Any person in business nowadays will advise you to put your business on social media. However, it can be difficult to know where to start and which social media platforms are good for different goals. Each platform has its own audience and own way to help your business succeed.
Chances are, when you think about social media, the first platform that will pop in your head would probably be Facebook. This is because Facebook is one of the most used social media platforms worldwide. As a result, Facebook is the perfect place to begin your business’ social media journey. The platform allows you to make an account for your business where you can launch advertising campaigns and interact directly with your customers. Another popular feature that Facebook provides is the capability for instant messaging. This allows you to answer questions from your potential customers in real time and improve your business’ customer service ratings. In general, Facebook is good for an older audience or families.
There is one main social media platform geared towards businesses and workers, and that is LinkedIn. LinkedIn provides a more professional setting to share about your business, as well as recruit future employees. On your LinkedIn profile you can share more about your business, where it came from, why it was created, and who directs it. If you want your business to become more reputable, this is where you need to start. LinkedIn also allows you to interact with other businesses and build valuable relationships that can benefit you on other platforms as well. In the event that you are looking to grow your workforce, LinkedIn is a great way to market your business towards future employees and even for you to start the hiring process.
If your business wants to reach a younger demographic, you need to make an account on Instagram. Along with Facebook, Instagram has many great tools that help you understand your followers better, which in turn helps you understand your target market better. You can see where your followers are from, what demographic they belong to, and what posts they enjoy more. Additionally, Instagram is rolling out new features that make selling your products even easier. Your customers no longer need to navigate away from your social media site to make a purchase. They can buy a product directly on your page through the “Shop” section on Instagram. Customers are all about ease these days and social media marketplaces, like the one that Instagram has, helps you to capitalize off of that pattern.
YouTube
Most people do not think about a video sharing platform as a place to grow their business. However, many businesses have been able to find success through YouTube. The most obvious way to use YouTube to your business’ advantage is through advertisements. Advertising on YouTube can be done through several ways. You can have a video ad that plays before, during, or after a video. You can also have a pop-up advertisement on the bottom of the video screen or a stationary ad in the corner of the webpage. YouTube is also a great place for your business to share more about your products in a longer format. For example, if any of your products require special instructions, you can upload a video tutorial to help customers use your products. You could even upload videos about the history of your business or about the daily lives of your workers.
TikTok
The newest social media platform is TikTok. Businesses are slowly learning how to use the app for their advantage. TikTok only gives you one minute maximum to make an impact on those who view your videos. However, if you do not want viewers to swipe away, you have to catch their attention immediately. As a result, TikTok has become a fast-paced world for businesses who want to advertise their products. You can use TikTok in a similar way to YouTube, although TikTok is ruled a lot more by trends that you should also incorporate into your videos if you want to be successful.
Businesses that have a successful marketing strategy on Twitter often focus on customer interactions. If you can use your Twitter to update customers about new product launches or company events, you can rally up more support preemptively. Another tactic that has been successful, yet unconventional, on Twitter has been using humor to create tweets that your followers will actually want to share. People enjoy companies more when they seem to have a personality. Twitter is the perfect platform to highlight your business and drum up conversation through the use of hashtags. With enough audience engagement, you can use hashtags to become a trending topic locally, nationally, or even internationally.
Social Media has become so much more than just a place for grandparents to see pictures of their grandchildren. It is a place for business to interact with current customers and to find new ones. Once you start using social media to its fullest potential, you will wish you started earlier.
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