Rank: 1
How BIG is Facebook?
1.06 billion monthly active users (2012)
618 million daily active users (December 2012)
1.13 trillion “likes” recorded in 2012
67% of ALL Internet users use Facebook!
Facebook. The Godfather of Social Networks. It wasn’t the first, but it has consistently remained the biggest. Everybody and their uncle’s mailman use Facebook, so it’s no surprise that it tops the list of Social Media sites by a country mile.
Demographics:
The PEW Internet research survey revealed that 62% of male Internet users use Facebook, and a whopping 72% of females! The large majority of users are between 18-49 years of age.
We could talk about mind-blowing stats all day, but what do these numbers tell us? They reveal rather unequivocally that no matter how uber-niche your market, a large percentage of your potential customers hang out on Facebook – you’ve got to find a way to get their attention. It’s an opportunity you can’t refuse (see what we did there?).
Video and Facebook:
- Share it – Facebook is a perfect way to interact with a vast online network (62% of all internet users…). There are tons of ways to share your video content. You can pump out video on your brand’s pages/timeline, or post to relevant groups. The newest Facebook changes have introduced tools to help you emphasize and share interactive content on your timeline. You can keep all of your videos in ‘albums’ on your company page, and feature or ‘highlight’ new videos in your feed. It’s also a great idea to share links to videos on your website, or Youtube channels. If you are the admin, you are also given access to valuable analytics that will show you how many times your post were viewed and shared. Content = engagement. On Facebook’s top 10 brand pages, photo and video are proving to drive the most engagement. In fact, videos are shared 12 times MORE than links and text posts combined!
- Advertise it – You are also given the opportunity to ‘Promote’ your content using Facebook ads. Your video post can be seen by thousands of people far beyond your reach by simply setting a budget, and clicking ‘Promote’ after posting. Analysts predict that video ads a la Linkedin and Youtube will be made possible by Facebook as early as this year.
- Optimize it – Facebook is the ultimate marketing tool – so take advantage! Tag your videos, give them a searchable name, add descriptions that are chalk full of SEO friendly keywords. Also, encourage interaction. Ask people to comment, share, ‘like’ or contact you. Your videos should not be passive, always include a unique call to action that will drive engagement with your brand or marketing campaign.
There is zero indication that Facebook usage is slowing down, it would be silly to discount it as a valuable part of your brand’s marketing strategy. It all starts with sharable content. The proof is in the pudding (or the cannoli…), video content is 12 times more shareable, start there!
*Coming up in our series ‘The Social Saga’: Twitter… #video #microblogging #marketing
