No doubt social media plays some role in your 2015 content marketing strategy. Have you looked at what happened in 2014 to inform that strategy? 

A recent report from LOGINRADIUS INC. looked at social login and sharing behavior across more than 120,000 global websites. It’s worth reading the whole report, but we’ll summarize key results here and talk about what they mean to you.

65% of users log into websites with their Facebook account. Google+ is a distant second with 25%, while Twitter holds a mere 3% and LinkedIn, just 2%--Yahoo is in the mix, but just barely.

Have you looked at your own site’s social login data?

It’s important, of course, to know what your audience uses and to give them the opportunity to log in with their preferred platform. Until you know for sure, it’s safe to say that Facebook should be an automatic option, but don’t ignore your own data. Look at your audiences’ social interaction with you. The platforms with the most interaction should also be those you offer social login with—along with the platforms that currently deliver the most social logins. Also, pay attention to:

Generational Trends

Adaptability to logging in via social platforms increases with a decrease in age and generational preferences are shifting. Make sure you cross-reference social login activity with the age of your audience segments to get the most accurate picture of what social platforms you should include and how to target specific facets of your audience.

But Wait! Don’t ignore the fact that adaptability is increasing with older generations (even if a lower percentage is currently doing it, compared to younger generations) and they may have their own preferred platform.

Preferred Devices

It should come as no surprise that PC social login is declining while Android and iPhone are increasing. This feeds directly into the increase of mobile usage—even though computer-hosted social login still holds the majority.

This simply tells us that mobile-responsive design must be an integral part of your strategy.

Sharing Trends

Again, Facebook demonstrated the majority of sharing behavior across social platforms last year, followed in the distance, by Twitter, email, Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

What do you do with that information?

• Again, Facebook should be a given in your strategy.
• If your audience spends more time on other platforms, invest a bit of energy into learning how to best foster sharing on those platforms. It happens, clearly, but what inspires people to share your content and what is the easiest way for them to do that on their platform of preference?

One more thing: Make sure your social login is a one-step process. If a reader does decide to access your website via social media, it’d be a travesty to slow their progress getting there.