There is no doubt about it; social media is absolutely essential for your business. The number of consumers and businesses spending their time on social platforms has continued to increase, and there are no signs that this trend will stop.
So, you are a business owner and you understand the importance of having an online social presence for your business. Where do you go from there? Powerful social networks, such as Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter, are at your disposal, but the question is; how do you plan your social strategy for maximum effect?
Locate Your Audience
The first thing you should consider when evaluating which social networks are most relevant for your business is where your target market is spending their time. Facebook provides us with a huge demographic spread of users and has been designed to be most effective for consumer markets. LinkedIn, on the other hand, is more popular amongst professionals, providing an ideal environment for b2b goods and services. Google+ is still relatively unknown in the social media world, yet most of us understand that there is at least some importance in having a fully completed profile. Pinterest, the image-based social sharing site, is an ideal tool for targeting the American female demographic.
Cost-Effectiveness
Facebook has repeatedly altered it’s algorithms in recent years to extract more advertising revenue from businesses. As Facebook has said, gone are the days of free advertising for businesses. The social giant now limits the reach of posts from business pages, and the only remedy is to invest more money in sponsored adverts. LinkedIn provides us with a great deal of functionality, without having to spend a cent. However, the Premium service unlocks many extremely useful features which many business owners opt to use. Twitter can be a very cost-effective method of gaining a social presence with the right strategy. You do not need to pay the company for sponsored exposure, but instead focus on providing regular, useful content for your followers. Do this correctly and there is no doubt that your list will grow.
Focus on What’s Important
There is no point setting up profiles on each of the social networks (to cover all of the bases) unless you are dedicated to keeping them fresh. A neglected profile will only reflect negatively on your brand. Select the social networks which are ideal for your industry and approach them in a thorough and strategic manner.
