There is a large and growing list of social sites commonly in use by businesses, institutions, and individuals of all ages. There are so many that it would be impossible for most enterprises to actively engage all of them. So how do you choose which to join and which to leave aside?
Here are our top tips on how to determine the best social sites for your business.
Follow Your Customers
Are your customers using Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, or any other particular social media? You should probably be there too. Follow your customers to their habitual meeting grounds both online and offline to meet and engage those most likely to be interested in your products/services. Just like in the old days of presenting a booth at niche festivals or trade shows (a practice that still has benefit today,) maintaining a presence on specific social sites is of extreme importance.
The key is finding which sites your customers frequent. The Next Web wrote a helpful article determining which specialty markets are best represented on what social sites. Check it out to discover the fit for your brand. Hint: Knowing your demographic is a vital component of understanding your customers. Website analytics and other marketing research can help.
Surveys, both formal and informal, are another way to determine where your customers gather online. Sometimes it can be as simple as asking!
Take Stock of Your Resources
Before jumping into any particular social media campaign, it’s important to take stock of your resources. Preliminary research will reveal that each social site has particular styles of etiquette, function, and interactive habit. For example, in order to participate in YouTube, you’ll obviously need to first produce some videos. Are you prepared with the right materials and team skills to do so?
What resources do you currently have to effectively promote on various platforms? And if you don’t have certain resources internally, are you willing or able to hire? These are key discussions your marketing team needs to have before hitting “Sign Up” for any social site.
Knowing When to Limit
Again, doing research before signing up for social sites for your business is hugely important. This will reveal where your customers gather, what kinds of posts they enjoy, and help you develop a plan to participate. However, it will also show which sites you should stay away from.
Not every social media site is going to be a good fit for your company image and goals. If you’re not sure, take some more time for research rather than giving it a test try. It’s better to have no presence than a poorly executed one.
Quick note: we can help you choose the best social sites for your business. We’ve seen what works best for different businesses in different industries.
What to Post?
Once you’ve determined which social sites are best for your company goals, you must then begin making regular posts. Links to your blog and website are a good start, but cannot be the only element of the plan. Be sure to interact with other users on the social site — sharing and liking their posts — in addition to creating your own. This shows you are interested in more than your bottom line, an important brand consideration by many consumers in the millennial generation. Read Inc’s article on a few major business social media fails to get an idea of how important it is to properly understand what and when to post.
When you do share links to your own media, find ways to include infographics. Infographics are a new must-have, but do you know how to properly use them? Read our previous blog post on the importance of infographics to get started.
Social Spice Media can build a custom social media marketing plan for your company and we’ll help you choose which social sites are the best fit for your business. Check out our social media services for a complete list of the many way we can help! Our award-winning services are top notch.
