Starting small, social media has since evolved to include a wide range of platforms that have allowed businesses to establish a presence online.
But, while the opportunities to reach out to a wider audience is no longer a problem, the platforms that prove to be most effective in building a network, increasing brand awareness, and engaging with target users remain in question. As a business, it can be difficult to look through your options and try to discern what each has to offer. In some cases, such situations result in businesses struggling to set their social media campaigns in motion.
Is Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest or Twitter the best platform to put your marketing efforts? As a provider of social media marketing service in Singapore, we help you trim down your options and help you better understand what these platforms have to offer. We also list down some of the factors you have to consider when deciding which ones to be in.
The Mark Zuckerberg-led social platform has more than 2 billion active users. If you’re looking to maintain social media presence on only one channel, Facebook may be the best option for you. It is undeniably the most widely used social media channel that matches almost any type of industry and business.
You can create your own Facebook Page where you can publish written, graphic, and video content which your followers can engage with. It also offers a wide range of advertising tools which proves the platform to work well for generating leads, advertising as well as building relationships with your audience.
Instagram works well in tandem with Facebook. As Facebook content tends to also do well on Facebook in the sense that all data is measurable. Instagram is projected to have more than 100 million active users in 2019 and more than half of these users have at least one brand, offering a platform for businesses to engage with their audience.
As a visual-heavy platform, it’s a great place to showcase your products and locations. But, for your Instagram channel to be successful, you need to have consistent, high-quality content and an effective hashtag strategy. In terms of advertising, Instagram offers the same range of options as Facebook – and with its Shoppable Posts Stories, it has become a new way to discover and purchase products.
One out of four social media users has a LinkedIn account. Besides searching for jobs in the online job board, users also go to LinkedIn to connect with other professionals and access materials published by thought leaders in specific industries.
It is a respected site with over 250 million active users with most of the users being college educated. Publishing valuable content on the platform has the chance to generate 15 times more impressions than job-related content.
Although Pinterest is regarded as the most underrated platform – with a relatively small network of 100 million users – it still is a great medium for businesses who are looking to sell home products, handicrafts, and other things to its users, more than 80% of which are female.
Started out as a scrapbooking site with interesting imagery and DIY ideas, Pinterest has evolved into a great platform for businesses alike. One of its key selling features is the Buyable Pin which attracts users to make a purchase by allowing them to do so without leaving the app.
The microblogging site averages more than 300 million active users and boasts of its own targeted advertising tools as well.
It proves valuable in terms of sharing instant, real-time updates and opinions, which can be liked, commented on or retweeted. Because of the immediacy of the channel, you may want to tweet at least more than once a day to reach out to a wider audience.
The Factors to Consider When Finding the Ideal Social Media Platform for You
Looking at these options, it has become apparent that not all social media platforms are created equal. But, understanding the concept of each, we hope you already get a hint about which channels to focus on – and to get you further through the process – here are some of the factors you need to consider when deciding.
- The purpose of each platform – Before signing up for a social platform, you need to be certain that you’re aware of what it does and what it is best for. If your target audience is millennials, being on Instagram may be the path for you. If, on the other hand, you’re a local business, Facebook proves to be a great platform to connect with your community and establish awareness around your brand.
- Where your audience and competitors are – You may have much information about the demographics of your target audience and you should utilise it to identify where your followers are on social media. While at it, you should also check where your competitors are most active and use it as a basis on which platforms to be in.
Mastering Your Social Media Marketing Efforts
Identifying the platforms that work for you may be a matter of trial and error so, use these tips as your guide to minimise risks of errors. When you find the platform or two that’s right for your business as well as the resources to manage them, keep in mind that social media marketing isn’t about immediate results but rather about engaging your audience and raising brand awareness.
It may sound confusing and look complicated at first. But, you can always get help in the form of OOm, an SEO company in Singapore that also offers social media management services to our clients. Get in touch with us today!
