Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+ and Pinterest – just six of the more popular social media marketing platforms people, as well as businesses, use. Social media is growing at such a rapid rate; Facebook has over one billion accounts! It’s estimated that around five-hundred million tweets are sent out per day and there are two new members joining LinkedIn every second.
With our world moving ever so quickly, more and more people are accessing content via smartphones. Current records indicate 50% of the United States population has a smartphone. That number is expected to raise to just under 70% by 2017. People gravitate to smartphones because it is like having a mini computer at your fingertips. You can send an email, GPS an address, and check your social media feeds all while you are on the go.
Be Present on Relevant Social Media Marketing Platforms
Constant access to the online world via smartphones means social media marketing (SMM) is becoming more and more popular. The purpose of social media marketing is to increase your company’s brand exposure, while simultaneously broadening your customer reach. Being present on these platforms allows your target audience to follow your company. You can send status updates on your products and services, and companies can even pay to extend the reach of their posts.
Seeing that people spend time on social media for an average of 2 hours per day (that number almost doubles when it comes to the weekend), paying to boost your status updates can go a long way. Therefore, if a company’s ad pops up on someone’s news feed more than once in a day, that person is more likely to click the ad and check out the company.
For small or local businesses, social media marketing is key to educating the public on your brand. Using social media to reach your target audience will boost the foot traffic to your business. It will help build who you are and what your company does without spending much (if any) money. It is exposure.
For smaller companies, begin with the basics. I personally recommend Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as great platforms to start on, but it’s up to you to do research in order to determine where your audience is most likely to be present. Then create an account and/or page (depending on the platform). Post a profile picture and update your bio page to reflect your company branding. If you know other smaller businesses in your area, check out how they have created and marketed themselves on social media. Follow and invite people to like or follow your company’s page, and be sure to post status updates frequently. On the web, there are also multiple websites that can report analytics as well as manage and automate the various platforms. Use them! It’s time efficient and eliminates small, time-consuming tasks.
Happy Posting!
To learn more on social media can positively impact your business, check out The Value of Social Media for your Business.
Image Attribution: StartBloggingOnline.com
