Even if you don’t love using social media in your personal life, it has become a pivotal part of a digital marketing strategy. A strong web presence, including recently updated social media accounts with positive reviews, builds your credibility with consumers and could be the deciding factor between you and your competition.
From the Yellow Pages to Facebook
You may be more familiar with traditional marketing tactics. Remember when you looked in the yellow pages to find everything from a restaurant for dinner to an insurance agent? Those business directories have moved online. Today when a consumer is seeking your industry they don’t reach for the phone book, they pick up their smartphone and search. Everything about your business that appears when a consumer does this is a part of your web presence, from your website to external sources like online directory listings and social media profiles.
It’s important to have cohesion among these representations of your business, so before you jump into Facebook and start posting, here’s how to take inventory of your company’s social media accounts, and how to decide which platforms are worth your time and which you should ditch. Start by asking yourself the following questions:
Should My Business Be on Social Media?
Your company should be findable on at least one social media site to seem credible to most consumers. But more is not always better when it comes to social media. Having multiple social media accounts can actually be a drain on your company’s time and resources – costing you in the process.
Who Are Your Customers?
The first step is to make a quick note of the common ground among most of your customers. Are they mostly men or women, are they millennials or baby boomers, are they rural or urban dwellers, and what income level are they?
This process is what’s called defining a buyer persona for your customers. All of these different demographics can help you decide who your buyer persona is and which social media networks you should focus on.
Which Networks Are Your Customers Most Active On?
Did you know there are over 3.03 million social media users? Because of this, 88% of businesses are using social media as a way to connect with their customers. Once you’ve narrowed down your buyer personas, you can align them with demographical data of different social networks As a Kansas City web design and inbound marketing agency, we have helped dozens of professional businesses and services accomplish this throughout the U.S.
Facebook is still the strongest social media network in terms of the sheer number of users, with 75% usage from men or 83% of women. Instagram holds strong in second place for numbers of users, with a majority of users being urban millennials mostly between the ages of 18 – 29. Pinterest has a wider age range, being mostly under 50, but most users are women with some college education. Twitter now has over 330 million users, and is ideal for businesses who need to send out quick, brief messages to their following.
Which Networks Are Right for Your Industry & Goals?
Besides matching your buyer personas with social networks, also take into account which networks have a stronger community for your industry and goals. You don’t see many heating and cooling company accounts on Instagram or Pinterest, but you do see a lot of businesses with strong visuals, like beauty salons and boutique shops there.
This is because certain industries lend themselves best to the creation of certain types of content. One way to determine which networks to use is to decide what types of content and goals your company would like to focus on. Here’s a great breakdown of which networks are best for different business goals:
- Quality Product Images – Pinterest, Houzz, Instagram
- Product Video – YouTube, Vimeo
- Reviews – Facebook, Yelp, Angie’s List
- SEO/Author/Network Growth – LinkedIn
- Local Listings – Foursquare, Yelp
When it comes down to it, just use common sense.
