Have you been following our posts on how to build your online presence? If you’re seeing this post for the first time and would like to get up to speed with the previous posts, you can find them all in one place by visiting our blog. A very nice place to begin would be the first post of the series.
In this post, however, we would be looking into how you can leverage the power of Social Media to improve your online presence.
How do you know if your business needs a social media platform? Have you thought of creating a social media account for your business but got stuck on which one to start with? Do you have a social media account already for your business but can’t manage it? This post is especially for you.
The use of social media is not a thing for the elites or big businesses. Social media holds value for businesses of any and every size. It spans multiple demographics and interest groups. It can help a very small business appear larger than they actually are. It offers a level playing field for both startups and mega-corporations. It can be used to spread your company’s message to your current clients as well as to prospective clients.
Inasmuch as there are so many social media platforms out there, just a few are meant for most businesses. Do you want to boost your business online, these are the social media platforms to be considered:
This is a social platform initially designed to allow people to connect with their friends and family and share status updates.
Over the years, it has grown to allow for unlimited updates in the form of posts, videos, pictures, galleries, stories, audio, links and other forms of multimedia and hyperlinked resources across the web.
Facebook is tirelessly making it easier for its users to find nearby businesses. It can be used either as a profile account for individuals or as a page account for businesses, brands, celebrities, social causes, projects and so on. It is arguably the most widely used social platform in the world with users ranging from teens to the aged.
Facebook collects a lot of information about its user including things like phone type, location, frequently viewed posts, preferred interests and so on and uses this information to target specific content to each user. That way, businesses are more easily able to reach not just a wide market but a focused one at that. For every new business, it is most likely that a great segment of their market are Facebook users and so it makes sense that almost all businesses seem to have a presence on Facebook.
This platform is owned by Microsoft and it is a highly rated professional platform because of its professional focus. It is very common among business executives and even job seekers and is the largest network in the world with the most number of interconnected professionals.
It allows you to connect with similar businesses like yours and also business professionals and executives. You can use the connections and networking opportunities LinkedIn provides to build and promote your business brand. LinkedIn is the perfect place to meet people who can help you achieve your business goals.
The platform allows you to promote content about your business in form of pictures, videos, slides, stories and basic text and links. LinkedIn is professional-oriented unlike other social media platforms that are lifestyle-oriented and so things like cat memes or stylish selfies have no place here.
Business owners can use LinkedIn to grow their email marketing list with their professional connections and networks. People on LinkedIn tend to get bombarded with Sales ads and other solicitations. Moving these connections to a more formal medium like emails boosts your relationship and engagement with your clients and at the end of the day helps you to push forward your business marketing initiatives. Do you know your clients and prospects also want to connect with you as you want to connect to them, but the approach you use is a valued part of a business strategy and makes it possible for them to trust you enough to do business with you.
Yes! You can outsell your competition with LinkedIn by publishing content that educates and informs LinkedIn enthusiasts. Show them your competence and your network will grow beyond your industry. Mastering the features of this social platform can allows make LinkedIn an excellent tool to help your company to grow. If you take cognizance of these efficient tools like your company pages, InMail, Groups, and Advanced Search Option and see them as tools for your business growth, it will help you expand your network and also skyrocket your business goals.
Instagram is one of the most popular platforms mainly for businesses. This social platform owned by Facebook allows for images and video-sharing on a regular more than Facebook.
Instagram active users are over 400 million and still counts. Business experts prefer Instagram because it gives them the avenue to boost their visibility and increase their sales as well. What I find most interesting is that the platform segments its users into three types and the type of account you will run is determined by the type of business or goal you are trying to achieve with Instagram. These categories are thus:
- A Personal account is the type of account you will create if you want to use Instagram for personal reasons that might include connecting with friends, sharing photos, discovering new products and being updated on what businesses and brands you are interested in are up to.
- If you’re an influencer, artist or a freelancer, Instagram has a dedicated account type called Creator account which has some features designed specifically to allow content creators to make engaging content.
- The third is the Business account mainly for businesses and brand of every sort. If you’re a business owner, it’s very paramount to create a business account on Instagram as it allows you to add customized information for your business to allow and improve your distinctness and visibility as a business. When you create a business account, be professional in the details you input on your business page. Additionally, your business’s first post needs to be well-thought-out and very informative to your followers. Through your first post, your followers need to know the problems your products and/or services can solve for them.
YouTube
Have you been looking for a platform where you’ll get to post videos of your products or services? YouTube is your best reach. YouTube is a video-sharing social media platform that allows individuals and businesses to post as well as to view images, Gifs, and videos.
Videos are one of the most popular content formats. If you’re using YouTube to promote your business online, you need to have a clear intent on what you want to achieve with your YouTube account and be very consistent with it. This is because being consistent with your business brand while posting on your YouTube business account is the best way to communicate to a wide audience as you work to either promote your business brands or provide information to your clients. It’s very much advised to always utilize the teaching opportunities on YouTube if you’re using the platform to connect to your clients. Clients always want to see what’s new, how to use it and how it works, and you can maximize this need with YouTube.
As a Google owned platform, YouTube drives traffic with its videos as Google and other Search engines tend to favor it. Do you want to utilize your marketing strategy with YouTube? Make sure you:
- Log into your business’s G-mail account if you already have one otherwise create a new G-mail account for your business.
- Create a YouTube channel for your business using your business profile account.
- Post an introductory video that can be as a teaser-a short compelling clip that will excite your clients to click on your link to watch the full video if your business is new on YouTube.
- Search for your competitors and run a SWOT analysis on their YouTube business platform to avoid unnecessary repetition and also to create a niche to your favor using your competitors business Weakness and Threats.
- Your YouTube Videos should always be unique and not a repetition of what you already have on your other business social handles. Let its content value entice your clients to like, share and subscribe to your YouTube channel.
- Make your business identity visible and known by always adding some distinctiveness to your videos. This will help your clients know who you are, what you do and your level of expertise.
- Always post videos with titles, subtitles, keywords, and especially thumbnails. Thumbnails are the first things that people see before a video title. Always make sure that your video thumbnail conveys the subject of the video and should be mobile friendly to aid your mobile users.
- YouTube videos are to be clear, informative and easy to understand.
- Have your audiences in mind as you post videos. Make a research on your audiences and learn about their locations, ages and viewing preferences. This will help you create videos that will always keep them connected to your business platform.
So many business owners are utilizing this platform already to keep their clients updated on their products and services. Because videos are a lot more engaging than text and YouTube videos ranks high on Search engines.
Twitter as a social networking site has its marketing tools that helps businesses grow. Its primary purpose is to connect with people and allow them share their thoughts with their audience. Twitter allows them to post pictures, tweets, GIFs, videos, and so on.
Businesses at all sizes have been using Twitter to grow their brands. Considering the fact that it costs very little to market your products with Twitter, unlike other business platforms, makes it so interesting. Though the 280 character limit of Twitter can seem inane at first, barely over 1% of twitter users use up the character limits. The character limit is still what that makes twitter a powerful tool to create quick and compelling ads.
Twitter allows users to discover stories regarding today’s biggest news and events, follow people and companies that post content that interest them or simply communicate with friends. Twitter can be used by influencers, reporters, PR (public Relations), entertainers, individuals, and business owners. As a business owner, make sure you create tweets using hashtags and headlines which should be appealing enough to make your followers eager to click through. Try using quotes, questions related to the link you’re tweeting as a way to keep your audience eager to click and read more.
What is the distinctive value of Twitter, you may want to know? Twitter is a relatively an informal communication tool that has both unlimited meaning and potentials. It can help you to:
- Increase your brand awareness.
- Skyrocket your business growth.
- Generate leads and sales.
- Build better customer support channel.
- Build community.
- Reach new audiences.
- Expand your market reach.
- Identify and target customers.
- Promotes your research by providing links to your blog stories, journals, articles and new items.
- Reach a large number of people quickly through tweets and retweets.
- Follow the work of other experts in your field.
- Keep updated with the latest news and developments and share it with others instantly.
Truthfully, using a platform like Twitter gives businesses a cost-effective method of engaging with their clients. With the right marketing plan on Twitter, businesses can use the platform to create successful campaigns to boost recognition, increase sales and maintain good customer service to clients.
This is a social media service that has driven 3.8 times sales than other platforms. It is designed to enable saving and discovering pictures on the World Wide Web using images, GIFs, and videos.
Pinterest is a social network where you can share and collect images of interesting things and events. Pinterest focuses more on the power of images as it uses it in communicating and relating informational packed content to its users. Using Pinterest for business is perfect as it allows showcasing products and/or services for many users preparing to make a purchase. Pinterest is known for its ability to convert its sites visitors into buyers as it influences purchases easily.
Unlike Facebook where you get to write and post extremely long blog-like contents for your followers, Pinterest uses visual images to relate every information that it intends disseminating to all pinners.
Would you like to drive more sales with your Pinterest platform? Always make sure that you post eye-catching images that are deeply instructional and informative. Through your updates, you can get your pinners thrilled and engaged as they learn new things each time they visit your page
The two reasons why you need Pinterest for your business: your competitors are using it and it helps you to be in front of your client everyday as you showcase your products and services. Did you know that Pinterest is a visual platform like Instagram and can help you keep Pinners informed on your business emerging trends?
Would you like to know the different types of visual contents that flags better on Pinterest? Pinterest gives preference to visual diagram that represents information, pictures of people using your products and/or service, videos, blog links and relevant quotes that inspires your page visitors about your business brand.
What are the benefits of this Business Strategy?
Having a social media platform for your business will allow you to share your company’s updates in the form of articles, photos, videos, slides, special offers, and before and after shots of your work and so on. With this, customers can easily access these content on your social media page and connect with you after being convinced that you have the products/services they needed.
The general idea behind having a social media platform for your business is to help you :
- Identify your audience
- Connect with your customers
- Build relationships
- Create brand awareness
- Market new products
- Manage online reputation
- Boost sales with special offers & discounts
- Provide information
- Keep an eye on competition
- Survey and send feedbacks when necessary
Summary
Leveraging on social media makes it easier for you to build a web presence for your business. It is important to note that it is not mandatory that your business must have an account on all these social platforms listed above. Creating at most 2 or 3 social media accounts is a good way to begin, then you can add more as your business interests grow and as your staff strength increases.
It is advisable when you have multiple social media accounts to enlist the service of a skilled Social Media Manager to help you manage your social media presence effectively.
It is 100% advisable that you coordinate all your social media efforts. Link your business social media platforms one to another where possible to help you keep track, where necessary.
In other to maximize your social media accounts, you’re to be cautious on what you post on your page, this is the reason why you must create a social media platform for your business apart from your personal ones.
Your business updates should be of high content value. Such posts like pictures and videos should be handled by a creative graphic designer or a video editor in order to make your content unique and professionally done. Well, to be fair, you may not be able to afford a professional graphic designer or video editor but you can at least make presentable video footage from your smartphone or any other digital device like a camera. What makes your content stand out is the uniqueness and originality of your content and you do not want to scrimp on that.
Your whole social media effort should be designed around helping you to achieve your business goals whatever you have defined them to be.
Social media makes it easier for you to skyrocket your business growth. Most importantly, it lets you connect to an audience that is not only ready to hear from you but also wants to do business with you.
I believe this article has helped you to have a deeper understanding of all the values you stand to gain by creating a social media platform for your business? In our next post, we will be taking you on the third step to creating an online presence for your business. Don’t miss it!
