The primary question to ask yourself about social media is where your audience is actually spending time. Which social media platforms are they on?
When answering this question, you have to bear in mind that just because you have followers doesn’t mean that you have an audience. The Next Web reported that between 67.65 and 137.76 million Facebook accounts are fake. Evidently, having a lot of followers doesn’t mean you automatically have a present, engaged audience. For example, there are over 1 billion Google users, but only around 35% of those users are active month-on-month.
However, every minute, people are conducting millions of searches on Google, Twitter, and Facebook. If you are active on these social media platforms, then you have a chance at appearing in social media search results.
When building your online profiles, it’s also worth asking yourself, ‘what would my ideal customer be?’. Create a persona and use that when building your online presence. You can also use the information below to see which sites match your customers:
Facebook is the biggest social media platform, which means that it also has the biggest audience. However, before you use it, it’s worth knowing a few things about the audience, so you know whether it will suit your business and the content you'll want to share on social media:
With these stats in mind, you could also look at expanding your audience, if it suits you.
Another social platform to consider is the second biggest channel, Twitter - though it does have a different audience to that of Facebook:
Every second, two new people join LinkedIn. Now, with more than 270 million users, LinkedIn is a force to be reckoned with. However, do remember this channel is aimed at businesses and professionals:
So, with Facebook having around 1.71 billion monthly active users and 1.13 billion daily active users, on average, it seems like no matter what sector your business is in, you should be on Facebook. I would also recommend creating a Twitter profile - it’s fast, simple and allows you to get news and updates out into the public domain quickly. You can also ensure your content is seen by exactly the right people thanks to hashtags. Lastly, LinkedIn is the perfect platform for B2B businesses, you can engage with other professionals and also use tools like sponsored InMail to help boost sales.
In addition to the ‘big four’, there are other social media sites we strongly encourage you to use as well.Instagram, Pinterest, and Youtube put the emphasis on visuals and are a great way to bring your business to life, showing that your business has a personality and is approachable. With pictures getting five times higher engagement on Twitter, and photos making up 93% of the most engaging Facebook posts, it’s no wonder these smaller, visual heavy, channels are growing in popularity.
So when it comes to thinking about which social media channels are right for you, have a think about what you want your social media to achieve. If you want to increase sales or awareness with other professionals in your sector, LinkedIn would be perfect. However, if you are more of a B2C business that wants to raise awareness, Facebook and Twitter would be right for you. One thing to remember is that no matter who your target audience is, they need to trust you. As outlined in a previous blog here, social media increases your trustworthiness with consumers, which means that it’s always better to be active on two or more social channels than the one.
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