In today’s rapidly expanding technological age, social media and its influence is expanding. From sharing Facebook updates to posting photos on Instagram to communicating with friends and followers on Twitter, social media is everywhere.

Social media can be a game changer for companies and the way they do business. Whether you’re doing digital marketing, advertising or looking to increase your company’s search engine optimization (SEO) profile, here are 14 things to think about when it comes to reach consumers digitally.

• A report from SalesForce Marketing Cloud found that 83 percent of customers ‘love or ‘like’ when a business responds to them on social media.
• Almost all (94 percent) of B2B marketers use LinkedIn as part of their content strategy.
• Google receives more than 100 billion searches per month.
• Approximately 70 percent of the links search users click on are organic.
• The Pew Research Center finds that 72 percent of adult Internet users use Facebook.
• Animoto’s The State of Social Video 2017 report found that 64 percent of customers said they make a purchase after watching a marketing on Facebook in the last month.
• The Social Media Marketing Industry Report finds that nearly two-thirds of marketers cited Facebook as the most important social media platform.
• SEO (inbound) leads have a nearly 15 percent close rate while outbound leads (mail or print advertising) have about a two percent close rate.
• About 75 percent of search engine optimization occurs off-page and 25 percent occurs on-page.
• Companies that publish 16 or more blog posts per month receive nearly 3.5 times more traffic than companies that publish only a few monthly posts.
• A July 2015 study by Moz and BuzzSumo found that long form content of over 1,000 words consistently receives more shares and links than shorter form content. This helps with search engine optimization too as 72 percent of marketers say relevant content creation is the most effective SEO tactic.
• Businesses with a strong keyword in their name rank 1.5 spots higher than if there is no keyword in the name.
• Statistica finds that mobile Internet penetration will grow to more than 61 percent worldwide in 2018.
• About 70 percent of online referrals come from ‘dark’ or user to user social networking, including messaging apps, private browsing and e-mail.

When it comes to getting the attention of customers, an engaging Web site is important too. With today’s ease of Internet access, a Web site is essential and it’s also important for it to be user-friendly. According to Forbes, 44 percent of web users are turned off by bad mobile navigation and left a website because of it. Having a slow web page can be a hindrance too as 40 percent of people will leave a page if it takes longer than three seconds to load.

When designing a company web site, it’s important to state the company’s goals and contact information right away. Nearly half (47 percent) of all visitors to a web site look at a company’s services or products before looking at other parts of the site. In addition, 44 percent of visitors to a site will leave if a company’s phone number or some form of contact information isn’t available.

The look of a web site is important too. Nearly 46 percent of people said that a site’s design is the top criterion for determining a company’s credibility. Likewise, nearly 40 percent of people will stop engaging with a web site lacking an engaging layout or engaging content.

An effective and memorable logo can go a long way in increasing the brand awareness of a company. Whether it’s the color or colors, the text or the shape, there are a lot of factors involved with creating a logo and the right combination of those three factors can go a long way.

A recent study by the University of Loyola found color increases a brand’s recognition by up to 80 percent. Another study of some of top 100 brands in the world revealed that 95 percent use only two colors in their logo.

Combining catchy website design with improved search engine optimization services and an increased social media footprint will put companies out front of their online marketing campaigns and customers will be more engaged. Experts at marketing firms can help you find exactly what you’re looking for.