We often get asked by people we meet, or work with ‘what platforms should I be using as a business?’. It seems to be that everyone wants to either do the minimum or be everywhere. But the question should really be…..
What platforms are my customers using?
So what are the benefits of a business using social media?
- 90% of consumers check out a business on social media – you don’t want to be missed
- You can drive traffic to your website on social media
- It can be really cost effective to introduce your brand to new audiences
- Helps position you and creates brand personality.
- Social media can prompt action to buy (see below some fascinating figures!!)
All of these are win, win 😊
Some food for thought…..
So where do you begin…….
- Create a customer avatar (if you don’t know about this, check out our resource ‘how to build a customer avatar’). Research stats around your customer avatar and decipher the most likely audience platforms e.g. Just because your target audience is age over 50 don’t assume they won’t be on Facebook as this is the fastest growing user segment. (below is just some of the stats I found in a brief search)
- Speak to existing customers – find out what platforms they use and start there.
Ok, so a brief overview of the most popular platforms:
Blogs: A platform for casual dialogue and discussions on a specific topic or opinion.
Facebook: The world’s largest social network, with more than 1.55 billion monthly active users (as of the third quarter of 2015). Users create a personal profile, add other users as friends, and exchange messages, including status updates. Brands create pages and Facebook users can “like” brands’ pages.
Twitter: A social networking/micro-blogging platform that allows groups and individuals to stay connected through the exchange of short status messages (140 character limit).
YouTube & Vimeo: Video hosting and watching websites.
Flickr: An image and video hosting website and online community. Photos can be shared on Facebook and Twitter and other social networking sites.
Instagram: A free photo and video sharing app that allows users to apply digital filters, frames and special effects to their photos and then share them on a variety of social networking sites.
Snapchat: A mobile app that lets users send photos and videos to friends or to their “story.” Snaps disappear after viewing or after 24 hours.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn is the professional social media platform. The groups are a place where groups of professionals with similar areas of interest can share information and participate in a conversation.
Google+ – Creating a Google+ page for your business will help Google generate rich media search results for your business that includes: the name of your business, where it is located on a map, reviews, contact and location information, and even photos.
Pinterest – Like Tumblr, Pinterest works best for businesses in particular industries. Unless your business involves food, travel, DIY crafts, health, beauty, or fashion, you can eliminate this platform from your early social media plans.
Our advice for newbies!
- It’s better to do one thing well, so rather than jump on 50 platforms select maybe 1 or 2 depending on your customers and start with these. When you have these nailed down you can always add more in the future!
- Make sure you focus your efforts on the platforms most likely to contain your customers – take time to research
- Remember content will determine if they continue to follow – so check out our resources on content and take time to get it right