It’s that time again!
Sensis has brought us their much anticipated annual Social Media report! If you’re into Social Media, or data about the way businesses are using it, this report is an exciting announcement!
Last year I brought you a TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read) summary of the report, and it was one of my most-read posts! This year I’m doing the same – I’ll highlight my main takeaways of the report from my opinion as a Social Media practitioner in regard to the way Western Australian’s and WA businesses are using Social Media.
Why the Sensis Social Media Report?
But firstly – why is the 2017 Sensis Social Media Report so highly anticipated? The main reason the Australian Social Media community gets excited about this particular report is because even though there’s a LOT of data out there, it can be tough to find anything that reflects an Australian audience. We’re a big country with a small population and we just aren’t like anyone else.
Another reason is it’s incredibly important to stay up to date in this fast-moving realm. Trends shift in the blink of an eye, and as a Social Media professional (or a small business owner looking after your own businesses Socials) you need to stay abreast of changes and react to get the best from your efforts.
Is it a fad?
With 84% of Australians accessing the internet daily, Social Media is here to stay. 85% of West Aussies have a smartphone, and 67% of people with a smartphone in Australia use it to access the internet more than 5 times a day.
If you’re not concentrating your marketing and indeed, your sales process and customer service online (and in fact mobile-first) you’re getting left behind. Like, already. Not you will get left behind. You are behind.
Facebook – Still not dead.
94% of Western Australians surveyed use Facebook. Way out in front of second place YouTube at 63%. That’s massive – and it’s only dropped 1% since last year, despite people saying they’re not using it anymore.
I hear often that Facebook is dying, Facebook is irrelevant, “my customers aren’t on Facebook” and so on. Well, it’s still our biggest Social Media platform.
Message Me
It’s the same when we move to private messaging services, with Facebook Messenger coming out way in front in WA, coming out with 89%, in front of it’s next rival, Viber on 41%.
WA People are a funny lot:
- We’re more likely than any other state to use Social Media at the gym.
- We’re the equal highest (with Queensland) to publish a live video.
- We’re more likely to leave an online rating, more likely than any other state to read blogs or online reviews, and we’re more likely to post an online review or blog.
- And we don’t put up with any shit from our friends! In WA 50% of us have delete friends.
Down to Business…
Why do we need to know all this stuff about how people use the platforms? Because it’ll help us as brands get our messages seen and acted on most effectively.
“The survey discovered that the main driver behind social media uptake from businesses is to aid marketing and sales. Providing a line of contact is the next biggest influence.”
You can help your marketing & sales if you aren’t on the right platforms, at the right time, using the right methods to reach the right people. A LOT has to go right, so the more you know the better chance you have of cutting through the noise.
What did we learn?
Not all businesses are on board with Social Media 😮
Many of them are not taking advantage of the targeting and availability of paid Social Media
In FACT – Social media presence in the business sector in Australia has not grown this year. Just under half the small and medium businesses have a presence. But before we get too excited about this Sensis provide a possible explanation.
in 2016, 17% of the large business sample consisted of businesses with over 1,000 employees, whereas this year only 2% of the businesses have over 1,000 staff and we have seen consistently that businesses with over 1,000 staff almost universally have a social media presence.
Although the report does indicate that 40% of Large Businesses had removed their Social Media profiles. Wow!
In Western Australia SMBs Social Media use has increased against the trend.
Pay to Play
Social Media advertising is still growing among small and medium businesses and remaining steady in large business if you take into account the data suggests 40% of them deleted their profiles.
And it seems much of this budget is used to drive website visits.
The majority of SMBs with a social media presence now have a strategy in place to drive people to their sites – 82% for small, 95% for medium and 97% for large sized businesses.
But aren’t very successful at measuring it. In fact we’re getting worse…
But we’re getting better at being strategic!
Which is great news! We focus our messaging, have an easier time measuring, and become more efficient when we have articulated goals for our Socials.
Did you want to check out the full 81 page report? You can see it here.
So what do you think? Do these results follow your experience in your business?
I’d love to hear about it, so feel free to leave me a comment!