One of the technologies that have had the largest effect on how people communicate and how businesses directly market their products and services to customers is social media. It is the game changer that has touched just about everything around you. With the birth of social platforms, on-target custom targeting of prospective customers became easier.
Today, companies can become so specific with the people they target that they even identify prospects by the books they read, movies they watch and the industry experts they follow. With the right guidance, business owners can now significantly expand their reach to those that make a perfect fit with their customer profile. One of the greatest features of social platforms for small businesses is the low barrier to enter.
Days when businesses had to spend thousands of dollars creating intricate advertisements to reach their prospects are forever gone. You can now reach your audience anywhere in the world with as little as $5 a week! But what platforms are the best for your business?
1. Facebook
Boasting over 1.86 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the leading platform in terms of demographics. It has an extraordinary array of products that you can use to connect your business to prospective customers all over the world. From the viewpoint of an advertiser, Facebook offers the easiest means of managing and targeting ads.
For instance, you can use Facebook Ads to connect to buyers looking for everything from diaper suppliers to donaldson air filter distributors. You can then have your prospective buyers pushed to an opt-in page where you capture their name and email for future marketing opportunities.
2. LinkedIn
If you are more interested in working with B2B customers, then LinkedIn is where you should focus your marketing efforts. Creating business connections with professionals is easiest on LinkedIn since you target them by job title, industry, country, etc. Like all the other social media platforms, LinkedIn’s priority lies in helping you build relationships.
In this case, do not start by selling your products or services; instead, focus on creating the connections first. As a business, you can build a LinkedIn Group focusing on your niche market and invite those already in the industry to join.
3. YouTube
YouTube is not only the second largest search engine on the Internet, it is owned by the giant of search engines, Google. Therefore, when it comes to optimizing search engine results, videos have a high ranking on results than any other websites. After Google acquired YouTube, you can now use Google Hangouts On Air to conduct interviews with leaders in your niche; then the interviews will be automatically posted to your business’ YouTube channel for added visibility of your brand.
4. Twitter
The key value in Twitter is the ability to turn your posts into viral content; when people share and retweet your posts, your content brings in more followers. Post recent business, product or service articles, updates and news. Remember to make use of hashtags as they have a huge effect in building your tweet’s momentum, so pay attention to what is currently trending and include hashtags relevant to you.
5. Instagram
Use this hugely popular photo-sharing platform at tradeshows and events. Whenever you are hosting events, create an incentive for your attendees to post their photos to Instagram using your event hashtag. You may even consider offering a free raffle or giveaway to anyone who participates in the online campaign.
It’s now up to you which of these platforms are going to be the marketing paradise your business needs. Keep in mind that you are not only checking a social media platform, but also looking for one that is compatible with your kind of business.