What will 2018 hold for Facebook and businesses utilizing the platform to grow?

By now you should be aware that the landscape of social media is ever-changing, ever-evolving, and rapidly morphing into new avenues for businesses to grow. Facebook in and of itself has seen such massive growth and changes to its platform, particularly how businesses are utilizing it, that keeping up with it all, especially as marketers, is a feat unto itself.

[bctt tweet=”Facebook 2018: Actionable insights for businesses. #meetsoci” username=”meetsoci”]

Facebook began as a means to connect people, and in pretty much every single way possible, it’s still all about that. However, it has grown from its semi-humble beginnings into an entity as big as the Internet itself (Note: It’s not bigger than the Internet, yet.) From a site that boasted ~1M monthly active users in its first year, as well as a recorded $382K in revenue, to now reporting numbers in the billions over 2B monthly active users and $10.3B in revenue as of Q3 closing 2017, Facebook’s growth seems endless. As mentioned prior, Facebook is changing pretty much every single day. From algorithm updates, new offerings, and new product acquisitions (See: Instagram and WhatsApp, etc.), it’s an exciting time for marketers utilizing the platform to test its limits and grow their businesses.

Image via: TechCrunch

[bctt tweet=”Monthly active Facebook users in 2015 clocked in around 1.5B. While 2016 grew to an impressive ~1.8B.  ” username=”meetsoci“]

Facebook 2018: Stats, predictions, and trends

2018 is going to be another big year for Facebook, and in turn, the businesses that use the platform. Over the course of the past few years, we have witnessed many changes to algorithms that have had marketers from all verticals reevaluating their strategies, adopting new techniques to reach larger audiences, and incorporating efficient and effective tools to manage brand reputation and control messaging across multiple Facebook pages. That said, let’s check out some numbers that will help guide your 2018 strategies.

• First and foremost (and you’ll see why with these stats) Facebook is still the “most important” social platform for marketers. Meaning, when SME asked a group of marketers to select their ideal platform, 62% chose Facebook over any other social platform. 
• 2B users and reported $10.3B in earnings: the reported users and revenue at the close of Q3 2017.
• Around 53% of Americans use Facebook every single day. Multiple times even. That said, make sure you check out this guide on best practices for Businesses to go local on Facebook.
• In fact, most users check their Facebook an average of 8X/day.
• Peak posting times: Focus primarily on posting to Facebook on Thursdays and Fridays between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

[bctt tweet=”Focus primarily on posting to Facebook on Thursdays and Fridays between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m in 2018. ” username=”meetsoci”]

• Between January and July 2016, organic reach on Facebook saw a 52% decline. So it might be time to up your boosted-post budget for 2018. Check out our tips on boosting Facebook posts like a pro. 
• Facebook Pages and Facebook Places are different. And in 2018, you’ll want to know the difference. 
• 93% of social marketers use Facebook ads, while 64% of those plan to increase their ads activity due to decreased exposure in news feeds.
• Posting to Facebook is (somewhat) left to the discretion of brands. Studies have shown it is recommended you post at least 1X/day, and even up to 10X/week. 
• Social media influences 57% of consumers’ shopping behaviors. Leading the charge is Facebook at 44%.
• Interactive content is 2X more likely to convert than static/traditional content. 
• 81%+ of marketers experienced traffic growth to their sites when they invested around 6 hours/week in social media marketing.

Facebook 2018 takeaways

As stated, Facebook should experience more growth in 2018, as we saw in 2017. While demographics may change, as is true with any other social media network, businesses cannot afford to ignore it. Based on the above 2018 facebook stats and figures, we put together a little list of action items your business should take into consideration to boost your presence, increase positive reputation, and outperform your competition.

1. Invest in more content marketing campaigns and initiatives in 2018. Increasing your brand awareness, positive standing in the community, and interaction with current and potential consumers revolves around joining in on the conversations already happening. For tips and tricks on implementing content marketing into your 2018 strategy, send us a quick note. We’ll chat about it. 
2. Increase your budget for paid promotion of Facebook posts. If you want to appear at all in anyone’s news feeds, you’re going need to pay to play. Nature of the beast.
3. Plan your posts at peak times. If you’re managing 100’s or even 1000’s of Facebook pages, it’s likely not everyone will be consuming their content across all locations at the same time. So, using a solution like SOCi, you can begin to understand user behavior across the board and post at optimal times for the most engagement.
4. Invest in creative! Did you know that infographics are liked and shared on social media 3X more than other any other type of content? It’s true. When we published our latest infographic, “The Economics of a Bad Review,” we saw an uptick in shares and traffic to site by more than 5X in fact. So, invest in interactive content. 
5. Don’t ignore social media. It doesn’t matter how “traditional” you think your business is. The fact of the matter remains: Social media will continue to dominate marketing tactics in nearly every industry out there. And you can be guaranteed your competition knows this. 
6. Invest in a smart social media solution with every tool you need to do nearly all of the above. 

[bctt tweet=”Invest in interactive content in 2018 to drive revenue, increase awareness, and improve reputation.” username=”meetsoci”]

A lot to digest, yes, but to succeed in 2018, it’s important to not only know where Facebook has been but also projections as to where it’s going. That said, let’s see where you’ve been and where you can go in 2018 with a free social media audit. Just click below and we’ll get started ASAP. In no time, you’re going to experience the sheer power of Facebook, not to mention all other social media networks, with the added bonus of everything SOCi has to offer.