Demystifying Marketing on Facebook, Twitter
and Instagram
With the existing
and ever-remerging social media outlets available to us, the confusion as
to how to use them can sometimes make us wish for the days when only local
newspaper ads and the yellow pages were used for getting our name out
there. Before you throw your hands up and invest in a sandwich sign board,
let's break down the mysteries that surround the three most popular social
media platforms you can use successfully to grow your business.
Facebook
Facebook is probably the first platform you think of when you hear social
media. It’s not surprising, considering that, as of January of this year,
it has over 1.5 billion monthly active users. For those of you marketing to
millennials (15-34-year-olds), about 91% of them use Facebook, most likely
without ever looking up from their phones. With numbers like this, if your
business doesn’t have an active Facebook page with content that is updated
daily, you’re seriously missing out.
Facebook is a fantastic place to post longer form statements and articles,
with images and links to your business website, to drive traffic.
Connecting with your prospects and clients through Facebook can benefit
your business tremendously by building those critical relationships.
Building followers on Facebook enables you to spread the news about your
business by keeping your followers up to date on what your business is
doing.
Every business needs to be actively present on Facebook to stay relevant.
Twitter
Twitter, on the other hand, is a micro-blogging site that allows you to
send short (140 characters) messages to potentially millions of individuals
in real time. Some of the most compelling features of Twitter include:
- URL shorteners like TinyURL and Bitly - enable you to link to content on
your own site without hogging all of your characters.
- Hashtags - these tiny miracle workers enable you to create or insert your
message into a worldwide conversation, allowing you to reach individuals
that aren’t necessarily following you, but are following the hashtag you
are using.
- Trend watch - by looking at what’s trending on Twitter, you can easily
tailor your content to the actively followed conversations (hashtags) and
get in on the hype.
Businesses that can really benefit the most from this include mobile
businesses such as restaurants, retail outlets, and food trucks. Imagine
Tweeting out your current lunch special with coupons, or upcoming
locations. Nothing says love like showing up to your location and seeing a hundred
customers lined up and waiting for you!
Instagram
In contrast to Facebook and Twitter, Instagram is a photo-sharing app that
enables you to put out rich and vibrant images to promote your business.
Instagram is actually considered the single most important social network
out there, so businesses that target the teen market absolutely must have
an Instagram presence.
Instagram allows you to choose from a variety of filters when posting your
photos. Be sure to use the same filters every time you post so that you can
create your cohesive brand identity on Instagram. This will help users
engage with your business. If they know it’s you, they’ll stop and like
your image or make a comment.
If you’re new to Instagram, you may be associating it with a great big
Selfie-Fest, but for businesses, that’s not the case. Posting aesthetically
pleasing images of your products, your office, and things that may be
associated with your product or service help you build your brand and show
the world what you do.
Ultimately, the platform that will be most effective for your marketing
efforts depends primarily on your audience, their interests, and the type
of content you plan to disperse.
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