More and more businesses today are running to social media platforms in hopes of growing their customer base and increasing sales. Many people we talk to, including our clients, are quick to create a social media page on each and every platform. But a better approach would be to pause for a moment, analyze each platform, and determine which is most effective for your business. To help with this, we will take a look at five of the most popular social media sites and how they can help you.
Facebook marketing is currently the most popular form of social media marketing for businesses, and with over 1 billion total users, it is easy to see why. No matter your business, Facebook can assist you in reaching a larger, targeted customer base.
Quick Facts:
- Great for all types of businesses
- Facebook Advertising and Facebook Insights make it very easy to cater your page to specific audiences.
- User demographic is becoming more professional, less teens are using it compared to Instagram and Snapchat.
- #Hashtags integrate your brand into the trends of the day/week
- All types of posts are allowed: photos, video, text, contests, polls
Twitter has been dubbed by Marketing Guru, Gary Vaynerchuk, the “cocktail party of the internet.” The reason being the ease at which you can interact with your customers and other organizations in your industry. Twitter is a continual conversation so in order to make an impact, you have to be extremely active and constantly engaging.
Quick Facts:
- Great for all types of businesses
- All tweets are limited to 140 characters
- More informal platform
- #Hashtags integrate your brand into the trends of the day/week
- User’s Twitter feeds are constantly being updated – Users may miss a tweet from earlier in the day. As such, you will have to be more active throughout the day to earn your audience’s attention
- Compared to Facebook, less of the “45 and older” demographic is using Twitter
A substantial benefit of having a strong Google+ presence is its integration with Google search results. In other words, an active Google+ page can boost Google search results for your website.
Quick Facts:
- Large percentage of 25-34 year olds using the platform
- Over 300 million users
- Integration with your website (Google Authorship)
- Extensive About Page. Tell your audience everything about your company
- Less active engagement from users on Google+ compared to other social media sites
- Engagement is improving with the creation of Google Hangouts
Pinterest is the rising star of the social media world. It has seen its user base increase dramatically in a short amount of time with over 70 million current users.
Quick Facts:
- Highly visual. Great for businesses in the following industries: Travel, Food, Retail, Fashion, Art, Photography, Architecture
- High quality photos are more likely to be pinned. As such, investing in professional photos is suggested
- Large percentage of users are female, but more and more men are joining daily
- Each post links back to your website. Very effective for generating traffic directly to your site.
- Allows you to customize Pin Boards for each area of your business
Instagram, once a social media platform dominated by teen individuals, is a platform businesses are using as a tool to expose their brand. Like Pinterest, it’s highly visual as only photos and videos can be shared.
Quick Facts:
- Photos do not have to be professional grade but still should be very appealing visually
- More informal. Photos and videos can allow for a behind the scenes view into your company.
- The younger demographic is very active on the platform
- Few analytics tools, tough to track the overall reach of your photos and videos
- Because it’s so new, brands can be creative with their campaigns to see what works. A successful campaign could lead to press and establishing yourself as an expert.
As you can see, there is much to consider when determining which social media site, or combination of, is the best for your company. Consider your industry, audience, character, and the amount of time and effort you can devote to your campaign as well as your budget. From there, move forward with a strategic plan so that you’re able to make an impact with your ideal audience.
Photo Credit: Jason A Howie