Have you ever heard of James Charles? No, I hadn’t either. But your children and the young folk have. A young lad of around 20 years who is not on TV, lives in America, and is Youtube star known for doing really good make up. Look him up if you haven’t; his makeup is brilliant. His first visit to the UK took place in January this year and he was at the Bull Ring in Birmingham, which caused absolute mayhem. Inadequate police presence demonstrated how underestimated his reach with his online fan base was. When you’re thinking about your venture, businesses and organisations, take a look at this young man – you won’t be disappointed. 

 Whatever your industry, segment and audience, a substantial portion of your customers and leads are on social media. A study in 2018 by Pew Research Center found that 68% of American adults are Facebook users. Among 18 to 24-year-olds, 78% use Instagram and 45% are on Twitter. Snapchat is also increasing traction among the youth. Even among Americans 65 and older, 37% are social media users apart from my father who still doesn’t use the internet. 

 I was astounded that some businesses similar to mine do not have a social media presence. Having access to all those customers helps you boost traffic, particularly for new site content. When you post a new blog or update your homepage, it can take a while to get traction with Google. That means very few customers will know the new content is there until the next time they’re searching for your product or service. 

 Social media posts provide an opportunity for companies to find your new web content and click through to your site. And because those posts will primarily show up in the feeds of followers and people interested in your business, that traffic is typically very targeted. It won’t just boost your traffic numbers, it will bring in the type of visitors you want to attract. 

 The traffic benefits of social media marketing can be dramatic. Using social media for business boosts your site’s SEO. Search engines know which pages are consistently earning traffic and which are just floating out there, forgotten and ignored. Although your killer content strategy is the most important factor in your search rankings, driving traffic to your pages will cause them to climb much faster up the Google rankings.  

 A lot of times, this can be as simple as re-sharing content (of course, in addition to sharing your new content when it goes live). I would recommend each post be re-shared once a month — a task that doesn’t have to be as time-consuming as you might think. With Hootsuite (for Twitter & Facebook), you can set the entire month all at once and you’re done. 

 These young Youtubers are our future employees, customers, consumers, company owners/Directors.  Social media, whatever platform, really needs to be massively embraced because it’s the future and the future of business. 

 Kerry Walsh 

Managing Director of Hatch Events Ltd 

Vice Chairman of AIEA