According to Statista, in 2021, 91.9% of U.S. marketers in companies more prominent than 100 employees were expected to use social media for marketing purposes. This could make any marketing manager want to rip their hair out. This internet feature that started as a purpose for entertainment transformed into a powerful marketing tool and is expected to evolve for many years!
Being a Social Media Marketer, creating content comes naturally to me; creating a captivating caption and attaching an eye-catching graphic to it is a part of my everyday professional life. It was easy for me to learn and understand the functions of each social media platform. But it may not come naturally to some more ‘old-school’ marketers when platforms always seem to be changing. Let’s take a deep dive into the social media world and learn how your business can benefit from using each platform.
What to Know Before Getting Started:
Your Audience
What’re your audience’s age, interests, gender, etc.? There’s no need to join a new social media platform if your target audience isn’t hanging out there. If your audience is on Facebook, stay there, and increase promotions to attract your audience to your company page.
Your Goals
Are you trying to increase sales, share business/industry news, show your audience how your products work or want to stay relevant on your social media pages? Your goal depends on which platform you should be the most active on.
Now, let’s align where your target audience is most active and how you can achieve your goals.
Remember when we talked about your audience? According to Facebook, it’s currently the largest platform with over 2.89 billion monthly active users. Facebook is great to target highly customized audiences – targeting individuals based on location, age, gender, interests, demographics, and behaviors. It’s also the perfect location to build relationships. Since Facebook was created to connect with your friends, you can create content that resonates with this and shows your business’s ‘human’ side. Facebook is also an excellent spot to share essential business news, like if your shop will be closed for Easter or if you’ve hired a new employee.
Instagram holds many features – organic posting, paid posting, IG stories, IG shops, etc. This platform is more for those companies who want to promote products and give the users the ability to purchase something right on the spot. This platform is also used to drive brand awareness, capture attention, and bring products to life through fantastic imagery and videos. Publish content to educate, inspire, and entertain your audience!
Twitter is the central location for all things conversations. People can search for a specific topic and look at real-time discussions on topics that catch their interest. This is great for businesses because you can build your communities around hashtags, for example, #MarketingTwitter. This goes hand-in-hand with creating ‘live’ tweets, which ultimately means tweeting in real-time about an event your company is attending without being too repetitive. Twitter is also a fun avenue to share photos, GIFs, and polls to connect with your audience and hear their opinions on industry-related topics.
LinkedIn is primarily used to connect with professionals in your business’s industry or potential clients. You can hire/recruit talent, build B2B relationships, and connect with professionals in your niche. You can also use the advertisement feature to target people from certain companies, business occupations, experiences, etc., which can gain traction on your page.
We like to categorize Pinterest as an ‘inspirational social media platform.’ Its primary purpose is to inspire those to take on anything from cooking and travel to decorating and shopping. It’s a great spot for creative businesses to connect with potential customers by sharing relevant products and adding them to your page in ‘collections’ or ‘boards’ that your audience can then save and go back to.
Tik Tok
The pandemic created the buzz of Tik Tok. People stuck indoors with a phone = endless video creation and ideas flowing. Tik Tok is similar to Instagram in that you can share videos to entertain, sell, and educate an audience. It’s a great way to stay current with trends and determine your target audience’s interests. Being authentic is critical with this platform. Overly edited, squeaky-clean videos are less attractive. You can also create native ads or work with influencers to have them include sponsored hashtags and product promotion. And who knows – you may create something that goes viral!
We understand that social media platforms are constantly evolving. It gets tricky to keep track of all the new features and how your business can utilize these platforms to maximize its marketing efforts.
This is where partnering with a marketing agency comes in. At Prophase Marketing, we have a team of Social Media Specialists ready to take control of your social media pages and create content that helps you reach your business goals! Contact us to get the ball rolling on your social media management: (866)-288-4959
