suggested that the repeated change in management has caused it’s lackluster success but Google still continues to focus money and time into it’s development. If your agency has more B2B users or has a predominantly male following Google+ might be worth investigating, but most likely your time should be focused on other platforms.

Tumblr

As most of you know Tumblr is a microblogging platform and social networking website. Users engage with the website by posting content to a short-form blog while following, re-posting and commenting on other users public posts. This is a very niche tool and might take a lot of extra work to get traction with the existing Tumblr community. The other downside could be that most novice internet users are not familiar with the tool and would be hesitant to trade it for other platforms like Pinterest, or even Instagram.

Periscope

Periscope is a live video streaming app for iOS and Android that very popular with groups or individuals that have large existing followings. Viewers on Periscope can send hearts to the “scoper” which are similar to Facebook likes. The upside is if you are interested in sharing real-time and somewhat real life videos with your community the app could be perfect. Before getting started you should have a long conversation with the head of your department and most likely the AG’s office. This is unfiltered and most likely available to any person on the app. YouTube might be a better option for an agency interested in sharing content via video.

SnapChat

Snapchat is also a video messaging application for sharing with friends or your community. In addition to sharing video users can take photos, add text and drawings, and send them with the same functionality as the video sharing portion. The area where Snapchat differs is the “Snaps” can be viewed for only a limited time based on the sender’s settings. Once the time expires it is suggested that the file is deleted from the company’s servers. Many companies are leveraging Snapchat’s unique tool due to it’s incredible growth within the 15 – 34 year old demographic. This tool is great for an agency that has a tangible product to offer, but you might find it harder to communicate on an image based platform. Many of the short comings here are similar to those of Pinterest or Instagram from a marketer’s perspective.

Tips for Leveraging Social Media

Post on your accounts at the right time.

One of the main pillars to social media success is getting your message read. To ensure your posts are getting read as often as possible you need to post when followers are online. Finding the right time to post when the most followers is online is crucial. For many agencies this will be mornings, Monday through Friday but you should test and review your analytics. Both social media analytics and Google Analytics can help you narrow down the window and ensure you get as much engagement as possible.

When is the best time to post for your agency?