Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram; at what point does your company have enough of a social presence, and will there be yet another new social platform we will all be using before the end of the year?
Most companies now have a social media presence of some kind, some companies are now even employing people purely to handle their social media, but how many posts do you need to make, one a week, one a day, one an hour?
When it comes to how many, it all depends on what you have got to say, if you can post regularly without repetition with relevant information, then regular posts can be worthwhile. An estate agent that has 50 properties for sale may post 2 or 3 times a day, however, a company with a small product range may only post once a week because they simply do not have enough to say.
So why do we need social media and what are the right platforms for your company?
Twitter is great for ensuring your product announcements reach a large audience, the larger your following the more impact your announcements will have. Proper use of # and @ can mean your reach is even wider.
Facebook is all about engagement. It is more difficult to gain a following on Facebook so your message needs to be interesting to ensure it gets shared.
LinkedIn is powerful when influential members of your business share company messages to their own followers.
Pinterest and Instagram are only really relevant if your product or service is photogenic. Architects love Pinterest and Instagram as they discover images of innovative buildings and architecture but if your product is of a “concrete pipe” for instance then these platforms are probably not for you.
Does being active on social media have any other benefits?
We must remember that activity on social media can also have SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) benefits. As Google picks up on regular keywords used on social media, this in turn can help your main website. Regular posts using keywords that are relevant to your business with links back to the most appropriate page on your own website are great for SEO and will improve your Google rankings.
How do you manage it all?
Each time another profile comes along it often creates more and more admin, if you are to ensure you have a presence across all relevant profiles. This is why it is important to syndicate posts so the same content can go across multiple profiles simultaneously. Using programmes like “Hootsuite” allows you to do this. It also allows you to schedule posts so that everything can be generated at the same time but scheduled to go out at different time throughout the week. Keeping a record of the post that you have sent can also sometimes help to avoid repetition. The most important way to save time, is to analyse the data and if one of the platforms is not working for you then stop using it, as what is right for one company might not be right for all!
So what comes next?
Are there any more social profiles destined to land for business in 2018? Well two that have been around for a while but are set to become more and more relevant for companies is YouTube and Snapchat. This is because video is now becoming more commonplace for companies to use. A well shot mobile video is now seen acceptable way to promote a company or a products USPs.
Video profiles such as YouTube and Snapchat are fast becoming a popular social platform for businesses.
Major social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat have also been adding live streaming functionalities to drive revenue and strengthen their hold on social media users. These platforms notify you when the video starts and also offers people the opportunity to engage with live action through comments too.
Other social profiles to look out for are:
VK is a Russian-based online social media and social networking service. It is available in several languages but it is especially popular among Russian-speaking users. VK allows users to message each other publicly or privately, to create groups, public pages and events, share and tag images, audio and video.
Renren sometimes called “the Facebook of China”, Renren is very popular with students. Some 32,000 universities, 56,000 high schools and 85,000 companies are listed on the site.
Orkut another Google-owned site, Orkut is very popular in India and Brazil, but has failed to make much impact elsewhere.
So, social media is here to stay and it’s presence in most companies is only going to grow, but without proper management it can be a lot of work with seemingly little return.
If your company wants to talk about starting a social media campaign or taking your existing social presence to another level, then contact the Studio 4 at contact@thestudio4.co.uk