It's understandable that businesses get overwhelmed when they start looking at using social media to market themselves. Without the funds to employ a full-time Marketing bod it just gets pushed to the bottom of the list. But at the same time, all business-owners know just how important marketing is...
Let's get one thing straight, you don't have to have a profile on every single social network (to be honest there are thousands of them, no one has the time for that!). Each network is different, whether it's Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest or Google+, they all have slightly different benefits and, perhaps most importantly, different audiences.
When first considering social media, it's really important to bear this in mind – why set yourself the task of updating four sites daily, when you can select the most suitable site and do it really well instead? Here's a (very) quick guide to the big five sites, which should help you to identify the one to start with:
Twitter:
This is probably the simplest to set up and the easiest to get used too. The majority of updates and profiles are public, so reaching your audience is a lot easier than on some of the other sites. There is very much a 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours mentality on Twitter, so it's worthwhile searching for a few people you know in the real world to help get you started and spread the word.
One thing to bear in mind with Twitter is your target audience, it is mainly used by people of university age and up and there are a large amount of professionals and business profiles too.
Facebook:
Facebook has long been seen as the pinnacle of social networking, with millions of users worldwide it is certainly the largest. Facebook is great for multi-media updates – sharing photos and videos – and asking questions and getting feedback. However, as profiles are private, Facebook users have to come to your page making it difficult to get started. If you already have a captivate market (perhaps a prospect or customer list) or your brand is well known it is ideal, but it is worth noting that, without paid-for advertising, it could be a slow burner.
LinkedIn:
LinkedIn is ideal for B2B networking, people use LinkedIn purely for work and professional lives...so no updates about breakfast! There are plenty of opportunities to share your expertise and help others, as well as connecting to people you have met in the real world and want to keep an informal line of communication with.
LinkedIn isn't really suitable for B2C businesses and as it is all about people networking you will have to use your personal profile (including a picture of YOU!) to get the most out of it.
Google+:
Google+ is the relatively new kid on the block and there has been a lot of discussion about how worthwhile it is as a social network. There are a large number of people on the site, however Google have yet to tell us how many of those profiles are regularly used!
Google+ is good for SEO though...no surprises there! And if you do a lot of blogging setting up a profile with your authoring information will improve your search results.
Pinterest:
Pinterest is a purely image based site, much hyped in the early part of this year. It is ideal for ecommerce sites or design-focused businesses as it offers a chance to showcase products, skills and inspiration. Recent figures have shown that traffic from Pinterest to ecommerce websites is very good, sending more visitors than many Facebook pages.
If you'd like to chat about which site is best for your business or you want a chat about social media generally, please feel free to get in touch!
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07980 399 357
www.michellekendall.net
