The Best Social Media Sites For Your Small Business

Has starting to market your product or services on social media been on your mind? Having trouble deciding when and how to get started?

There are so many different social media sites that it can be difficult to decide where to aim your focus.  Many business owners think of popular sites such as Facebook and Twitter, having noticed other businesses using them. Understanding how each of these platforms will benefit you is the key to success!

Don’t make the same mistake that many others already have…choose the platform(s) that is the best for YOUR business! Read below and find out which of these popular platforms is the best for your goals, target demographic and business.

Facebook:

As one of the most popular social media sites, Facebook is great way for businesses to build a loyal community. Creating a Facebook business page allows you to engage with your customers outside of regular business hours, and will help your business to establish an online presence.

From restaurants to professional services, all businesses can benefit from establishing a presence on Facebook, connecting with their current customers and nurturing relationships.

In essence, there are two ways to use Facebook to advertise, both allowing you to target a specific audience based on age, geographic location and common interest:

1) Sponsored Posts/ Direct Ads – Facebook allows you to run paid advertisements that can target a specific audience, aimed to increase traffic to your webpage, Facebook page or announce promotions.

2) Boost Posts- If a post on your Facebook page gains a lot of popularity, Facebook recommends you “boost” this post, which is essentially paying to have it promoted to a larger audience.

Twitter:

For businesses that want to reach people in real time, gain followers and continue an ongoing conversation, Twitter is a great fit!

From breaking news to customer surveys, Twitter allows you to instantly reach your customers and followers, quite different from other social media platforms.

Using popular keywords and hash tags, businesses can target their tweets to reach an interested audience with similar interest.

LinkedIn:

From full résumés, to career-oriented blogs and news articles, LinkedIn serves as a hub for business professionals.

LinkedIn is best used for hiring, networking and content promotion. It is especially helpful for business looking to recruit new employees or B2B companies looking for new customers.

WARNING: LinkedIn is not a social media channel that you want to focus on advertising your product/service. This can turn followers off; rather provide useful content that will keep you follower interested.

What is the best way to maximize your time on LinkedIn? Use the site to connect with potential hires and engage with them. Joining groups that are in a similar industry to you will help establish your brand identity and to build on it, work to ignite conversations.

Instagram:

For businesses or professionals with very eye-catching products or services, such as pet groomers who constantly have great photo opportunities, or an independent coffee shop that is so unique and you have to see it to really understand.

Instagram is an image focused social media channel, where users take and post pictures, while providing a short caption.  Sharing pictures really gives your followers and customers a “behind the scenes” look of your business and keeps people engaged!

Similar to Twitter, you can use hashtag(#) symbols to target a specific audience with similar interests.

Conclusion:

There are many other social media channels that may be right for your business, but I wanted to introduce you to the most popular.

They can all be powerful forces to grow your business and it is essential to clearly define which will be best for you.

Using social media to effectively grow your business requires consistency and if necessary, hire someone to help you.