What Social Media Platforms Should Your Business Use?

Showing someone using social media
Do you need help setting up and managing your social media channels? Give us a call, 214-446-2240 or send us a message and take the first step to a better social game.

Social media has revolutionized the way businesses market their products and services, engage with customers, and build their brand. With so many social media apps available, it can be difficult to determine which platforms will be the most effective for your business. In this blog post, we’ll explore the most effective social media apps for your business.

  1. Facebook

Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world, with over 2.8 billion monthly active users. Facebook provides a range of features that can help you promote your business, including pages, groups, and ads.

Facebook Pages are essential for businesses on Facebook. They allow you to create a presence for your business on the platform and share information about your products and services. You can also use pages to engage with your customers and build a community around your brand.

Facebook Groups are another way to engage with your customers on the platform. They allow you to create a space where your customers can discuss your products and services, share their experiences, and ask questions. This can help you build a loyal following and gather valuable feedback about your business.

Facebook Ads are a powerful tool for businesses on the platform. They allow you to target your ads to specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. This can help you reach the right people with your message and increase your chances of converting them into customers.

  1. Instagram

Instagram is a photo and video-sharing app that has become popular among businesses in recent years. It has over 1 billion monthly active users and is known for its visual content.

Instagram offers a range of features that can help you promote your business, including a business profile, posts, stories, and ads.

Business profiles on Instagram allow you to create a presence for your business on the platform and share information about your products and services. You can also use business profiles to add a contact button, which makes it easy for customers to get in touch with you.

Instagram Posts are a great way to share visual content with your followers. You can use them to showcase your products and services, share behind-the-scenes content, and promote your business.

Instagram Stories are a popular feature that allows you to share short videos and photos with your followers. They appear at the top of the app and disappear after 24 hours. You can use Stories to promote your products and services, showcase behind-the-scenes content, and share user-generated content.

Instagram Ads are a powerful tool for businesses on the platform. They allow you to target your ads to specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. This can help you reach the right people with your message and increase your chances of converting them into customers.

  1. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social media platform designed for professionals. It has over 740 million members worldwide and is an excellent tool for businesses that want to reach a professional audience.

LinkedIn offers a range of features that can help you promote your business, including company pages, posts, and ads.

Company pages on LinkedIn allow you to create a presence for your business on the platform and share information about your products and services. You can also use company pages to showcase your company culture, post job openings, and share industry news.

LinkedIn Posts are a great way to share content with your followers. You can use them to share industry news, promote your products and services, and showcase your expertise.

LinkedIn Ads are a powerful tool for businesses on the platform. They allow you to target your ads to specific audiences based on job title, industry, and location. This can help you reach the right people with your message and increase your chances of converting them into customers.

  1. Twitter

Twitter is a social media platform known for its short, 280-character messages called tweets. It has over 330 million monthly active users and is popular among businesses for its real-time nature.

Twitter offers a range of features that can help you promote your business, including profiles, tweets, and ads.

Twitter profiles allow you to create a presence for your business on the platform and share information about your products and services. You can also use profiles to engage with your customers, build a following, and showcase your brand personality.

Twitter Tweets are short messages that you can use to share information with your followers. You can use tweets to promote your products and services, share industry news, and engage with your customers.

Twitter Ads are a powerful tool for businesses on the platform. They allow you to target your ads to specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. This can help you reach the right people with your message and increase your chances of converting them into customers.

  1. YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing platform with over 2 billion monthly active users. It is an excellent tool for businesses that want to share video content with their audience.

YouTube offers a range of features that can help you promote your business, including channels, videos, and ads.

YouTube channels allow you to create a presence for your business on the platform and share information about your products and services. You can also use channels to engage with your customers, build a following, and showcase your brand personality.

YouTube videos are a great way to share visual content with your audience. You can use videos to showcase your products and services, share tutorials, and showcase your brand personality.

YouTube Ads are a powerful tool for businesses on the platform. They allow you to target your ads to specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. This can help you reach the right people with your message and increase your chances of converting them into customers.

Social media has become an essential tool for businesses to market their products and services, engage with customers, and build their brand. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube are the most effective social media apps for businesses.

Do you need help setting up and managing your social media channels? Give us a call, 214-446-2240 or send us a message and take the first step to a better social game.

Are New TLDs Bad for SEO?

We often get asked about URLs. It’s probably our most asked category of questions. Everything from “What should my URL be?” to “Should I have a hyphen in my domain?” has been answered by one us before. But now, there’s a new crop of questions coming into our email inboxes. “Are these new TLDs bad for SEO?” has started getting asked more and more frequently. Here’s our take on it:

What is a TLD?

A Top Level Domain is the part after the company name in your URL. For instance: the website Google.com’s TLD is .com. whitehouse.gov’s is .gov. For years there were only a handful of TLDs. When the internet was still fresh and new, there was no realization that it would become the world-changing function that it is today. Insert a few decades of new URLs being reserved at an alarming rate, and you’ve got a full blown shortage of URLs! So it only makes sense that should have more options for TLDs. Not just a few more options, though.

There are new TLDs?

There are over 1,500 top level domains available today. Here are a few:

  • .store
  • .online
  • .tech
  • .solutions
  • .site
  • .fm
  • .tv

This opens up a whole new world when it comes to picking the ever-important URL for your business. We own baggiesweb.solutions! You can be more creative and use words that are commonly associated with your industry. A good example would be a fictional company called Elijah’s Cabinet Repair. After a quick domain search, I see that elijahscabinetrepair.com is already taken. BUT, elijahscabinet.repair is available! Not only does it contain my entire business name, but it’s memorable, too!

Another example would be an art gallery with multiple locations. I could have:

  • elijahsgallery.london
  • elijahsgallery.paris
  • elijahsgallery.ny

How awesome is that?

Is it bad for SEO?

In short, no. With any new website you will be working against competitors who have had their websites for years and likely had SEO professionals working on their site. So, you’re automatically going to be at a disadvantage due to the newness of your site. But, with a quality website, quality content, and a good SEO, you can get quality traffic to your site. Your URL and TLD have nothing to do with your ability to rank in the search engines. The major search engines of the world do not add or remove weight to a URL based on the TLD.

A Word to the Wise

While we know that it’s super easy to get a domain with whatever you want as the URL, we do discourage using misleading TLDs. If you purchased a domain with .store as your TLD, but didn’t have an actual store (online or brick-and-mortar), then you will drive potential customers away because of misleading them. Stick with TLDs that make sense. Do your due diligence in selecting a URL/TLD. We’ve had many clients who regretted their choices and were stuck with a questionable one, or had to start over with another domain.

 

What is Zero-Click?

A new phenomenon is taking a hold of the search engine results pages. It’s called zero-click searches and it’s forcing business owners and website developers alike to rethink how the content on their website functions.

What is Zero-Click?

Zero-Click means that the person who is conducting the search never clicks on a website or ad.

Example: I’ve recently considered hiring a company to mow my lawn on a bi-weekly basis. So I’ve done a bit of research on landscape companies who offer this. I’ve most recently done a search for “lawn maintenance in McKinney, Texas”. As with most location-based searches, the first thing that pops up in the map pack. This offers enough information to make a quick decision on who to call  based on the proximity to my search AND the star rating.

Search Engine Results Page

There is enough information here to allow me to contact 3 companies and get quotes from them for their services.

What does this mean?

It means that all of the SEO work that has been done on these companies websites is being circumvented. A focus has been placed on managing their presence via Google My Business, which is where this information is being pulled. With all of the information necessary for me to make a quick decision presented to me within the search engine, I don’t need to click on anything further. It’s all right there in front of me.

A Few Different Options

There are also a few different styles of Zero-Click searches that you can run into. One of the most popular is answering a question. In my decision to search for a lawn maintenance company, I searched for “How often should I mow my lawn?”. Again, I was given the answer without ever having to click on a website.

By creating more opportunities for Google to provide information to searchers without ever taking the user to a website, they are effectively redirecting traffic from websites and keeping it in-house. At some point in time, I fully believe in a future where we may not have to leave the Google, Bing, etc. environment to navigate the web.

What does that mean for SEO?

Without beating around the bush, it means you have to have your ducks in a row. All of them. Since a zero-click search won’t show up in website analytics reports, you have to rely on Google Search Console stats to see how successful your site is in providing answers.

Every business who derives leads, phone calls, contact form submissions to sustain their bottom line needs to make sure all opportunities for Zero-Click searches can lead back to them. This means you have to be vigilant about managing your local listings. Filling out the information from top to bottom without spamming and getting removed from the indices (the exact opposite of what we’re trying to do).

It also means that the content on your website has to be top notch. It has to answer questions that your potential clients ask. In doing so, you increase the likelihood of a searcher clicking on the link to your website to read more information and find out what you do.

Us here at Baggies Web Solutions focus on making your website as good as it can be, so we can bridge the gap between zero-click and getting the phone call.

How to Dominate Search Engine Results

improve my search rankings

The internet has become a crowded, highly competitive marketplace. New technology, however, allows for more robust, direct marketing to your customers. The question then becomes, “How do you get your website and products in front of your customers?” The answer? Making sure your business website covers as much ground in the search engine results pages. Here are a few ways to make that happen.

improve my search rankings

Local SEO

In the past few years, local searches have taken over prime real estate in the results pages. Just take a look at my lunch search below! The first thing that pops up and takes up the entire page is the Map search showing you what’s around you! Local SEO means making sure your NAWP (Name, Address, Website, Phone number) are correct across all facets of the web. By monitoring your business’ web presence, you will show up in Map searches when someone is looking for your product or service in your area. After Google changed how they display local search results, businesses do not have to compete for the top spot but the top three.

Search Engine Results Page

Blogging

Regularly writing a blog that answers common questions that people may have about your business increases your authority and the chances of popping up in search results when someone does a specific search for that blog’s subject. If you are a HVAC repair company, you want blog content that answers a common question like “Why is my AC unit leaking?”. If you have a blog dedicated to that specific subject, your likelihood of getting clicks goes up tremendously!

Pay Per Click

Pay Per Click is a great way to get people who are looking for your services and products to your website. If you set up and monitor your ads wisely you can see significant returns on your investment. The search engines’ goal is to return quality results, but not necessarily the highest bidder. If the top paying ad is not helpful, customers will never click on it. Search engines want the best ad for the search, not the highest paying.

Pay Per Click Search Results

Fresh Content

Content on your site must be fresh, keyword-centric, and well-written. Fresh content is one of the major foundations of Google’s relevancy algorithms. Do not post content that is full of errors, duplicated, or boring. A great way to stay on top is to keep Google happy.

These are just a few ways to get more of your business in the search engine results pages. For an in-depth consultation, contact us and we’d be happy to sit down with you to discuss your needs.