One of the most asked questions by businesses starting out building their digital presence is “what are the top social media sites my company should be on”?
Most businesses want to be effective in their time management with social media and not waste it learning how to use the wrong product.
The next question is always “how to maximize and grow our audience”.
To break it down for you there are 7 main social media websites that just about every business should be engaging with as a part of their social media presence, not all will be relevant to every business and some will end up produce better results. These are what you should be focused on learning and experimenting with.
You may find for instance that on Facebook you have a lot of people liking your business page, which is awesome, but it’s not yielding many leads? On the other hand, the same content posted on twitter, or perhaps an image on Instagram are producing more traffic to your website.
This above hypothetical is all too common for a lot of businesses on social media and it will take time and the will to experiment, analyse the data and adjust your campaigns as you see patterns developing. Then you can concentrate your time and energy on the ones that your customers are engaging with.
So let’s get an overview of each product.
1. Facebook – for Business
Facebook is the biggest network of them all and without a doubt you need a Facebook page for your business, as we have written about in past blogs. In this day and age, it almost goes without saying that if you don’t have one you will lose business and probably some credibility. I have heard many people say “they don’t even have a Facebook page” then the potential customer keeps searching. People will usually check on Facebook for a business before they visit their website, why is this? Well in the Q4 of 2014 526 Million users accessed Facebook solely on their mobile device. The mobile revolution has changed the way people access their information, and mobile apps usage stats are constantly growing. With a collective audience of over 1.5 million active monthly users your business can’t afford to not have a page on Facebook.
The main points to remember when marketing your business on Facebook are:
- Post at least once a day. Keep your business in your customer’s mind. But don’t spam useless information just because you are trying to post something. If you don’t have useful content related to helping your client, share something from another source that they might find useful.
- Add a recognisable profile picture and an engaging cover photo, also try adding a call to action (CTA) button to you cover photo.
- Post pictures over plain text. Infographics work well for stats and facts.
- Post video when you can, as video has been proven to be one of the most engaging types of content for your audience.
- You can’t always post photos and videos, if you do you may even notice a decline in your reaches. So keep it fresh and switch it up. Post and share links, articles and other relevant content.
- Ask your customers question, seek their feedback, reply to comments and interact. This can help grow your audience and trust with potential customers.
- Paid advertising? Yes, why not? You don’t have to do a campaign every week, it might be a once in a blue moon effort. But if you want more reaches then pick your best bit of content and pay for reaches. It’s easy to jump in to it, don’t be scared. You can target your demographic and location and make a big splash. You can even do Video Ads on facebook now, imagine the amount of reaches a well produced video could possibly get.
- Don’t go the hard sell, a few well-placed calls to action that take people to your website will do. The occasional offer is fine, but a constant stream of offers annoys most people. Be helpful but not annoying.
- Timing is everything. Use holiday and seasonal posts. Customers will engage more if the content is relevant to something on their mind.
- Set up a spreadsheet or a content calendar, this will not only help you post regularly, but will ensure your content is well planned, interesting, and that balance that works for you and your audience.
More in this Series –
Part 2: Twitter & Google Plus for Business
Part 3: LinkedIn Company Pages & YouTube for Business
Part 4: Instagram & Pinterest for Business
Have you found success on these or any other social media sites, or do you have any tips to help others starting out?
