Facebook

The Christmas season is here, which means it’s time to start thinking about 2017 digital marketing strategies. All the talk about digital spending and strategy for 2017 has had me wondering if I’m using the correct channels to reach my customers.

Pay-per-click advertising platforms like AdWords and Bing are well-known and widely used, but you could be losing out in 2017 if you don’t consider paid social networks. According to a research done by the Pew Research Center in 2016, social media use is increasing. In order to better tailor your ideal customer, we’ve included a breakdown of key demographic data for each major social network below.

An Overview of Social Media Users in 2016

While Facebook’s user base grew by 7% compared to 2015, usage of the other major social media sites remained relatively stable. The rise in Facebook’s popularity can probably be attributed to the growing number of people over 65 who are joining the site. A rise in both users and average daily time spent on the site can be attributed to the latter factor. The percentage of everyday Facebook users among American adults is up to 76% from 70% in 2015.

Stats About Instagram Users

In contrast to Facebook, where usage increased among those aged 65 and up, Instagram is popular among those in their 20s and 30s. Instagram is used by around 60% of all internet adults between the ages of 18 and 29. Engagement rates are also greater among women than men, at 38% versus 26%.

Analysis of Pinterest’s User Base

Pinterest PPC is still in its infancy, but we’ve already seen tremendous success in helping certain clients raise their income. Check out JD Prater’s article on how he raised sales by 1004 percent thanks to Pinterest for additional details.

Population Statistics Using LinkedIn

The level of interaction on LinkedIn has not changed much since 2015. Those with advanced degrees and substantial disposable incomes continue to flock to LinkedIn. In fact, those with a high school diploma or less make up just 12% of the total number of internet users. Around half of all internet users (45%) have annual incomes of $75,000 or more.

Statistics of Twitter Users

Participation on Twitter was virtually unchanged from 2015 levels in 2016. Twitter’s user base remains skewed towards the younger (18-29) and more affluent segments of the US population. Just a tenth of Twitter users are 65 and over.

You should give some thought to using Twitter PPC in your 2017 Digital Marketing Plan as it continues to develop and provide unique targeting possibilities and features like retargeting and video.

How Much Should You Spend on Social PPC Testing?

It’s clear that some of your ideal customers are active on social media sites; the question is how much money you should set aside to investigate whether or not those sites are worth paying for.

How much money to allocate to each platform will vary greatly from one company to the next, based on factors such as marketing objectives, cost per click, conversion rates, and more. When there is data available, the budget solver and other Excel tools might be useful for budget planning. The 70/20/10 rule is another easy way to acquire a rough estimate without a lot of data up front.

You can make this strategy work by assigning 70% of your spending to your tried-and-true channels, 20% to your safe bet channels, and 10% to your experimental channels. It’s possible that the channels’ relative placement in the buckets will change as you launch ads and collect more data on which ones work best.

While this is by no means an exact science, it does serve as a jumping off point for developing testing budgets for novel forms of advertising like sponsored social advertising channels that are tailored to your ideal customer and give you a leg up on the competition.

Observations in Concluding Remarks

2016 will be a breakout year for social media marketing. The percentage of active Facebook users is rising faster than that of any other social network, and a large percentage of these members are seniors. Targeting millennials via social media platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter appears to be a solid strategy, while LinkedIn remains an effective advertising platform for reaching educated, financially secure adults. You’ll be leaving money on the table if you don’t include paid social as part of your digital marketing plan this year if you’re trying to reach any of the aforementioned demographics. Have fun organising!