Social Media Health Check: Which platforms should your business actually be on?
Running a business is hard enough as it is without throwing social media management into the mix. Seriously, who has the time to tweet or whatever when they have an important job to do, eh Mr President?
Even if you do find the time to post something which platforms do you use? And does your business even need to be on social media? The short answer is an empathic YES! Your business needs a social media presence. You just need to find the right ones and prioritise your time and resources.
The Holy Trinity
Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram might be the hottest social platforms but the real holy trinity for business is Facebook, Google and LinkedIn. Yes Google. Even though it may be the social media equivalent of that uncle who always gets invited to the family BBQ, even though no-one really wants to talk to him and finds him really dull company, but he’s crazy rich and pretty much owns everything.
Google+/Google Business
As far as vibrant social media platforms go, Google+ isn’t one of them. It’s as dead as that family BBQ after ‘Uncle No-Mates’ tells an insensitive joke. However, Google Business is vital for boosting your search rankings.
Having a Google+ page helps generate rich media search results for your business — and rich media outperforms classic listings for click-through rates.
As of the 4th quarter of 2016, Facebook had 1.86 billion monthly active users. That’s one-quarter of the world population. However, that’s not nearly as impressive a statistic as this: that’s over HALF of the global population with access to the internet. You’re making the Edvard Munch face aren’t you? Yeah, we did too.
Facebook isn’t a social media juggernaut just because of those eye-popping numbers, oh no. Their analytics, sponsored posts and ad platform are why they’re the best. Facebook Audience Insights lets you aggregate information to better understand your audience and their demographics, which can then be used to create highly targeted ads to people most likely to convert into customers.
LinkedIn requires a different approach to Google and Facebook because it’ll be your profile in the public domain, not your company’s. You can, and should, create a business page on LinkedIn but it will be linked to your personal profile.
You are the face of your business and LinkedIn will help you display the personal side of your business: make it human. Your LinkedIn activity will build your authority in your market and help you connect with potential customers and collaborators.
The Others
Not the creepy ice people from Game of Thrones but the rest of the key players in social media: Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest.
It’s a good idea to have a Twitter presence to help build your brand’s profile but you don’t have to be a religious user unless the returns are there. There are plenty of apps that will scan Twitter for mentions of your business to help you connect more quickly with customers and deal with concerns or complaints. It’s even possible to connect your Twitter account to your Facebook so you’re only updating one platform — or you could even use a social media suite.
Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube are fantastic ways to connect with and grow your audience, but they need careful management and maintenance. Don’t jump into using them before you’ve assessed what your audience wants and where they hang out.
Assess the Situation
The holy trinity is all you need to get started so don’t put too much effort into creating and managing accounts on other sites before you know:
- Can your budget cover these additional channels adequately?
- Does your audience use this platform most?
- Do you have the manpower to manager these accounts — or resources to pay for automation?
Creating content costs time and money and social media will only give you returns if you put in the work. If you can’t answer yes to those 3 questions, it’s better to leave well alone.
Social media is constantly evolving so evaluate your strategy regularly. Trial new platforms from time to time to see what combinations best suit your business and give you the most qualified leads and customer conversions.