Which social media platforms should I use for my business?
If you find yourself asking this question, you’re not alone as many businesses are confused about which social media platforms are appropriate for them. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn all have different purposes to a business and can, in most cases, all be useful in your marketing campaigns when used correctly.
Q: Why should I use Instagram?
A: Share Visuals
Instagram, owned by Facebook, allows you to create a gallery of images that act a portfolio for your brand and visually display your brand message. As only images and video can be shared, it is much more appropriate for a business that has lots of visual media to share. Even though Instagram may be better suited to some types of businesses more than others, for example, an art gallery compared to a law firm, it is possible to make it an effective social platform for any business when used in the right way.
As Instagram is a new platform and only recently has become a major tool for businesses in marketing, it is growing at a considerably greater rate than Facebook, where most people who would use Facebook have already signed up. More growth means more organic reach without paying for ads and therefore may be a cheaper way to get your content seen. Instagram also has higher engagement than Facebook, therefore, people are more likely to interact with your posts through liking and commenting. Engagement is positive as it is a greater connection with you as a business so converts more easily to sales than reach alone.
Q: Why should I use Facebook?
A: Build a community
Facebook is considered to be the original social network that was developed to connect people and give the opportunity to share content with friends and family. It has now become much more than this and can be used by businesses to create a community around their product or service. Images, videos and live videos, written posts, check-ins, polls and many more, are types of media that can be created and shared on Facebook making it one of the most versatile social media platforms. A business page can be created and used to display all your contact information, your location, members of your team and give your customers the opportunity to tag your page when they post about your business.
Facebook is statically used by an older age group compared to Instagram, therefore, content shared on Facebook may, therefore, be better targeted to an older age group due to these demographics. Facebook’s main purpose is about creating a community around your brand and is great for creating and sharing events related to your business that people can attend. Facebook should be something that all business have as it is often the first social media platform that people will search for due to it being the most popular and is relatively simple to set up and maintain.
Q: Why should I use Twitter?
A: Start a Discussion
Twitter launched just two years after Facebook as a microblogging service where users could share up to 140 characters of text, as well as videos and images. As the focus of Twitter is the 140 character tweets, it is much more discussion based than Instagram and Facebook and many users will post multiple times a day and have public conversations with other users in threads.
A business would benefit from using Twitter because it provides a platform to put out regular updates about the business and make fast announcements in a short and concise way, with less production needed than with an image, like Instagram. It is a good way to make connections with customers and network with other businesses in your industry as the focus is on discussion and conversations, giving you the opportunity to create better relationships and connections.
Q: Why should I use YouTube?
A: Share Video
When you think of social media YouTube doesn’t often spring to mind, however is one of the biggest and most popular social networks in the world – in fact, it’s the second biggest website in the world. Which of course means huge reach and immense possibilities for increasing awareness of your business, driving more traffic and engagement, and generating more leads.
Video content is ideal for grabbing people’s attention as well as conveying your personality and passion to your customers. But, one of the biggest things keeping businesses from using YouTube as part of their marketing strategy is that…well, you need to create videos and you’re not sure what. Or how, for that matter. However, it’s actually not that difficult to create quality videos anymore – in some cases, you don’t even need a camera.
YouTube is also a great social platform when it comes to SEO (search engine optimisation). As Youtube is owned by Google, you can optimise the search of your businesses YouTube Videos with appropriate keywords, to help boost your video views and in turn views to your website.
Q: Why should I use LinkedIn?
A: Establish thought leadership
LinkedIn is the largest professional network in the world. It is a great way to promote your business as well as establish connections and build relationships within your industry. LinkedIn groups allow you to position yourself as a though leader in your niche, by making connections with top industry leaders and networking in groups to gain trust among your peers.
LinkedIn is also a fantastic tool for recruitment, in fact the use of social professional networking sites for recruiting has exploded over recent years, and is now more popular that ever. Not only is it easy to find talented candidates who are searching for new roles, but it gives you the opportunity to tap into that sought-after pool of potential candidates who aren’t actively seeking a new role but would be open to change if the right opportunity came along. On top of that, its cost effective! Although there are some features that do cost, such as job posts and job slots, it cost nothing to share a vacancy on your LinkedIn company page, and after all what better place to search for a talented new team member than within your network of industry professionals.
There are many more social media platforms like Pinterest, Snapchat and Google+ which is a leader in SEO. But Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and LinkedIn are certainly the most dominant players in the social media world and are a great place to start your social media marketing.
We understand that with many different platforms it can be difficult and time-consuming to create and manage your marketing campaigns and strategies; we would love to help you do this and create amazing content for your customers. Please contact us if you think we can help you with your marketing to increase the prosperity of your enterprise.