Looking at the surprising facts and figures that are revealed in this article, marketers will be looking forward to embracing social media marketing more intensely in their marketing mix. 2016 will take several leaps ahead as far as social marketing is concerned and marketers are sure to observe something that is beyond what they had ever imagined.

The following statistics prove that the only way that brands could engage with consumers is through mobile and digital social media communications. Customers want to build relationships with the brands and for this, they want to ensure that the brand is trustworthy. Thus, brands need to ensure that they present themselves as an authority and influence the decision making process of the customers.

We’ve gathered the most interesting facts that are very important from a marketers point of view and have broken them down so that they could be easily consumed by businesses and also by social media marketing service providers. This is not just some useful set of information, but the facts could help you in planning your future communication strategy on social media platforms.

• 54% of B2B marketers are generating leads from social media.
• LinkedIn is the only professional platform that is considered to be effective by a majority of B2B marketers.
• 60% of all the social media traffic on business websites comes from Facebook, Twitter, & LinkedIn.
• U.S. Based B2B marketers are predicted to spend more than $100 billion on social media advertising by 2017.
• 93% of the buying decisions of online shoppers is dependent on social media.
• The highest share of revenue generated by social media is contributed by Pinterest and Facebook.
• Customer service requests through “eService” channels, including web and chat are expected to grow to 53% in 2015.
• 90% of the enterprises say that they respond to customer’s service inquiries on social media.
• YouTube drives the most highly engaged website of all the social media websites.
• In the U.S., YouTube reaches more 18-24 aged adults than any other cable network.
• The number of brands having Instagram accounts has gone up by 71% in comparison to the last year. The percentage of brands is 86% in 2015.
• Tweets that have images, received more clicks and favorites and 150% more retweets.
• When a brand is followed on Twitter, 72% of the followers are likely to make a future purchase from that brand.

Social Media Marketing In 2016

As we are all set to enter 2016, marketers are starting to forecast what’s in store for them in the new year. Everything from the social media marketing strategy to the allocation of budget is being determined to ensure maximum benefits from one of the hottest online marketing property on the web. On studying the considerations of many brands’ social media strategy, we have compiled some of the best social media marketing practices to help you in 2016.

• Compare the benefits over spend: The first thing you should know is how important social media is going to be in the achievement of your goals and whether it is going to provide any value for the amount that you’ll be spending. While all the platforms and other components entailed with a social strategy might not provide the same benefits, it is a good practice to check out the options and their justification for the budget that is alloted to it.

• Think Beyond Facebook And Twitter: In previous years, most of the social media budget had been allotted to Facebook and Twitter. However, with the popularity achieved by other social networking platforms like Pinterest and Instagram, there are a whole lot of social media marketing opportunities for brands. It is important to think ahead and invest money on varied channels to know which one is effective.

• Invest In The Content That Is Sharable: Is your brand producing valuable content? If you are not getting the desired amount of engagement on social media, the odds are that you are not having a collection of great content on hand. The truth also lies in the fact that it is very hard to create content that people are looking to share naturally.

Conclusion :The lead generation power of social media is optimum. However, you need to ensure that you are engaging with the prospect with the right kind of content to get the best results from your social media marketing initiatives.

Author Bio: Daniel Clark is a blogger and works with Clickmatix, a social media marketing agency helping clients achieve their business goals through the help of the best social media marketing service provider.