What better way in a technologically driven and obsessed society to market your brand than right where everyone spends majority of their time anyways? Where you may ask? Social media. Now you might think that this isn’t for your company, but have you really put in the time and effort with each social media platform? Each of these networks can be thought as individuals with distinct characteristics that make them unique. Before jumping into each individual social media network, you need to take a few things into consideration that applies for all social media. Having an online presence is essential today, so ensuring that your company is found within seconds and information is accessible is key. Set your profiles up so your followers can find a visible link to your website, as well as know exactly who your company is and what your company does within a few seconds. Make sure your profile picture is relevant and of high quality to your company, like your companies logo for instance. You want this image to represent who you are as a company in an appropriate manner. Another thing to take into consideration is what do you want your “call to action” to be? Do you want your social media to bring your followers to your company’s website? Perhaps, your company is selling items from another site? Make sure this is understood by your followers, easily found, and easily executed. So now, let’s take a look into successfully marketing on each social media platform.
There are about 1.55 billion Facebook users today. Now lets take a moment and break down the key features of Facebook and how we can successfully use this information.
Facebook Insights- This key factor will be your go to for understanding your audience. These analytics provide information like:
- Audience Demographics
- Post Reach
- When Your Fans Are Online
Now, understanding what each of these different categories mean is essential. Your audience demographics provide a plethora of knowledge about your current market, including age, gender, location. This helps you determine who it is you are targeting. The post reach category allows you to see how many people your posts are reaching and how much interaction your posts are receiving, such as likes, comments, shares, and clicks. When your fans are online is probably one of the most insightful tools, allowing you to methodically schedule posts for the most active time of the day and most responsive day of the week. Gathering all of this information your company can precisely determine who your target market is, what to post, and when to post.
Facebook Posts- Now that you’ve mastered Facebook analytics, deciding what to post comes next. The great thing about Facebook is the versatility it provides. You are able to post links, photos, videos, and even statuses. This allows you, as a company to get creative! Generally speaking, the majority of people go on Facebook (as well as most other social media) for entertainment. Be sure your posts are eye-catching and engaging, as well as relevant to your company!
Now Instagram is one of the newer social medias, but boy has it take off like a rocket. This social media superstar has already gained 300 million users. A lot of company’s believe you should have your Instagram connected to your Facebook. This isn’t the greatest idea because like we said, each social media should be treated differently. What you post on Instagram isn’t necessarily always relevant to what you want on your Facebook. Although Instagram does not provide insights like Facebook does, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other tools to help guide your company.
Trending Page- One of the most vital tools that this mobile app has is its trending page. This gives you insight to what is exploding on Instagram currently. So what does this mean to you as a marketer? Finding some way your company could post in relation to a topic that is trending. This could give your company the key to driving more traffic to your page.
Hashtag- Hashtags have grown in their popularity amongst social medias, but in particular with Instagram. Have your company come up with a witty, yet relevant hashtag, as well as including other hashtags that are either trending or popular. This is a great way to have people explore your company page through trending hashtags.
Instagram Posts- This is probably the biggest differentiating factor between Instagram and other social media networks: images. You tell a story through a picture, not a novel written underneath the photo. Keep your caption short, sweet, and to the point, let your photo do all the talking. Get creative with the different editing tools Instagram provides, but make sure the post always relates to your company.
Twitter, the fast status updating media with 307 million users. What pulls Twitter apart from the other social media crowd? Let’s take a look.
Fast Updates- Twitter allows your company to tweet updates within seconds. Whether you have a new client you’re excited to work with, or you’re posting a company photo, Twitter has your back. Although it only allows 140 characters, this does grant the ability to express what you want in a clear and concise manner.
Twitter Analytics- Twitter does provide you with some Analytics, but not quite as in depth as Facebook. Here is the information they provide:
- Tweets
- Tweet Impressions
- Profile Visits
So, with the Tweets category you can see not only how many times you’ve tweeted, but what is your top tweet along with the top media tweet. Tweet impressions gives you insight into how many people you’re reaching, and profile visits allows you to understand how much traffic you’re driving to your Twitter.
Twitter Posts- Taking the Twitter analytics into consideration, you’re able to gather what posts get the most interaction. Also keeping in mind the limited characters you can use, keep your posts interesting, but to the point. Update your followers about your company, new clients, and don’t forget visuals. Hashtags are also essential with twitter so be sure to include those as well!
LinkedIn, the most “dapper” of the social media world has 396 million members. Here your main interaction will be between other businesses and companies, and even potential new employees! Creating an up to date personal profile also is important because this ties you to your company, allowing potential employees and other companies to gain information about who your company is exactly.
LinkedIn Analytics- Again, not as in depth as Facebook, but it does provide some vital information.
- Reach/Engagement
- Follower Demographics
- Page Views
The reach/engagement allows you to see how many people are viewing your posts, and whether they’re liking, commenting, or clicking on them. Your follower demographics allows you to understand your target market better, again this is LinkedIn so you want to be more professional compared to other social networks. Page views provides us with the amount of traffic the page is receiving.
Audience- LinkedIn provides you with a unique network to become acquainted with. LinkedIn provides you with access to other businesses, whether in your field or not, and potential new employees. This is a great way to network and increase your company’s inner circle.
Posts- Keep it strictly business related. Posting more relevant company information and keeping it professional. Posting relevant articles, such as an article on a client and their success or something that relates to what your company does. Get into that suit and tie mindset, and you’ll be good to go.
Conclusion
By understanding each individual social media network and how they work, you can optimize your brand’s online marketing strategy. Social media is a vital tool, that if used correctly, can extremely broaden your company’s reach. In today’s society it is so essential to up your social media marketing game and conquer every network successfully.
