Social Media, what are the best platforms for you?
Whilst I was reading the latest YPN magazine, which is centred around social media, it made me start to reflect on Tungsten MG's online presence and social engagement. When I first began the property business I jumped onto the big platforms, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn, but am I using the right platforms for the right message at the right time?
I use a system that is part of my website hosts package which allows to schedule posts on the platforms mentioned above. I have read an article that states the best time to post on LinkedIn is on a Wednesday and Thursday but the system I use takes this worry away from me as it makes sure my message is sent to the correct place at the right time and at the right frequency. But should I be doing more than just posting on the social platforms using my scheduling tool?
In 2020, over 3.6 billion people used social media worldwide, and this is set to rise to almost 4.41 billion in 2025. www.statista.com
Most investors will invest in the person and allowing them an insight into you
Social media allows you the ability to tell everyone what you do, and the key to your success is to use the platform that suits your message and your audience. To get inspiration for your business or personal page then find on the specific channel others who inspires you. You can look to others as a guide to build your channel, how to start your online brand and how develop your social media strategy. Why would you reinvent the wheel when you can just amend it?
Whatever platform you choose, you can showcase what you have done and start to build real and long lasting relationships by posting images and text about your success, challenges and questions. By having an opportunity to showcase what you have achieved both professional and personally it allows you to engage with others. Most investors will invest in the person and by allowing them an insight into your family, your humorous side and your hobbies it can allow an investor to get to know the real you! Remember that YOU are the only thing that differentiates your brand from someone else, so make sure that the world can see who you are - warts and all!
Faster, easier communication with customers than ever before. In a time of reduced travel and socialising the use of online networking has become fundamental to a businesses success.
Networking and partnerships are quicker and easier to form as you can have connections to influencers in your industry which would have been out of you grasp. Before social media how would you make contact with your targeted CEO by email, by phone or visiting them out of the blue? Now you can send them a DM and try to grab their attention via your posts.
Boost organic visibility through likes, backlinks and shares.
Increase website traffic by engaging your audience and giving them a reason to find out more on your website - your core online presence.
Customer feedback can be received as the experience is unfolding and allow you to respond immediately and give the best customer experience you can.
Impress potential customers with your case studies and reviews as on average a potential customer looks at 10 reviews before making a decision.
Branding has to be the most valuable tool created from social media. You have the ability to reach billions of customers in a targeted and tailored way and take them on a product journey. It happens to you everyday but I bet you do not know it is happening!
Track the competition so you can improve your business and monitor what others are offering to your market.
User-generated content is a dream for all marketeers. Your customers create and post content so you have increased brand awareness, impress the market with your satisfied customers, and allow your users to share their experience with their network - this gives you organic growth and free content.
An average user spent 2 hours and 24 minutes per day on social media in 2020. www.techjury.net
What are the difference between the major platforms?
Throughout the magazine I discovered pros and cons for each platform and I thought it would be helpful to list my findings here
Facebook. This is platform is easy to use, so ideal for a new starter or someone who less resources (time and personnel). You are able to up load images of your business, gain likes and comments which will create organic growth as your page will be shared with your customers network and beyond. You can also encourage users to create content for you with competitions/discounts which allows you to build a presence quicker and easily. But keep an eye on the content created. You can use pay for campaign adverts to target your audience with a specific message. The advantages of this tool over offline marketing is the cost is low and you can track and tweak each advert in real time. This platform is related to LinkedIn.
LinkedIn. This is used for professional and B2B connections with business and career goals in mind. You can use this platform to target decision makers who's doors would be closed via traditional methods. An example would be for Tungsten MG to approach Medway based companies to inform them about our HMO rooms and to build a relationship to encourage them to suggest our rooms to their employees. You can create job adverts, ask for recommendations, and share business related content on LinkedIn which is more suitable for this audience.
Instagram. As with the other platforms you can increase your engagement with others via Instagram which uses an image based medium. You can answer questions, celebrate success and help others move forward on a platform that has 1 billion monthly active users. If you are an influencer then this tool is for you as 93% of influencer campaigns took place on the platform in 2018. (blog.hubspot.com). A difference of Instagram is they promote visuals and do not allow link sharing directly in posts like others.
Twitter. Tungsten MG has the least interaction on Twitter, but like Facebook and Instagram you can connect with your audience easily but with Twitter text is the key feature. You will have to manage hash tagging, commenting on others tweets, private direct messaging, reacting to posts, and re-sharing content to utilise this platform. There are around 500 million tweets per day and the average suggested number per person is 5-22 per person - so get tweeting! In 2020 the top word tweeted was #Covid-19, the top person was #US President Donald Trump and in terms of sport #ManUtd was in second place.
YouTube. Most marketers lean towards video as their preferred interactive content method especially as it allows you to host long videos and you can use YouTube SEO function. Tungsten MG has its own channel (see link below) and we use it to update you on the activities of our business plus give you an insight into our private life, but a restaurant can show you their chef in action or a PT can give you a free workout demo.
The key to all the platforms is you have an increased amount of touch points then traditional methods, so make use of them to grow and build your business brand and presence.
