With social media becoming increasingly popular, most businesses now realise the benefits to be had by getting involved in one or a few social platforms. But even if you know that being social is a great idea, there is still the small matter of which social network is the right choice for you.
There are more social networks than ever before, and choosing the right option is not always easy. Here’s a guide to working out this important question.
Why You Need to Make the Right Decision
There is no point in spending hours of your time being active on a social platform if you are not reaching the right people. Different social channels have different audiences, and you want to ensure that your audience are active on the channel when you are going to spend a lot of your time. You probably already know who your targets are and the type of content they consume – now you need to find out where they are.
Here is a guide to the main social networks to help you decide which might be the best fit for your business.
Facebook is the daddy of social networks, and it has the largest user base. According to the latest figures, it was recently used by one billion people in a single day for the first time. It is also used more frequently than other sites, and engagement levels are high.
This means it is a good option for reaching out to a broad network of targets, and it is best for B2C rather than B2B. Because it is so big, you should only ignore Facebook if you have a real reason to do so.
However, more people use Facebook to socialise with friends and family, and they may be less keen to hear your marketing messages. You will probably need to reach out using advertising and sponsored posts, which can be very effective at targeting your audience specifically.
Twitter is a popular network for younger people, and it is a great place to reach out to people who are seeking information, news and insights. It is especially effective for reaching out to your targets in the moment and providing instant replies. If you can provide breaking news and can answer questions quickly, it could be a great platform to use. It can also be used as a way to provide customer service.
Twitter is a great way to provide updates about your latest content as well as sharing other content that is useful for your target audience. Don’t just broadcast messages about yourself, and instead use it to share content that provides interest to your targets.
LinkedIn is very different from other social networks because it focuses on the B2B environment. If you target business customers, the simple answer is that you should have a presence on the network. Even if you are not targeting business customers, you could benefit from a presence on the site if you target people in a particular industry or certain types of professionals.
Google Plus
Google Plus has come a long way since it was launched in 2011, and it is now one of the biggest networks – although it is still not as big as Facebook. Most businesses can benefit from having a presence on Google My Business, and you may find that it has a number of local SEO benefits as well. But there are other ways to use the network.
For example, many businesses use the Hangouts feature as a simple way to provide how-to videos, webinars, and interviews. You could even use it as a form of customer service, like Dell, so it is worth experimenting with.
Pinterest can be an excellent platform for visual industries who can use it to target customers expressing themselves through visual means. It is ideal for lifestyle brands, fashion, design and similar industries.
If you are not in a particularly visual industry, ask yourself whether your customers are interested in subjects that can be visually represented. If so, the platform can still work for you. It is especially popular for women, so that may be reason enough for you to try it out.
Choose Your Platform/s and Stay Active
Once you have chosen the platforms that you want to be involved in, there is one final thing to remember: you need to stay active to make your activity worthwhile.
Having a presence on social media sites with no updates in six months can actually be worse than having no presence at all. Don’t be one of those businesses that doesn’t get instant results in a few weeks and so gives up. Be consistent, understand it will take time, and stay active. As long as you have chosen the right channels to focus on, your efforts will pay off.
As digital marketing consultants, we provide clients with a wide range of complimentary digital marketing service and solutions, from conversion rate optimisation (to increase sales and enquiries from client websites) to PPC management and from SEO marketing to social media marketing – talk to us to find out how we help organisations like yours improve site traffic and, most importantly, revenue!
