There are many social media channels available, and it increases every day as more and more companies set up to win your business. Making sure you have the right one for you is essential to make sure you don’t waste your time, and you get the desired outcomes. These are some of the most widely known:
Facebook is one of the most used social media channels across the world by all demographics of people each day of the week. Yes, it’s had some bad press over the last few years and people have been coming away from it but, more people have been joining than leaving and this provides you with a ready audience.
Facebook allows you to set up a business page sharing events, pictures, videos, reviews and post updates. You can also link to your other forms of communication such as websites, telephone and email or use the Facebook messenger app to talk privately with your customers.
Twitter allows you to post messages to your followers who can then like and retweet offering you the possibility of ‘word of mouth’ referrals, but it is limited to 240 characters, not words!
It’s great to get short messaging out there, but don’t let it be the only way you communicate. Often it’s best to link to your website whether that be a business page on Facebook or an actual standalone website. Once there, you can provide more information and opportunities to engage and sell to your customers.
A very different form of social media channel to all else, Linkedin is used as a networking tool for those in business. If you want to share articles, business updates or network with like-minded individuals, then Linkedin is for you.
While posts on other channels can be light-hearted and comical, Linkedin tends to be more professional and uses business terminology and imagery appropriate for the industry and audience you engage with.
A picture paints a thousand words, and Instagram is the walking embodiment of this as people post stories, business updates and the latest trends using pictures.
This channel is for those that consume messages in short bites where an image or video can grab their attention and make them click through for more information.
As with Instagram, Pinterest is a channel driven by imagery where many in the creative industries will gain followers and search hits to drive traffic through to their websites.
Like with Twitter and Instagram, if you chose to use Pinterest, make sure you have another place to direct customers for more information.
YouTube
Becoming more popular with the rise of Vloggers, you can upload videos to YouTube and create your own video channel so people can keep up to date with what you are up to each time you post.
You don’t have to be the next Hollywood producer to use YouTube but practice making engaging video’s so you are comfortable and come across naturally.
Keep the videos short in length with a key message and ‘call to action’ so that potential customers follow up on what you need them to do rather than just watching some enjoyable video footage.