Most of us scroll through our personal Facebook, Instagram or Twitter feeds pretty regularly, sifting through “friend’s” conversations and cute baby pictures. Maybe you post pictures of bacon, pancakes and cute dogs, too? In fact, according to a study by Pew Research, Facebook users are highly engaged with the platform. Among the 1.44 billion monthly active users, approximately 70% use Facebook daily (including 45% who do so several times a day). That’s a lot of potential customers to reach (and potential to post about more than just bacon and pancakes).
Beginners Breakdown of Small Business Social Media Platforms
Having a presence on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and Google+ can be a powerful tool for any trade to gain valuable online marketing exposure. But it’s essential to do it with a strategic marketing plan in mind.
Big Social Players in the Biz
While it may initially feel like you should get your business on each and every single social outlet available; that can turn out to be a mistake. Not all social outlets are relevant for your specific industry, so it’s best to be selective and start with the big players:
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- Twitter can help your corporation get more attention in 140 characters or less but with over 300 million active users, if you’re not careful you can get lost in the feed. Companies can spread awareness for their brand, generate leads and drive traffic to their website with the right strategy. Check out our recent blog, “Social Media Marketing for Business Series: 15 Twitter Tips,” for more great social media marketing strategies.
- Research has shown that almost 80% of Twitter users who see Tweets from both a brand and users tweeting about a brand will take action online or offline.
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- According to Statista.com, Facebook has 1.4 billion active monthly users. Visit competitor’s sites and find out where your customers are spending their time. Interact closely with like-minded people by joining and participating in groups as well.
Linked In
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- LinkedIn certainly has some impressive statistics operating the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 313 million members in over 200 countries and territories. Share content, establish partnerships with others in your industry and connect with customers.
Google+
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- Officially, Google+ has more than 2.5 billion users, which would make it by far the largest social network in the world, with almost twice as many members as Facebook. If you want to build relationships, link up with others in circles which will make it easier for them to add you back. Extend your page’s reach by sharing content in Google+ communities and attending Google+ events to network with others who are like-minded in your industry.
Like – Follow – Publish
Educate and engage your audience through interesting posts that will ultimately generate more traffic back to your website; resist the urge to be overly salesy which can turn customers off. You’re much more likely to motivate consumers to follow your brand if you present unique, entertaining, inspirational and engaging posts that reflect your target audience interests.
Retweet It. Share It. Create Circles.
The best way to build trust and establish relationships (aka future customers) is to share enjoyable content that you find from other accounts. Social media is not just a one-way street; it’s about starting a dialog and establishing relationships. “Like” or “favorite” other content, but don’t endorse everything; only what you really, truly believe in. Consumers tend to trust an establishment more if they are involved with social media, so go ahead and get the conversation started!
Keeping Up
Often, managing social media can take more time than a company has resources available. What social channels are best to use? How often (and what) should you post? How will you manage all the conversations? Every social network has its own specific features. Go ahead and leave the strategizing, researching, posting, liking and sharing for your business up to the social media professionals at CMDS (it’s ok, you can keep on posting your cute dog pictures to your personal accounts). We’ll look at the insights and data to find out what resonates best with your audience, what posts generate the most traffic to your website, etc, and then we’ll specifically fit future content to boost those results.
Grow Your Small Business with CMDS- NJ Social Media Marketing Agency
Don’t just do social media for the sake of doing it. Do it right with the help of a NJ Social Media Agency. Contact CMDS, the leading social media marketing agency in NJ, to launch a social strategy that propels your brand to the next level. Call 732-706-5555 today.