10 Feb Why Should You ‘Like’ Social Media?
As many may well know, simply having a website alone will never guarantee new business, nor does just getting high amounts of traffic and attracting leads. Since social media is the newest kid on the block, many still do not realize its potential for driving business sales, as it is still difficult to measure due to its subjective nature.
However, based on research by the Journal of Advertising, consumers are taking more action than ever with brands and publishers across social channels. Conscious social media posting and content strategies are needed for brands to reap the full benefits and see its business potential.
So, what makes content sharable?
Andrew Katz, Shareablee’s Senior Director/Enterprise Sales, dug into the same data sources while speaking at the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) 2015 Digital and Social Media Conference East. Based on an assessment of the 2,000 most-shared posts during a 12-month period on Facebook, and a survey of over 10,000 social-media users, the exclusive report revealed that utility was the most powerful driver among female users. 48% of women said that content that makes them look intelligent or proved to be useful made them want to share it, but for men usefulness was not as important. They were more focused on what was funny to them.
Psychological drivers for sharing also vary by brand category as well as user demographics; the study found that the main motivators are:
- Social currency
- Emotion
- Usefulness
- Content that tells a story
Simple, right? The hard part is developing content that meets those criteria, especially for real estate professionals. According to a recent Hubspot benchmarking report, the real estate industry had the lowest engagement rate in 2015 in comparison to the consumer goods/ retail/ ecommerce industry, despite having the highest frequency of posting—more than any other industry. Experts agree that this is a saturation issue, as it denotes a flooded market.
Through incorporating these psychological drivers into social media content strategy, brands can really differentiate themselves in a competitive market and build loyal audiences. Implementation always takes time and practice, but continuously improving social media efforts and incorporating them into an overall sales campaign can bring significant return on investment.
