The Best Social Platform For YOUR Business?

Are you prioritizing the best social media platform for your business?

Not all social media platforms are created equal. Contrary to popular belief, having a company page on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Google+ and YouTube, among others, will not necessarily drive value for your customers. In effect, your current marketing strategy might have you spending resources on a social account that garners little to no consumer engagement, resulting in wasted resources that could have been allocated more efficiently.

In this day and age, however, some might even argue that it's an automatic loss not to take advantage of all of the owned media available for brand awareness. There is no harm in covering all of your bases if your company is large enough to manage it all, but for many middle market businesses, there is a line to be drawn.

Here's how to best determine which social platforms are a good fit for your company and which should be kept off the radar:

Related Article: Marketing To YOUR Social Media Consumers?

What Are Your Goals For Social Media?

Open a new social media account with a specific goal in mind, not because you believe it is expected in digital marketing. Make sure you understand the benefits of each platform and what its purpose is, so your efforts don't go to waste.

Open a new social media account with a specific goal in mind, not because you believe it is expected in digital marketing. Make sure you understand the benefits of each platform and what its purpose is, so your efforts don't go to waste.

Is it primarily going to be used as a customer service platform? If so, sites that have a strong messaging interface and high consumer interaction, like Facebook and Twitter, may be best for this purpose. Showcasing new products and promotions is usually unidirectional, so LinkedIn could also be an option, in addition to the others.

General brand awareness and online presence are more reasons to host an account, but not as a one-time effort. For example, a YouTube channel must be made with the intent to consistently post relevant video content, or else it will disappear among the masses of other abandoned pages.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Era Customer Service?

Who Are You Trying To Reach?

Misdirected targeting is essentially throwing money down the drain. Implement a strategy to select your social networks by looking at the data and segmenting its users by age, interests, location, gender and income. The majority 78% of 18 - to 24-year-olds use Snapchat, for instance, and 68% of U.S. adults are active on Facebook, according to Pew Research Center. Use this information to your advantage when deciding which platforms to use for what content and for which people.

Know where your audience is and find ways to communicate with them in the most meaningful ways possible. Don’t forget that data also goes beyond demographics -- specialize your social media strategy by the type of company you are and keep groups of people in mind if they are relevant. For primarily business to business (B2B) companies, LinkedIn is one of the best platforms for generating leads and now makes up 46% percent of the social media traffic generated to company websites for B2B firms.

Related Article: Marketing To YOUR Social Media Consumers?

What Content Do You Want To Post?

What you are posting on your social platforms is just as important as who you are posting it for. Do you plan to use one or two consistent content forms or want the flexibility to have a hub for all of your company’s updates? LinkedIn is a great option for longer posts with embedded links to external sites, whereas Snapchat is best for videos that are short and sweet. Instagram does not embed links on its posts, and keep in mind that the Twitter character limit may cut your editorial short.

Social media platforms with the ability to post text, images and videos, such as Facebook and Google+, can serve as your home base for all of your media, while others can cater to niche audiences with artsy photos or minute-long videos.

Related Article: Marketing To YOUR Social Media Consumers?

What Ads Do You Want To Place?

Social networks can be more than just a place for owned media for the right price. Targeting your ideal customer becomes even more imperative when you are marketing to them not only for awareness but for a potential business lead for which you are paying.

Do your homework and follow suit with successful ad campaigns by other companies. How do they engage their customers? What kind of media are they placing and on what platforms? How can you tailor an ad in the same way to ensure a decent return on investment?

To reap the benefits, make sure to present your offer via the right medium to people who will actually find it relevant and in a place those people will see it. Social platforms make it easy to use customer-generated content for ads, which often performs much better. It allows for money-saving retargeting and effortless A/B testing to ensure you allocate your budget properly and receive the highest ROI.

Related Article: Brand Awareness With Unexpected Platforms?

Is My Industry Known For This Platform?

Lastly, pay attention to your competitors. Focus your efforts on the networks where your industry thrives, and stay away from those where your company may seem like an outsider. Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest are very image-heavy, meaning they rely on aesthetics more than other platforms. As such, they are often populated with successful entertainment, fashion and lifestyle brands.

LinkedIn tends to serve professional B2B industries with a more traditional focus, such as law, marketing, finance, advertising and real estate. Video-hosting sites like YouTube are ideal for technology and media companies, which benefit from tutorials, video marketing and original video content.

Guest Authored By Yana Nirshberg. Managing partner at ParadigmNEXT, an integrated marketing agency. Follow Yana on Twitter.

Related Article: Social Media Tips For EVERY Platform?

"Ultimately, the social media platforms you choose to represent your company is up to you. There will never be a perfect combination of platforms, content, advertisements or audience engagement no matter how good your strategy may seem. It’s important to remember that social media is fickle, and you may not always get the numbers you had anticipated. But hopefully, these tips offered you more insight on how to streamline the process in a manner that will be valuable and relevant to your company. -YanaNirshberg

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  Post Crafted By:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Salt Lake City, UT. where I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)

Marketing To YOUR Social Media Consumers?

Social media changes the way businesses market to consumers..

Nearly everything is going digital and that includes the way many businesses market to consumers.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Era Customer Service?

Since billions of people are now active social media users, more businesses are jumping online to gain traffic and attention and to communicate with customers.

Marketing through social media is important for many area businesses, including Jack Williams Tire and Auto Service Centers, which has 36 retail locations and 12 warehouses throughout Northeast and Central Pennsylvania.

When Jack Williams Tire wanted to promote the Goodyear Blimp coming to the area recently, the business turned to social media.

The longtime Goodyear tire dealer posted a photo on social media encouraging people to visit the business’s website to enter a contest called “Catch a Ride, The Right Way” to win a free ride on the blimp. Five people won the contest and they were able to bring guests.

When the blimp flew into the area, Jack Williams Tire used social media again asking people to snap pictures of it, post them on Facebook or Instagram and tag @jackwilliamstire for the chance to win a free set of Goodyear tires. Dozens of people posted photos of the blimp and the winner was Thomas Dunbar of Wilkes-Barre.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Customer Service Strategy?

Rebecca Griffis, marketing manager for Jack Williams Tire, recently met with Dunbar and gave him a certificate for the free tires.

Jack Williams Tire also recently used Facebook to promote its Labor Day deals, including its “buy three, get one free” offer on Nokian tires and savings on other brands as well as to post job openings.

With so many people constantly on their smartphones, Griffis said social media provides a great platform to interact with customers and to try to grow the business’ customer base.

When they are at car shows, she said they post on Facebook encouraging people to stop by the Jack Williams Tire booth to win a gift card.

Customers are encouraged to write reviews on Facebook and Griffis said that’s also important for business.

“It’s a way for customers to interact with you whether it be a good or bad experience,” she said. “At least we have that avenue to communicate with them to fix the problem.”

Related Article: Why Brands Are Friendly On Social Media?

Responding to comments, direct messages and reviews on Facebook is a full-time job, she said.

Some of Jack Williams Tire’s Facebook posts are free and some are sponsored ads. For more people to see the post, Griffis said “you have to put some money behind it but it pays off because it gets the word out.”

Gerrity’s, which has nine supermarkets in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, promotes things like its “Dinner of the Day” and “Mom’s Deal of the Day” on Facebook.

In celebration of 123 years of Gerrity’s, the family-owned regional supermarket chain is giving away $1,230 in gift cards, with a top prize of $500 and promoted this on Facebook as well. Facebook users could click a link to enter the gift card contest.

Joe Fasula, co-owner of Gerrity’s, said when they posted on Facebook that they had cotton candy grapes available for sale, they flew off the shelves. He described that as “incredible” social media engagement.

“The nice thing about Facebook is once you build your following, you can be creative how you engage people and get people to engage with your page,” Fasula said.

Related Article: Brand Awareness With Unexpected Platforms?

Facebook allows businesses to advertise for free but Fasula said Gerrity’s also sponsors ads that are seen by more people.

Gerrity’s has about 31,150 followers on Facebook and he said he is able to see how many people are seeing the posts.

Gerrity’s tries to target customers through their smartphones and desktops. The store’s target demographic is mainly women age 25 and up who have children and who do the grocery shopping, he said.

In addition to digital marketing on Facebook or through Google, Gerrity’s also advertises on different websites for a low cost and Fasula said it is relatively easy.

“The wonderful thing about advertising on Facebook or doing any type of digital advertising is the ability to target a specific demographic and seeing if we are reaching people who are potential customers,” Fasula said.

Related Article: Social Media Marketing Steps To Success?

Justin Matus, Ph.D., associate professor of business at Wilkes University, said there isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” approach or a silver bullet for businesses to use social media marketing to build a brand and boost sales.

Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram allow businesses to test the waters to see what works for them, he said.

A business trying to target young people might choose to use platforms like Instagram and Snapchat over Facebook, he said.

Guest Authored By Denise Allabaugh. Denise is a staff-writer for The Citizens Voice. Follow Denise on Twitter.

Related Article: Marketing Strategies To Transcend YOUR Industry?

"“At the end of the day, a lousy product or service is not going to benefit from Facebook or social media,” Matus said.

“At the end of the day, you need a good product and good service and the right place to promote it..” -DeniseAllabaugh

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  Post Crafted By:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Salt Lake City, UT. where I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)

YOUR Social Media Advertising, Explained?

Advertising on social media, explained..

Related Article: Why Advertisers Prefer Instagram Over Snapchat?

1. Apparently the advertising sector on social media is huge. Is this true?

For ordinary users, social networks are a way to keep in touch with friends. But with 2.5 bln users worldwide, they have now become indispensable marketing tools.

It is estimated that $31 billion was spent on social media advertising worldwide in 2016 -- almost doubling over a two-year period.

As newspapers close and TV dwindles in popularity, the likes of Facebook and Twitter are becoming the main destinations for advertisers to spend their cash.

Social media's share of digital advertising is continually growing -- rising from 23.2 percent in 2013 to 34.5 percent in 2017. However, the sector is dominated by search engines, where advertising is tailored to the keywords you type into Google.

Related Article: The Exponential Growth Of Social Media?

2. Does advertising on social media actually work?

Research suggests that companies who advertise on social media do see public awareness grow -- and their brands are often regarded more positively afterwards.

You may have noticed that ads can tend to follow you around -- meaning searching for shoes on a retailer's website suddenly means they're in your Facebook News Feed.

Advertisers tend to like social media because it's easier to reach certain people based on their age, gender, location and interests. As you'd imagine, it's a lot harder to pull off targeted advertising on physical billboards. Not only are they more expensive, but campaigns end up grabbing the attention of the wrong demographics.

Related Article: Should YOUR Business Advertise On Instagram?

Through social media, advertisers can use metrics to see whether their desired audience are engaging with their campaigns. Not all of this is to say the system is perfect, though, as some ad formats are irritating and intrusive -- redirecting you away from the website where you wanted to be.

3. So wait a minute… are they using my data?

Yes -- in more ways than you think. Your level of education, ethnicity, whether you own a home, relationship status, birthday, job, political views, car, internet browser, investments and TV habits are just some of the types of data that can be used.

Awareness about how social media companies are using personal information has been heightened by the scandal surrounding Cambridge Analytica and Facebook.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Content Is The Next BIG Thing?

The political consulting firm harvested the data of at least 87 million people after launching an app where hundreds of thousands of people were paid to take a personality test. Participants gave consent for their data to be collected -- but the details of their friends were also harvested without their knowledge.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced questions in Congress about the controversy.

He denied that the social network sells personal data to advertisers, but said: "What we allow is for advertisers to tell us who they want to reach, and then we do the placement."

In 2017, the social network generated almost $40 billion in revenue from advertising -- a 49 percent increase on the year before.

Related Article: How YOU Expose Yourself To Social Media Threats?

4. The drinks are on Facebook, then. Can Blockchain improve advertising?

Several Blockchain platforms are trying to challenge the dominance of big tech firms by giving users control of their data.

In the future, Blockchain could be used to allow you to decide which data you want to be stored about you online -- and more importantly, who gets to see it.

If that information ends up being used by advertisers, it could be you who ends up getting a paycheck rather than tech giants such as Facebook and Google.

At the moment, personal data worth billions is being sold per year -- but the public doesn't see a penny of this.

Related Article: Blockchain - The Next Social Media Revolution?

This could have some unexpected, but positive side effects. Advertising could actually prove useful because companies would be working off accurate information. Plus, you could be able to use your own data to personalize apps in an instant.

5. I’ve heard of social media influencers – what’s their role in all of this?

Social media influencers are people who have a large following online. They might review beauty products on YouTube, post fitness advice on Instagram, or upload funny videos on Facebook.

Some influencers boast millions of fans -- and for advertisers, they can be a valuable way of reaching new customers.

Related Article: Blockchain - The Future Of Social Media Influencers?

Brands are regularly hoping to get their products endorsed by these stars, or to get their items featured in a sponsored post. In some cases, these deals can be worth hundreds of thousands (even millions) of dollars.

There has been controversy over arrangements which have seen influencers speak positively about certain products in posts and videos without disclosing that they have been sponsored to do so. This can prove problematic when it comes to influencers who have a large, impressionable and young fan base.

6. So how do advertisers get influencers on board?

One common technique is to make sure they are a fan of a product already.

Influencers often talk about how much free stuff they get -- and this is in part because brands want to be recognized by them. This method is especially popular when it comes to so-called "micro influencers" -- niche talent with a modest following who enjoy high engagement rates.

Related Article: The Blockchain Small Business Revolution?

One challenge can be making sure that an endorsement campaign has a lasting impact on viewers and followers. A single, discreet mention of a product isn't always going to cut it -- and that's why many campaigns require multiple posts and multiple mentions of a product to succeed.

The cost of this form of social media marketing is often hugely inflated because of the fees taken by agents and social networks.

7. Can Blockchain make it easier for advertisers and influencers to collaborate?

Certain platforms are hoping to boost the earnings of influencers, while simplifying the steps advertisers need to take to get them on board.

Related Article: Blockchain Revitalizing Social Media?

Decentralized platforms such as Patron plan to use smart contracts to make the relationship between customers and creators fairer and more transparent.

Such systems could make it possible for advertisers to pay influencers for a single post, or to hire them exclusively for a period of weeks or months.

Guest Authored By Connor Blenkinsop. Connor is a journalist based in London, where he has covered news and business briefs for national news outlets. Away from deadlines, his interests include music and badminton.

Related Article: Adjusting YOUR Business Social Media Presence?

"The cost of this form of social media marketing is often hugely inflated because of the fees taken by agents and social networks.." -ConnorBlenkinsop

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  Post Crafted By:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)