Social media enables users to create and share content or to participate in social networking via ample social channels.
Businesses today are working under the radar of social media. However, it is, sometimes, misunderstood in some ways. One of those misapprehensions is – which social media account a business should use.
When you create an app from the website, you must know which social media channel will work the best for your business. However, if you do not know, we will guide you through social media channels that would help increase user engagement for your brand in this post.
There is no point wasting time messing around on social media websites that have no return on investment (ROI). Also, you can do even better at gaining leads on these websites, that will be perfect for your business.
Have a quick look at the social media landscape:
Social media is not a trend. It is an enduring reality of online existence. For running a business, it is indispensable. However, if you approach social media as a marketing channel, things get a bit confusing.
Social media involves a multitude of potential websites, a gamut of ways to engage, and a combination of styles for each website. You need to figure out which of the channel/s works for you. You also need to determine optimal messages, frequency of posting, cost of social media management, integration with other marketing channels. Additionally, you should know how to leverage billions of people who drool over social media.
To bring down the confusion, you should know the answer to these four questions:
1. Where is your audience?
You must know where your target audience is actually spending time. Also, you should know the social media channels they are active on.
Do not get overwhelmed simply because you have followers, it does not mean that you have an audience.
A report in January 2019 claimed that as many as 50% of Facebook’s accounts were fake. Having a bunch of followers does not ensure that you have a human audience.
If you can buy followers, you can even buy fake accounts. However, these fake accounts may be great for increasing followers, but they do not help you with your brand marketing.
2. On which channel is your audience active?
The increasing number of users does not mean they are active as well.
There are, for example, over 1 billion Google users, but only 35% of those users were active in the past month.
Take Twitter as a second example. It has a substantial number of members with a relatively low number of active members. This means only a portion of those are active each month.
A social media user needs to be active on their accounts to be of any use to you.
3. What your audience is searching?
People are using social media channels for searching as well, not just for socializing with each other. They run millions of queries on Google, Twitter, and Facebook every minute of the hour.
Therefore, if you are active on these social media platforms, you will probably have a chance to appear in social media search results.
4. Which social media channels are right for you?
Some businesses are losing a significant number of leads because they did not sign up for social media.
Perhaps, joining social media websites get you all the leads, but it does not mean that your business needs to be all over the channels. It is completely dependent on the type of business you are operating.
These four questions would work as a framework for determining your social media strategy.
With that in mind, let’s understand the social media accounts that truly matter.
Join the big three
Three channels rule the world of social media: FaceBook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These channels are important for your business, irrespective of your target audience, business model, and strategy.
FaceBook is the largest of any social network. It has over 2.20 billion users.
FaceBook has become a daily fixture of users’ online experience in its ten-year history. Nearly half of its users are active each day. These users usually spend an average of 18 minutes per visit.
FaceBook users are not only browsing profile updates or viewing pictures, but they are connected to an average of 80 pages, groups, or events. That’s where you need to come in — your marketing efforts and FaceBook presence.
Twitter is a market segment full of potential users. Here, the average user has about 208 average followers, does 307 average tweets, and spend 170 minutes on an average each day.
According to a study, about 29% of Twitter users are active several times a day, and half of them use it daily.
While Twitter is a brand loyalty platform, it is not being used as a lead generation platform. About 85% of Twitter users feel more connected to a business once they start following them on Twitter.
If there is excellent content on the brand page on Twitter, it encourages users to follow and retweet about your brand. However, an existing customer usually decides to follow a favourite brand.
LinkedIn is a drive to be calculated with more than 270 million users. Two or more new people join LinkedIn or connect with others, every second.
According to the Search Engine Journal, businesses like branding on Twitter and Facebook as opposed to LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is the platform for B2B marketing, not for B2C marketing. This platform proudly touts its professionals’ user base. Some of those professionals are connected with companies. These companies get further benefits from extra marketing. Hence, you must not overlook LinkedIn, especially if you are in B2C marketing.
These are the three social media accounts you should be active on, no matter what you are selling, doing, or saying.
Consider the lesser three
Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube are not part of the big three, that is why called ‘the lesser three’. These social media websites, however, also have a huge name in online media. You should be active on them as you are on the big three.
According to a recent study, Pinterest became a popular sharing platform than an email. This platform has the highest revenue per click as opposed to any other social sharing network.
Pinterest was once labelled as a social platform for women in its earlier life. However, today, they account for about half of Pinterest pinners, which is not much different from the gender perspective on other social media websites.
Pinterest is the right place for posting via any gender, company, and brand.
Instagram is a pictorial platform and an effective way to promote both one’s personal brand and business. Instead of posting, liking and commenting on photos, it can also help you grow a massive following.
Pictures get 5x higher engagement on Twitter, and photos get you about 93% of user engagement via FaceBook posts. On Instagram, you can upload only photographs and videos. That’s why this is one of the reasons for Instagram’s massive popularity. Uploading video into the mix of photos can get increase followers excessively. It is because visual content in social media is quite electric.
Instagram is useful for nearly any type of business – from fitness coaches to booksellers, to conference speakers, to coders, to video game designers, to SEO companies, and accountants. Everyone is making a dent in the universe with Instagram.
YouTube
YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world. Bing and Yahoo have been vying for that position, but YouTube gets a distinguished place, without even trying.
YouTube is a hit when it comes to video watching. In fact, it reaches more people than any other network.
Any brand can post videos and offer its virality. However, a video does not have to be expensive or fancy for branding. It just needs to be on YouTube.
The two of the little ones
The word ‘little’ here needs a disclaimer. Tumblr and Reddit are vast social media marketing platforms. However, their benefits come in niche sub-communities for people of shared interest.
You might socialize with people like friends from the past and present on Facebook. However, on Tumblr, you will interact with people who share the same interests like you. In that sense, your target audience may be smaller but more focused.
Tumblr
Technically, Tumblr is a ‘blogging platform’, and it has enjoyed an impressive growth in its early life.
Earlier in 2013, Tumblr was raking up monthly page views that risen over 5 billion. With keen posting, and consistency, many companies have discovered that Tumblr is a standard place to make an impact within one’s niche business. Many of those companies also host their blogs on Tumblr, which is not recommended for SEO purposes.
You can also use Tumblr to post blogs about your mobile app, which further helps in increasing app downloads.
Reddit is a news website. However, it has an influence that goes beyond ‘headlines’, even if it is a social media news website. Moreover, these news headlines can be voted up and virally shared between people and communities.
Reddit has the highest percentage of news-readers – about 62%, according to Pew researchers, among all the social media websites.
Reddit is a marketing channel that creates an engagement with subreddits (communities). These communities are engulfed with people who are passionate about knowing you and your business. This might work if you create relevant headlines and promotions to create an upvote in your stories.
Find one niche website
Lastly, explore the niche social media landscape. It may be an absolute waste of time and has zero ROI. However, on the other hand, you might find a world of untapped potential and dozens of leads. Therefore, it is worth doing some exploring.
Forget about the millions of followers and fans as it is all about finding a target audience. Check out a few popular niche websites, here:
- Untappd – for beer lovers
- Behance – for creative professionals
- Care2 – for a green lifestyle
- GoodReads – for people who love reading
- Ravelry – for knitters and crocheters
- Gentlemint – Pinterest for men
The best way is to find your niche social website on Google. You will surely find something.
Capture the attention of social media users
Converting your WooCommerce website to a mobile app is one thing, but promoting it on social media landscape can be quite bewildering. However, if you follow the directed plan, you will definitely experience ROI.
- You must join the big three: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
- You should definitely consider the lesser three: Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube.
- You could check out two of the little ones: Tumblr, Reddit, too.
- You possibly find one niche website.
Engaging more users on social media will help you discover the social nuances of your own niche. It is different for every business, region, target audience, and personal style.
Let us know in comments – which social media websites you have discovered are useful for your business.
