Find out our top five picks on how you can use social media to grow your business, attract new clients, and be where your target audience is. I’ll also discuss how to make the most of each picks unique benefits.
Social Media has become ingrained in modern society like drive-thrus, charging your mobile devices, and watching TV. It’s part of our daily lives, and in most cases, we check our favorite social media sites multiple times a day. According to PewInternet.org (1), as of January 2014, 74% of adults using the internet use social networking sites. And why not? It’s a great way to stay in touch with relatives and friends at long distances, communicate and coordinate with family more often, and network with other professionals.
For all intents and purposes, the internet is the go to place for information about businesses. With smart phones it’s always at people’s fingertips, and social networking sites are usually where everyone starts because they’re on there each day already. JeffBullas.com (2) reports that 72% of all internet users are active on social media sites, and 71% of users access them through their mobile devices. *sources cited with numbers, see end of article.
If you’re a new business, or have yet to make the jump to a digital presence, don’t wait to get involved with such a large audience. Here are my top five picks of where your business should be online and what you can be doing there.
5. INSTAGRAM
Instagram, if you’re not familiar, is a network to upload, tag, and share pictures and videos. Very simple to use, you create an account, find friends or interests to follow, and your homepage feed begins to fill with their and your images as they’re uploaded.
It is reported that 17% of adults on the internet use Instagram (1). There are 150 million active users each month (2). Recent studies are finding that a majority of their users are in the 12-18 age group.
If your business caters to a younger crowd, this is the place to be. You can use hashtags on your posts as you would on Twitter to gain access to more potential followers. Because it’s simple to use, it’s a great way to document, endorse, and advertise what you have going on. I’ve seen many photography, arts and crafts, and fan pages take advantage of this format. If you can creatively photograph what your business does, this is the place to gather a following with it.
4. PINTEREST
In essence, using Pinterest is like having a giant , digital cork board of your own. By creating your own boards you can upload your own files and/or search through other boards for images to include. Likewise, what you’ve uploaded and collected is available for others to “pin” to their own boards.
Traditionally dominated by females, 21% of internet users are on Pinterest (1). Even though it has a higher user rate than Instagram, only 20 million users are active each month (2). But let’s be honest, that’s still a lot of people.
The great thing about Pinterest is that it has a wide variety of niches that your business can fit into. An account can be created for a specific business as opposed to a personal account. We have an official 48hourslogo account in which we share logo submissions from our site, and gather collections of logos that we think raise the bar. In this way we are involved with that community about our specific niche, which would be graphic design in general. What kind of industry does your business fall into? Chances are there is a place for you on Pinterest to interact with others that share your interests. And pin them. Pinterest, see how that works?
3. GOOGLE+
Started in 2011, Google launched their own platform to find your friends, family, and co-workers so together you can share and discover digital content. They also have a special sign up for business pages. Through Google+ you can update your page’s status with text, images, videos and links, comment and “+1” content from others, and create/join groups focused on similar interests.
There are currently one billion (yes, “b”) registered users with Google+, 359 million of which are active each month (2). Quite an audience to connect with.
So how can you make a splash in such a big pond? The key is in the groups, joining them, being involved by +1ing, sharing, and commenting on posts. Most will let you introduce yourself with a post. Only after doing those things should you share quality information that you have to offer. Many of the group moderators are quick to boot spammers, so make sure you read their etiquette rules and don’t come across that way. Otherwise, keeping your site updated with statuses and media lets people know you’re active and around if they need you. Add 48hourslogo to your circle today!
2. TWITTER
If you love short status updates, this is your place. Limited to 140 characters, you can post statuses, pics, and videos directly from your company page with specific hashtags that categorize what you’re talking about. The best part is seeing real time reactions through the hashtags. Say you’re hosting a special event, #specialevent2014, every post that includes #specialevent2014 can be seen by clicking on it, allowing you to see them all together. Great for feedback and gauging what’s popular.
By January 2014, 19% of adults online use Twitter (1). It had the fastest growth of any social network site in 2012-2013, with 215 million users each month (2). There are now over 550 million registered users (2). According to the Huffington Post, Twitter’s fastest growth has been coming from the 55-64 year old age bracket.
You can comment, favorite, and share or “re-tweet” each post, which is a great way to make connections. Using hashtags can get you included in the conversation, or with the right marketing, create a viral new hashtag that gets a lot of attention. We recently shared a Miami Football Club design concept on 48hourslogo Twitter page that we liked, and because of the hashtags, we were contacted by others with concepts they wanted to share. It created a (brief) conversation and connections we wouldn’t have had otherwise. We’ve had many clients find us on Twitter with praise and problems that we could help them out with. Because they can see we’re on there regularly, that account acts as an extension of our support staff.
1. FACEBOOK
Do I need to explain Facebook? You probably linked here from our Facebook page! As it’s grown into the networking juggernaut we know today, it offers a lot for companies beyond the standard business page. There are advertising options for sponsored posts with pay per click or targeted content. Managing your page offers a lot of options, including the Insights Page to track each post, how it was seen, how many clicks and shares it got, etc. Your business page can be used like your personal page, allowing people to “like” it, you can post status updates with messages, images or videos, and have information like hours and directions on customizable tabs.
At the beginning of 2014, 71% of adults using the internet used Facebook (1). There are now over 1.15 billion Facebook users, and 23% of them log in at least five times each day (2). Also worth noting, 47% of Americans say Facebook is their #1 influencer of purchases (2). With that big of audience and that much influence, you need to make sure your business has a presence on Facebook.
As the stats have shown, this is by far the biggest pond, er – ocean, when it comes to social networking. Because of that, it’s familiar to most people. Use that to your advantage by keeping your page updated and current. There are also options to add administrators to your page, so you can delegate the work to others. We are able to connect even further with our customers and designers through our 48hourslogo official Facebook page. Each week we are contacted with questions or suggestions. Used properly, it becomes a branch of customer service. Just by being active a few times a week, our page has grown steadily over 50% this year so far.
KEEP AN EYE ON: LINKEDIN
LinkedIn focuses on networking for professionals. Individuals can create a profile page with a resume. Others who have worked with you can “endorse” your skills, giving third party recommendations. But business can create a page for themselves. It’s a great way to network with potential employees or other businesses if you are a B2B.
It has the lowest percentage of active users when compared to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, and Facebook (3). But it is experiencing major growth right now, with (2) new users joining up every second (3). Currently 2% of adults online use LinkedIn. Check it out, will probably be worth your time.
KEY TIPS
The key to any of these sites is having something worth sharing. Post news about your industry to show that you’re in the know and demonstrate your expertise. Offer promotions or specials to those who follow or like your page. It’s a great platform to announce any new features or changes coming to your company. Fresh content is key, so mix things up.
Remember that people like interacting with people, it’s what social networking is all about. Be human in your posts, have an opinion, ask questions, engage your audience with personality and interest. These sites can be used as tools to show your customers that you sincerely care about them. Take the time to keep up with it, and social media sites will build brand loyalty among your audience.