I think by now we all know the power of social media, you hear it everywhere, right?!

But what is it actually about?

Just to put it into perspective, it took 75 years of hard work to reach 50 million users for the telephone, while 35 days for Angry Birds to reach the same amount of people.

Generation Z grew up with all kinds of technology available to them as well as most millennials.

Nowadays, we can confidently say that well over half of the population is connected online and most of these users are using their mobile phone for whatever online activity they are engaging in. As a matter of fact, the time that people are spending on apps on their phone already surpassed the time that we spend watching TV. Almost everyone can be found on social media and 1 out of every 3 minutes spent online is actually spent on social media apps.

Do you remember the last time your phone was not next to you? 25% of the population doesn’t…

Social Media is all around us and it’s definitely not going away anytime soon.

I am sure you have a general idea of how social media works by now, but, are you using it to its full potential?

Social media is a way for all of us to share our ideas, connect with each other, build communities, network, share tips we learned and share photos and videos, it is an electronic way of communication.

On average, on the most popular social media platforms people spend around:

• 40 minutes on Youtube
• 35 minutes on Facebook
• 25 minutes on Snapchat
• 15 minutes on Instagram

Social media completely transformed the way we communicate and interact with each other all together. We use it not only to socialize but also to engage in regular daily activities, like reading the news (whether daily news or political news) and many of us also use social media to catch up on journalistic material like The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal.

These companies, like many others, have been able to leverage social media power to reach wider audiences than they could with TV.

FUN FACT: Did you know that in 2015 the Oxford Dictionary word of the year was the “Laughing with Tears” emoji?

Social Media Gives Us a Voice – UGC

Social media doesn’t only help companies though, it also allows all of us to have a voice and share our feedback, whether positive or negative.

It has created immense opportunities for all of us, for example, consumers now are able to create content for companies in a mutually beneficial way.

This is also often referred as UGC or User Generated Content, which in plain words just means that if you like a product and have a decent or high following, you can create digital content like a video or blog post to share with your audience and recommend it to them.

People are now considering the review and recommendation of a friend or an influencer they like on social media, a much more trustworthy source of information than any traditional form of marketing.

This is extremely important for your company because it allows you as a brand to build relationships, rapport and trust with your clients.

This is a key step out of the purchasing decision process; afterall, if you think about it, have you ever done your research before deciding to buy something? Where do you usually look?

A great example of the UGC approach in action is Frito-Lay, remember in 2006 when during the superbowl they allowed everyone to enter a contest to where you could create your own video commercial of dog eating Frito-Lay? Because of it they were ranked number 1 on most effective advertising brands and they went from $1.5 billion in 2006 to $2.2 billion in 2016.

Because of social media, brands are starting to allocate more budget towards digital and social media marketing and taking it away from radio, press and TV.

And the reason for it is very simple, it has a lower cost and a way higher ROI.

If you are a business, brand or company, and you are not using the power of social media in your advantage, ask yourself if you are involuntarily placing yourself in a disfavorable position from the start…

If you liked this article please take action now and follow the blog for the next tips to come on how to leverage social media power in your favor.

Author – Pamy Vee