Are you social? You may say, “Yes, of course. I have to meet with clients all the time and I’m very friendly.” Certainly, that’s important. But we are asking how active you are with followers, customers, and new leads through social media.
The third webinar in this current blog series that shares with you content from our marketing webinars is called, “Engaging Social Media, Cultivating Community.” This presentation breaks down the importance of why social media matters, the most common social media platforms, why to use social media for your business, how to set-up and establish your social accounts, and tips for building and growing your social accounts and networks. You can download that full presentation right now. But read on to see more of the highlights.
Why Social Media Matters and The Importance For Your Business
Studies and statistics prove that social media matters in the world of business. Not only does it drive traffic to your site, increase your brand awareness, and allow you to specifically speak to and interact with your target market, but if used effectively, it can also increase your leads and sales! Here are some of the ways your social media plays a large role in your business:
- You have an immediate and constant audience- people are ALWAYS online.
- Its influential, contagious, and compelling.
- It connects people, products, places- aka our world.
- People look to it for news, information, reviews, sources, etc. – therefore making it beneficial for business.
- Many businesses now use it for customer service chats too.
The 4 Mega-Giants of Social Media
1. Facebook:
As the largest social media platform, Facebook can be used for specific targeting to your audience and it is a good place to start for your business because it has the biggest audience of over 1 billion active users. If you are on the fence about social media, ease into it with the mother of all socials!
2. Twitter:
The short & sweet, yet powerful social platform is used to help spread the voice of your business. With multiple posts a day, you can interact and share relevant content (news, opinions, ideas) with your followers– thus, making it a perfect tool to help build your target following.
3. LinkedIn:
Also known as the professional social network, LinkedIn is a great resource for businesses to invest in as a means to connect with other businesses, colleagues, and build prospective clients. You can even hire effectively on this channel. Personally, LinkedIn can function as a way to digitally house your resume, share accomplishments, and connect with future employers.
4. Instagram:
Instagram is a fast, engaging, and fun way to share content with your followers from photos and videos to comments and likes. It is made for mobile use but can be used via web browsers, just not for sharing content. It keeps social media from the personal perspective, and well– social, like its meant to be. Different from the other channels, Instagram has continued to make a steady increase in users.
How to Establish Social Media For Your Business
First off, you must make a plan and begin implementing it. This includes determining what channels are right for your business and why, based on who your target audience is and what channels they engage with. As a good rule of thumb, we recommend setting up at least 3 of the 4 social channels we discussed above to cover your bases and gain traffic for your business online. There are some steps to follow when you initially set up these channels that we have listed below:
The Steps to Establish Your Accounts
- Use an email address you check regularly.
- Upload clear company logos/photos.
- Provide as much personal info as appropriate, but make sure potential clients/customers have a way to contact you.
- Connect/follow people, join networking groups (LI & FB), profile optimization
- Establish your voice and brand and start building/posting content.
- Use hashtags on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to be found in searches.
General Tips for Social Growth
Aside from the previous information we have shared above, these are some basic tips to follow to improve your social media presence and enhance your channels’ growth:
- Be consistent and strategic in your posts.
- Be patient– it takes time to grow great channels.
- Take time daily/weekly to engage with your channels and audience.
- Spend time building your pages, profiles, networks, followers, content, etc.
- Observe the optimal posting times/methods for each channel.
- Automate where necessary but stay active online.
- Be adventurous. Mixing up your content is fun and keeps them engaged!
We hope you have learned some valuable information through this blog overview of our third webinar, “Engaging Social Media and Cultivating Community.” We encourage you to check out the full presentation here to answer all of your questions regarding the importance of social media in your business’s marketing. If you missed our webinars, you can access all six of them here or get an overview of many of them on our blog. Once you download the presentation from today’s topic, check your inbox for a social media planning/scheduling tool from us to accompany this webinar.
