Social Media and Your Marketing Plan
What Exactly is Social Media in 2017?
Social media is community-based communication using online channels. It is made up of apps and websites that allow users to create and share ideas, thought, images, video, music and other content or to participate in social networking. Social media has become an integral part of life as well as business.
As your probably already know social media today helps you promote your business to a certain audience on varying social media sites and channels, but did you know there is a second fundamental purpose to social posts? They help send social signals to search engines that your business is thriving, which in turn helps build searchable backlinks to your website helping with your search engine rankings.
Did You Know Consumers Are Looking You up Online?
Prospective customers are looking you up online before they make a purchase or before deciding to visit your store. Users want to ensure that they have the latest information about your business (deals, coupons, store hours, reviews) as well as to ensure that you are active. Being active on social channels builds a stronger relationship with customers and allow allows businesses to address issues and potential customer service related issues before they become a grave concern, or result in an unhappy customer.
What Is Your Online Word of Mouth Presence Like?
Word of mouth advertising has transformed to online channels in the form of social networks. If you do business based on referrals and you're not on social media, is your business adequate to existing/new competitors that engage with an online audience? Is there a gap between where you are and where your successful competitors are? If you are wondering if your businesses need social media, look to your competitors. Or, if they are not on social media could you take advantage of a huge opportunity today that can take your business forward to new profits? The way users research, share, and buy is constantly changing, is your business ready?
Prominent Social Media Platforms in 2017
Twitter
Since its creation in 2006 twitter has consistently been one of the top social media sites available. The social media platform allows registered users to create microblogs or "tweets" and share them over their twitter account and with all their twitter friends. Twitter is unique from other platforms in that your posts are limited to 140 characters, therefore, you must keep it short and sweet. If you want more information how you can use twitter for business then check out our blog here.
Google+
While Google+ lacks the popularity compared to other social media websites, it does have its place in the business setting. Google+ was founded in 2011. It is extremely useful for any company looking to implement an SEO strategy or marketing plan.
Facebook is the most popular social media networking website in 2016 with over 1.59 billion users. It is also one of the most powerful social media tools for marketers because of its incredibly advanced targeting options. If you want some more information about Facebook and its targeting options check out our blog or click here.
Similar to Pinterest, Instagram is a social media platform that allows users to post images that they like. The platform was launched in 2010 and has over 400 million active users. Additionally, Instagram is owned by Facebook. One of the distinguishing features about Instagram is all its unique filter options and video/photo editing options.
Pinterest
Although a relatively new player in the social media world, Pinterest is a marketer's dream. In short, Pinterest provides users with digital bulletin boards where they "pin" or post any content they are interested in. This can be products, services, or anything in between. In 2015 Pinterest eclipsed the 100 million user mark, of which is primarily composed of women (more than half its users).
Reddit is one of the unique types of social networks available today. The website is basically a forum with hundreds of sub-communities or "sub-reddits" where people can post and blog about a particular topic of their choice. The website allows users to vote on their favorite content which helps the stories rank and work their way to the websites main page. The goal of the platform is to create new, well-regarded, creative content that fellow "Redditors" enjoy and will upvote.
LinkedIn is one of the best free social networking sites to reach the business professional community. It is a social media platform specifically designed for the business community, with the goal of the platform being to allow registered members to establish and document networks of professionals they know. If you want to check out some in-depth guides about how to properly utilize LinkedIn for your business then check out our blog!
YouTube
When brainstorming about different types of social media sites people often forget about YouTube since it is focused around videos. However, this should actually attract more users since it's the largest and most popular video-based social media website available. YouTube was founded in 2005 and later purchased by Google in 2006 for over $1.65 billion. The social media platform receives over 1 billion visitors per month, making it the second most popular search engine only behind Google.
