This is a guest post by Debra Wilson from CreditDonkey.com. In this post, you are going to learn from Debra, how to select the correct social media site that will give you maximum exposure and business benefits.
As an entrepreneur you need to be where your customers are—and where they are is on one or more of the three major social media sites:
- LinkedIn.
As a result you will need to keep up a presence on these sites as well. However, each site offers distinct features so that you will need to figure out which platform will best suited for your marketing strategy. With only so much time to devote to social media marketing, how do you decide which site to use?
3-Part Strategy to Get Started
- The first step is to realize that you will need to devote a certain amount of time each day to social media marketing. Result will not appear overnight so you need to be able to commit to a consistent effort over a long period of time. Even when you have started to generate leads, you will still need to actively maintain your presence on a daily basis to keep up the momentum.
- The second step is to identify your social media marketing goals. This is typically defined as actual sales you hope to make via your social media presence. Make sure you have a web site analytics service (e.g. Google Analytics) as this will help you to keep tabs on your page traffic, leads, and actual sales that are generated from your social media marketing efforts.
- The third step is to create social media accounts, compose quality content with calls to action for your potential customers, take part in online discussion groups within your sector, and engage readers by asking questions and encouraging comments and opinions.
Four Considerations in Choosing a Social Media Site
Below we will discuss some of the most popular social media sites in terms of their effectiveness as marketing tools to generate leads and increase sales. You will want to do a test-run of each site before reaching any conclusion about its appropriateness for your marketing strategy.
Because Facebook is the highest ranking social media site in the world it should be able to draw more leads to your business solely by its huge number of fans. The site can be a great forum for customer engagement, feedback, and brand development for your products or services.
Because Facebook fans are heavily involved with these types of interactions, they may not be motivated to visit your company website. As a result, you will not see much increase in website traffic with Facebook promotions. Facebook is also not ranked high with search engines so you may not see a significant increase in organic traffic to your Web site either.
Twitter provides similar marketing benefits as Facebook but ranks higher with regard to search engines friendliness so may generate a bit more organic traffic to your Web site.
The major challenge with Twitter is to get your marketing message across succinctly so it may fit into the short tweets while being substantive enough to draw potential customers to your business.
YouTube
YouTube allows you to post a video of your marketing message so provides a powerful tool to promote your brand generate feedback. The challenge here is to be creative so that your video stands out from the many entries to the site. YouTube is search engine friendly but, as with Facebook, not a great method to pull visitors to your company Web site.
LinkedIn is tends to be more of a personal branding tool. However, if you are a solo-preneur or small business, LinkedIn will serve you well. You will be able to connect directly with potential customers and clients, while also participating in various group discussions where you may be come to be viewed as an authoritative voice over time.
It is important that you not only join groups within your industry but also those which may be relevant to your potential customers. If you have performed research on this market, you know their needs and interests so should maintain a presence in any group which reflects them.
Review of main points:
- If your marketing strategy includes much customer interaction and feedback, Facebook or Twitter are the preferred platforms.
- Facebook would also be the platform of choice to promote an upcoming event, which you could do with an ad or status update on your page.
- If the preparation of promotional videos is a part of your marketing strategy, then obviously you will choose YouTube as one of your platforms. You can multiply your promotional efforts by combining YouTube with either a Facebook or Twitter account.
- If you are targeting a specific subset of professionals or consumes, LinkedIn should be your preferred platform. Again, you can choose to combine this tool with either a Facebook or Twitter presence.
- If your primary marketing goal is to generate increased traffic to your Web site, LinkedIn and YouTube would be the platforms of choice.
Each social media site is tailored toward different needs, creating diverse marketing opportunities for your business. You need to first understand your marketing goals (target audience, niche, and tools) then choose the platform that best meets those needs.
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I have used Twitter and Facebook to promote my online activities and I think Twitter has worked best for me. Butt that is because I have spent more time working on Twitter. 🙂
Dean, you make a great point, where we put our efforts is where we will see any kind of return. Thanks for the comment!
I love Twitter and Facebook and I will start using youtube shortly. But I never thought of using LinkedIn. I think LinkedIn can be used to promote my freelancing business. Well, I will go deep into it. Thanks for sharing this.
Absolutely, glad the article (and all the great comments) were helpful. Let us know how you do with LinkedIn!
Debra
I love facebook since I can do all the things I want in one social networking site. It drives a lot of traffic too.
Social media is really a very big platform and sometimes it can be confusing if not choosy to narrow down the options. Twitter was amazing but it started to get too spammy so I switched loyalty to Facebook and the developments facebook updates from time to time is just getting more brilliant but old is gold so twitter still draws me. For business, choosing the right social network is as crucial as finding one’s own niche.
James,
Thank you! I do agree all of the different media are implementing more options for those of us who wish to use it for marketing; it is a good sign for the future, don’t you agree?
Debra
I find Facebook is great for getting entertainment and leisure traffic for sites such as games arcades etc. and LinkedIn for business to business
Today social media is playing a big role. I like Facebook & Twitter am using these two to generate more traffic to my website.
Social media is really a very big platform for Internet Marketting. It can bring a large number of traffic to your website in daily basis. Twitter is amazing but it will take some time to bring your traffic. 🙂 so I switched to StumbleUpon and believe me guys, the visitors to my site will increase time to time and it is just getting more brilliant. For business, choosing the right social network is as crucial as finding one’s own niche. By the thanks for your sharing. Love to read it. 🙂
Daniel,
I am not familiar with StumbleUpon, but I will be checking it out! Thank you for bringing it to our attention.
Debra
I guess I must be the worst social media marketer on this planet. However, I’m so grateful for posts like this because, sooner or later, I’m going to learn enough from you that a make have some successes. In the beginning, I just did not get it. But, with posts like this, I’m starting to understand how to go about it.
Dan,
I am so glad to hear that posts of this type are helpful. I find that the more I read from a variety of writers, the better picture I get about the topic. Best of Luck to you and don’t hesitate to ask questions! We all get started somewhere.
Debra
I am a professional dog walker and pet sitter, I have been business for over 10 years. I have a web site and lots of my clients do review on yelp. I would like know what is effective way to attract new customer but not one that is expensive.
Linda,
Do you already have a website or a blog? These two things can work together to lead your visitors to your yelp reviews and with SEO you can get your sites listed higher on different search engines (as I am sure you are already learning around here!)
Good Luck, let us know how you are doing!
Debra
I think it would also help if you can maintain a good status in all four social media sites. What do you think?
Dianne,
I was just reading a blog about our social networking footprint and it made me begin to think about that topic. We have to realize that everything we, or someone else posts, on our media pages will be there for everyone to see, including future employers, employees, etc. Just something to think about, other than that, I do not think it is a bad idea, we just have to be aware of what is being done on our sites.
Debra