The Power Of Social
Social media has no doubt transformed the way businesses position themselves, communicate with customers, portray their mission, and most powerfully – manage brand image. No matter what product or service you are selling, and to whom, maintaining at least some level of activity on a social platform is crucial to ensure people can find and engage with your company. Neglecting to establish this presence means losing an opportunity to leverage growth and keep your brand relevant in the minds of consumers.
But which channels should I be using?
Whilst Facebook is still the front runner for number of users and highest activity, YouTube is a close second, and other networks can’t be ignored. But your choice of which to focus on should be mostly determined by where your target customers are spending most of their time, and what they are doing on these mediums.
It all depends on your brand.
Facebook is typically a necessity and worthwhile for all businesses, due to the creative flexibility and audience reach potential. Posts should always include a visual, as people are 94% more likely to properly view this content, as opposed to skim over some standalone text. The ability to publish multiple images or videos is particularly useful for products that people like to see before buying. Even intangibles can be showcased by a personalised explanation of the service and examples of it in action with previous clients in a video format.
Instagram is another realm for companies to create striking visual content, and is ever-growing in popularity. As with all video messages, they should be kept short and sweet to keep viewers’ attention, and appear unique and engaging to cut through users’ endless feed. Instagram Stories afford another opportunity to spotlight your brand, boosting recognition and recall with the additional exposure to profile posts.
The ‘place to be’ for visual content.
Whether you’re an expert with Pinterest or have just heard of it, it’s worthwhile getting to know how it works, and it’s super simple. It could be described as online “social scrapbooking” or a lifestyle portal, where subscribers can explore, share, and interact with people and brands whose content reflects themes of personal interest. Visual boards can display a product range or special features of an item, which can be saved or shared by users. And it’s not just valuable for retailers. In the way that visual content sparks ideas and is a source of inspiration; B2B marketers can use a compelling, relevant image to link to a blog post or other webpage. Infographics are an innovative and fun way to present educational material, perhaps highlighting a service.
A more professional presence.
Whilst retail outlets and other B2C brands may be sorted with Facebook and Instagram, these platforms don’t always have the desired effect for B2B companies. A LinkedIn Company Page can do wonders for reaching and growing valuable relationships with potential stakeholders. With a simple search you can connect with existing clients and reach out to members of related industry organisations. The flexibility to set specific goals and define a target audience of LinkedIn members, means your Page is optimised to generate views in search and direct these queries to learn more about your business, ideally by connecting and sending a message.
LinkedIn is home to a wealth of diverse content, and it’s important to keep followers engaged with regular and varied posts. These might include providing your perspective on industry-relevant news and trends, company updates and recent projects, and brief, insightful demonstrations of how your product/services solve problems or enhance benefit to customers.
Last but not least, Twitter offers many advantages as a research tool, media outlet, and conversation channel. A quick search for companies, individuals, or topics can reveal boundless insight regarding what’s happening in your industrycommunity, and who is saying what (either positive or negative) about your brand. In this way you can also see what sort of content performs well, and begin by posting in a similar manner, but always staying true to your desired brand character.
Sharing links to videos or snippets of advice maintains delivery of engaging and relevant material that your followers can respond to. Lastly, Twitter enables you to reply swiftly and effortlessly to audience questions and comments, so make sure you flaunt your outstanding customer service.