Social Media And Crochet: Six Surprising Similarities That Will Blow Your Mind

Crocheting is a craft I learned as a young girl while sitting on my great grandmother’s lap. Crochet involves connecting one chained loop to another in a pattern that magically ends up creating a beautiful masterpiece. I never realized that those times of watching, learning and helping would assist me in my career in public relations and marketing, specifically in social media. Continue reading to discover the surprising similarities between crochet and social media marketing.

Social Media Statistics By Platform

Before we dive into the similarities of social media marketing and crocheting, let’s take a look at the individual social media platforms. The more you know about each one and how they are used by people, the better prepared you are to be successful on the social media site you choose for your small business. Here is a breakdown of important statistics and facts for today’s popular social media sites that will help you create the best strategy for your small business.

Facebook: These are a few key statistics for Facebook that are useful for businesses to know when creating content for the site:

• Facebook has over 2.8 billion active monthly users.
• 56% of people visit Facebook to get information.
• Facebook is the largest social media platform based on the number of active monthly users.
• 69% of Americans use Facebook.
• 98% of Facebook users access the app on mobile.
• Link posts receive 73% less engagement than video posts.

Twitter: The following five Twitter statistics will help you generate better content that will reach your audience:

• In the U.S., 52% of Twitter users use it daily.
• 80% of Twitter users access the platform on a mobile device.
• 93% of people who follow small- and medium-size businesses plan to buy from them.
• Tweets with videos are 6x more likely to be retweeted than tweets with photos.
• 21% of Twitter’s daily users in the U.S. are adults, with 54% being male and 42% female.

Instagram:

Make the most out of a business Instagram account with the help of these useful statistics:

• Instagram is one of the world’s most-visited websites with 2.9 billion total visits per month.
• 1.3 million people log onto Instagram each day.
• 18-34 year olds make up the biggest share of Instagram’s audience.
• 59% of U.S. adults use Instagram daily.
• Instagram isn’t a popular source for getting news.
• Nine out of 10 users watch Instagram videos weekly.
• 59% of users say they’re more interested in a brand after seeing it in a Story.

TikTok: TikTok has amassed a very large following in the short time it has been around. Here are some statistics that will be particularly helpful for your brand if it decides to branch out into marketing on this popular channel:

• TikTok users spend more than 850 minutes per month on the app.
• It has 1 billion monthly active users.
• Entertainment in the most popular content category on TikTok.
• TikTok has better engagement rates than Instagram and YouTube.
• 69% of U.S. teenagers are regular TikTok users.
• More females use TikTok than males.

Pinterest: Does your business use Pinterest? Here are some statistics to keep in mind to help you understand how to use it for your business:

• Pinterest has 447 million monthly active users.
• The majority of the site’s users are female.
• 30% of Pinterest users have bought something online after browsing Pinterest content.
• More than half of online shoppers in the U.S. say that Pinterest is their favorite social media platform.
• About 67%of Pinterest’s users are millennials.
• The average number of monthly searches using Pinterest is 2 billion.

LinkedIn: Here are some noteworthy statistics for LinkedIn, the world’s leading professional networking site.

• LinkedIn is the most trusted social network in the U.S.
• There are 722 million members on LinkedIn.
• 76% of LinkedIn’s users are outside the U.S.
• Posts with images get 2x higher engagement.
• LinkedIn users are 20x more likely to reshare a video post.
• 55 million companies are on LinkedIn.
• Companies that post weekly on LinkedIn see a 2x higher engagement rate.

Hopefully these statistics will help you better understand the different platforms and give you an idea of how to use each one to your benefit when putting together your social media strategy.

6 Ways Crocheting Is Similar To Social Media Marketing

Now that you know each of the social media sites a little better, let’s dive into how social media marketing is similar to the age-old craft of crocheting.  Here are six ways they are complementary.

1.Build upon what you have already done.

Every social media post should help build your brand’s image and reputation. The main point of crochet is creating and linking loops together in a pattern, using the last loop you created to start a new set of loops in the pattern. How is this like social media marketing? Social media builds on what you have done previously; every post helps build your brand’s image and reputation. It takes multiple posts to create a bigger picture of who your brand is and its unique personality. This also rings true for engagement. When you first start a social media account, you have to build your audience from the ground up. Every post you make will build your brand’s engagement with your audience to create a community of followers and loyal customers.

2. Consistency is key. In order for you to see the bigger picture on social media (and with crochet), you need to be consistent. In crochet this means using the same style loop with the same amount of tension; using random size and style loops with no direction or meaning makes for a confusing and jumbled mess. With social media, posting the same time of day, every day, with content that fits your industry and business is crucial to your success. Not being consistent with your social media will cause confusion with your audience and can lead to failure down the road.

3. Switch strategies to create interest.

Keep your social media fresh by expanding on the types of content you include. While crocheting, sometimes it is a necessary part of the project to change your loop pattern and size to create interest within your final piece. With social media, you also need to keep things fresh and exciting by adding new strategies to the mix. Whether it is adding a new style of content, such as live video, or expanding your content to include different types of articles or photos, you need to keep your audience engaged and excited to see what you are going to post next. Just make sure that anything you share is related to your business and industry.

4. Have patience. In crochet, you won’t see the pattern after just one loop; you have to connect multiple loops to see the bigger picture. This is also true for social media – you won’t see any big results from just one post. It takes time and effort to get a return on your investment. Typically, social media marketing takes at least six months to see results; you can’t give up after a couple days or weeks if you don’t see an immediate return on your efforts. Your patience will be rewarded in the end if you stick with it.

5. A small mistake can unravel everything. In crochet, a small mistake like missing a loop can cause your hard work to unravel. Sometimes you notice the missed loop right away and don’t have to unravel very much; other times you don’t notice it until you are farther along and have to pull the yarn on a major chunk of work. In social media, if you catch a small mistake quickly you can repair the damage without having to spend too much time on damage control; however, if you miss the mistake it can snowball into a much bigger problem, costing you more time in the future to fix the error.

6. Reflect on your progress. With both crochet and social media, you need to take time to reflect on your progress. This is an important step for both activities. Look at how far you’ve come and all you have accomplished since you began your journey. Besides savoring the successes and the beauty of your project, you need to look at what you can change and do differently to make the end result even better.

Are you surprised by how many similarities there are between social media marketing and a simple craft like crocheting? When you put your social media strategy together, make sure to keep these things in mind and most importantly, enjoy the process of interacting and socializing with your audience! Happy posting!

Do You Need Help With Your Social Media Marketing?

If you need help with your social media marketing, Three Girls Media’s team of experience social media marketers is here to assist! Contact us for a complimentary 30-minute phone consultation with our CEO, Erika Taylor Montgomery, to see how we can help you grow your social media presence.

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