There are multiple choices when choosing platforms. Not all of the choices will benefit your business. Keeping up with social media is a daily thing and overloading yourself is never good. Plus some of the platforms will not benefit your business. Below is a list of popular platforms and things to keep in mind about each of them.
This is the most popular platform.
As one of the most well known, it has an ocean of people. That being said, having a facebook is great if you can keep up with it. People don’t just want updates about your business. They want to get to know you. Having your branding on point is how you get success on this site. If you do not have a website than a facebook is great to let customers know key information.
It is important for restaurants to have a facebook with the menu listed and a place for positive reviews. If you are running a vet’s office, facebook users would love to hear from you and follow your photo updates. Who doesn’t love a picture of a puppy. On the opposite end of the spectrum, some business need to avoid facebook.
Things to keep in mind:
Great for content sharing and search engine optimization. Since google is the leading search engine, it is really no surprise that having your business on Google+ would be beneficial SEO. It is a simple social networking and has more people than twitter. We are going to see more businesses using Google+ in the future.
This platform is sneaky. It seems like it would be easy but you can only write a small amount of characters. You need to get your points across with just a few words. Also, people want to feel like they are part of the conversation. They want immediate feedback to any questions that they present. This is a great platform for multiple businesses. Get the conversation going in your direction. Draw an audience that wants to find out more about what you do. Can you provide a sense of expertise on your area? If you can keep up with it than a twitter is right for your business.
"Social media is the ultimate equalizer. It gives a voice and a platform to anyone willing to engage."
Everyone in multiple blogs likes to think that instagram is not important to businesses. I beg to differ. Instagram has a steady growth of followers. New products that are visually appealing need to have an instagram. Any business that can use photos to tell a story should have instagram. Yes, it is only photos and captions. That makes this platform a little difficult for those that are not artsy. You need to be able to take a good photo and have an understanding of photography techniques. In this day, everyone thinks that they are a photographer but that thinking can hurt your businesses instagram if you don’t take the time to understand photography basics. These photos should be different than those you post to facebook of differences in photo sizes. If your business doesn’t have much to say with photos than avoid this platform or just connect people through your personal instagram to your business.
It is great for connections and employees. You create a page and connect to your employees. You can post job openings and find amazing individuals to work with. This could be beneficial for your business when you are hiring. It also increases traffic.
This is good for products that are visually appealing, art, etc. It is a place that people save things they like and find inspiration. Pinterest is really great for drawing people to your website and social media. Right now there is a mostly female demographic that is engaged in pinterest.
""Most likely you need a yelp page. This is especially true if you have an address that people will be coming to. The only reason to avoid this site is if bad reviews may be a problem. Yelp uses an algorithm to check through posts and remove some. There are only certain types of comments that go against their guidelines. You may already have a yelp out there and gaining ownership on it is necessary. You need to be responding to comments.
Oh the notorious youtube. This platform has recently caught attention of the small business owner that is thinking about marketing differently. Businesses are now making promo videos. I think that it is a great development. If you have a product or service than it will benefit to have videos. If you are a doctor and you let the world in on your knowledge it can create trust. Sharing what your company is all about. This is a great way to make your image.
