Types of Different Social Platforms and How to choose right one for your brand
Social media marketing is becoming a popular platform among online marketers. Here you have the advantage of reaching directly to your consumers, without involvement of any third party. It is estimated that around 2.5 billion of world population is using these social media sites. To be successful at social media marketing, there are some obstacles that you have to pass. One of them is choosing the right platform to market your ideas and business. With careful planning about choosing right sites for marketing, you can gain immense benefits.
Social media has grown into a full fledge industry, as more and more social media sites are emerging and becoming popular among millions of people. Choosing right social media for advertising your business is an important part of your social media marketing strategy, as it will help you achieving your strategic goals. Choosing right social media can lead to enhancement in your business with less effort. Choosing right social media site is like choosing a right track to reach the destination, you cannot reach right destination if you are on wrong track. Choosing right social media is an integral part of effective social media strategy and it cannot be ignored at any cost.
Social media is homogenous combination of different sites; more and more sites are emerging every year and becoming popular among millions of people. There are no doubt so many platforms that you get over whelmed which one to choose. You can’t be best on all social media platforms. If you try to become active on all social media platform, it can be predicted that you will fail.
Small businesses owners don’t have much time nor money for marketing. For them social media marketing is an opportunity to grow their business. Choosing right platform for them is essential, as they do not have much time to remain active on all social media sites.
Following are some key points which can help you choosing right social media sites for marketing.
1) Which social media has most of your clients?
As it’s a famous quote in marketing industry that “fish where the fish are”. The first things you have to identify while choosing your social media platform is where are your clients. You get fair idea about your clients using demographic data for various social media websites.
- Facebook has evenly distributed demographic.
- If you are targeting teen or age group under 25 than snapchat is your forum.
- Instagram is best if you are looking for a platform to market your photography.
- On LinkedIn, you will find professional community.
This is just a small comparison based on demographic.
For instance, if you are looking to advertise your college on social media than LinkedIn is best place for that purpose, as it has majority of users above 18 and are either graduate or undergrad students.
Similarly if you are wedding photographer than you should use Facebook or Instagram.
2) List Down Your End Goals
Before you start doing social media marketing, list down your aims and objectives, which you want to achieve from this marketing. You are going to social media to achieve some strategic goals. What are those goals?
Are you going to social media to increase SEO traffic of your business website or you are doing it just to increase awareness of you brand among consumers or you are doing it to create a community that is interested in your brand.
Listing down your end goals will help you drawing a strategy to achieve them. Without a clear aim and objective at social media marketing forum you will end up running here and there without getting any success.
3) Which Platform You Can Handle Easily
One good way in choosing your platform for social media marketing is to see on which platform you are good. This in turn means that what is your format of advertising. Are you going to make short video, make small posts or do it by creating banners. Decide your format first, this will help you in choosing the suitable sites, which are best for your format.
Twitter is best for small posts while Instagram is best if you are doing marketing by images.
If you have to choose among different sites, go for the one where you are best.
3) Test Which Strategy is Working.
Always keep track of strategies that are working, which means focus more on sites that are giving you return. Return may not be in terms of capital but in form of your targets.
One good way is to use ‘coupon codes’ and ‘free promotional codes’ to see what’s working for you. If you keep on advertising blindly, you may miss out your strong areas, which in turn means loss in revenue.
4) Mix Your Strength with Your Audience.
It’s not compulsory that platform where you are strong have most of your audience and vice verse. A good approach is to find the overlapping area where both these things meet. For instance, you might be good in creating small posts at twitter but majority of your audience are at facebook, one way is to link your twitter account with facebook so your consumers can see and read what you are advertising.
Keep an eye on your rivals
Sun Tzu, a Chinese military strategist wrote in The Art of War
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
Though this quote is from military point of view but social media marketers can gain some influence from this as well. Always keep an eye where your competitors are. Never leave any forum empty for your competitors, as no one will leave ground empty for you.
