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What Social Media Platforms Should Your Business Use?

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.

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The Hub of Your Social Media Marketing: Blogging

 

Best Social Media Marketing Strategies

If you are reading this, you either, have no idea what blogging is, but know you should. Or, you know what blogging is, but don’t know how to use it. Don’t worry. I’m going to address both issues here. Blogging is one of the most effective social media strategies you can use to promote your business.

Just Words on a Page

First, let’s just get this out of the way. “Blog” is just short for “Web Log”. See, you’ve already learned something. Its purpose is typically used to inform, educate and entertain. For example, if you are a car dealer, your blogs may consist of DIY projects, like “How to Change Your Own Oil”, or “5 Ways to Prolong the Life of Your Car Battery”. Now, I know what the next questions you are probably going to ask are: “Why should I commit time to blogging?” and “How is a blog going to help me”?

Sticking with the car dealer example, let’s say that you wrote those blogs. Now what? Post it to your Facebook page, of course! If you don’t have a Facebook page for your business, stop reading here and call us immediately…you have some catching up to do. But of course, you are a modern business owner are well aware of the power of social media marketing. Fantastic! Post a link to the blog you just wrote on your Facebook fan page. One click and your fans are now reading your blog. Oh, did I mention that links to your website will be embedded in your blog? So, just by using this extremely simple example you’ve created original content and increased your SEO, you’ve engaged with a reader whom you’ve educated and shared information with and, ultimately, given them the opportunity to visit your website and use your services. With a consistently written blog, you are able to share potentially valuable information and demonstrate a valuable knowledge set to potential customers.

I Don’t Have Time For This…

Now don’t get too excited at the simplicity of a good social media marketing presence. This stuff takes a generous amount of time and consistency. It’s not a sprint; it’s a marathon. Plus, you have to remember that online marketing is as important as your traditional advertising, and should be treated as such. With traditional advertising, you don’t just sell the “Steak”, you sell the “SIZZLE”. Well, with a solid blog and Social Media representation you sell the “Steak” and the “SIZZLE”, but then you talk about “how it was prepared”, “what farm the meat came from” and probably end up following the rancher who raised the cow…you know, because he also has a blog called “Happy Cows Ranch”.

If you have any questions on how we can make a blog work in concert with your social media platforms, just contact us.

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Facebook Likes Being Deleted for Businesses

You all have probably seen something similar to the picture below. I bet you even liked or shared that businesses status if you like getting posts from their page. The truth is you did not have to do it to continue to get content from that business. As you may recall their have been similar Facebook hoaxes with similar themes over the years. Combine this with the Facebook announcement from earlier this month and you have lots of businesses panicking and putting posts like below on their pages. So is Facebook deleting likes from business pages?

Facebook Likes

 

The Truth

Facebook did announce changes to the business likes policy and yes it will delete specific types of users. What types of users you ask? Let’s hear it straight from Facebook.

“Businesses use Page audience data to understand what their followers care about. To make audience data even more meaningful for businesses, we’re updating the way Page likes are counted by removing memorialized and voluntarily deactivated accounts from Pages’ like counts. This change ensures that data on Facebook is consistent and up-to-date. 

Over the coming weeks, Page admins should expect to see a small dip in their number of Page likes as a result of this update. It’s important to remember, though, that these removed likes represent people who were already inactive on Facebook. 

Going forward, any accounts that are voluntarily deactivated or memorialized will be removed from a Page’s like count. If a deactivated account is reactivated, the account will be re-added to a Page’s like count.”

Only accounts that are voluntarily deactivated or memorialized will be removed from a businesses Page like count. So this means that if you are an active user on Facebook you don’t have to worry about being deleted from a page’s feed subscription and, if you are a business, you don’t have to worry about losing legitimate active users on Facebook.

But my business lost 500 likes.

Some businesses have lost many likes over the last month. It is very alarming to see your likes plummet overnight and I imagine that business owner are going to want to know why this is happening. There are a couple of factors that could be in play here.

  1. Purchased Likes  – If you have a wide net and decent budget you can accumulate likes very quickly. The downside to this is you do from time to time get bots that like your page and are not legitimate likes. These bots don’t interact with your page and can inflate your numbers. Facebook is constantly cracking down on these accounts and deleting them, thus deleting your like. The best advice to correct this is to limit your campaign to as specific as you can get to avoid this practice. You may not get there as fast, but you have a better chance of having real people who are legitimately interested in your business.
  2. Customers Died – Life goes on and people die. You cannot market to a dead man and you don’t want them potentially taking up that valuable organic 10% that sees your posts. Facebook is doing you a big favor by getting rid of these likes on your account.
  3. Deactivated Accounts – As hard as it is to believe, some people don’t want to be on Facebook anymore! Facebook allows them to deactivate instead of delete so if they change their minds they can resume their activities. This means that all of their likes that were taken away this month will be reinstated when they come back. This means that lost like in March could be a gained like in May.

What does it all mean?

For most individuals the recent Facebook changes will not effect your likes or your feed. If you do get one of those posts that beg for a like or share, it can’t hurt, go ahead and do it. After all you liked that business for a reason. For those businesses who lost a lot of likes, really the only thing you can do is tighten up your Facebook ad campaign. Make sure you are casting a smaller net that focuses on a specific target group and run multiple campaigns if needed. As always, Baggies Web Solutions can help your with your Social Media Ads, just give us a call.

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Increasing Brand Awareness via Linkedin

It’s super easy to get lost on Facebook. I can attest to that, in doing research for this article, I logged in and within 15 minutes, I had forgotten why I was there. It’s a common occurrence. But where do you turn when looking for business-related topics and keeping up with companies you follow and friends who work for those companies? Linkedin, that’s where. LinkedIn has just recently surpassed 200 million users and there’s no sign of it slowing down. Social media users are constantly looking for smaller niche networks to drill down their interests. Professional networks pique the interest of something most people care about, their jobs. For a small business, Linkedin can introduce you to the people who make the decisions regarding their business. A study done in January of 2012 noticed that 49% of Linkedin users household income is over $100K. That stat tells us that the people who are on it, are likely the decision-makers of the companies that employ them. If your business is a B2B company, you absolutely must stake your claim on Linkedin.

Once you stake your claim, how do you utilize it? That’s the real question, after all, the reason you are making an effort to promote your business is to develop a relationship with potential customers. Just like Facebook, every user has a news feed that keep you up-to-date with your professional relationships doings. If someone has a new job, is looking for someone to hire, or is touting the merits of their work, these will be put front and center. Use these status updates to showcase what your company can do, a blog post, or an announcement. This will be broadcast to all of your followers. Don’t over-do it, posting annoying sales pitches will definitely make sure your follower count goes down. You want to create a relationship and foster open discussion about your company. The people who are following your company are likely to never need your services, but the people they work with, their customers, even their close friends, will. Keeping your company front and center in their head-space is one of the keys to successful online marketing and brand awareness.

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Building Trust Through Social Media

There is plenty of information on the web these days pertaining to the importance of social media in business and we do not have to look far to see the benefits of a successful social media campaign. Social Media integrated into your brand marketing is essential.  With over 80% of the world’s business population now proactively using online social media channels it makes sense to be exactly where your audience is and capture their attention with your brand’s personalized approach.

Regardless if you are an online marketer, or a brick and mortar establishment, you aren’t going to sell anything if you haven’t gained the trust of your potential customers. Trust that they are getting the best product, the most choices and an uncompromising level of customer service after the sale. If you are using social media marketing correctly, you will be able to instill a level of trust in your customers faster than when compared to traditional forms of advertising.

This is where social media marketing takes up where traditional advertising simply cannot go. When your business joins in on the conversation, IE. having and effectively using a social media platform to build relationships as opposed to retailing, you are going to build trust. It really is that simple. Not only do consumers now have a tool to rate you on your performance and value, you also have the same tool to interact and prove your worth.

Small- to medium-sized business who do not use social media have an uphill climb competing with the companies that have millions of advertising dollars. Social media provides potential customers with direct access to your business. In fact, all the information they will ever need about your business entity can be found online. How are you maintaining your online reputation if you aren’t “in the conversation”? How do you solve problems and discuss issues with your brand if you don’t know, or care that problems and issues even exist? How are you going to retain your client base, that you’ve worked so hard to obtain, if they don’t feel they can trust your business, or products? The simple answer is that, “You can’t”.

To acquire TRUST, join the conversation. If you don’t, you could stand to be knocked off of that pedestal that you’ve been comfortably sitting on by a competitor you previously thought posed no threat. Let us help piece together your social media strategy.

If you want to know more about building relationships with your customers the easy way, contact Baggies47, we can help.