SPRING 2014
7
Look Over the
Social Media
MENU
H
ungry to grow your business? Building a social
media presence is a cost-efficient way to communicate
directly with current or potential customers. It also
helps generate website traffic and provides opportunities to
promote special offers. You don’t have to bite off more than
you can chew, however. Pick just the platforms you enjoy
and that appeal to your target audience.
Facebook
has been described as a social media
juggernaut and businesses of all sizes nowmaintain
Facebook pages. Use it to post photos of your
products, share news about your business, ask questions of
your customers, and much more.
Twitter
is a real-time microblogging service that lets
you post updates (tweets) of up to 140 characters.
These short-and-sweet tweets might contain things
such as exclusive deals for your Twitter followers or last-minute
changes to store hours.
LinkedIn
is a professional social networking site where
users share their expertise and accomplishments
and explore business opportunities. Creating a
strong LinkedIn profile for yourself and your company can
generate sales leads and help with employee recruitment.
YouTube
enables users to upload, manage, and
share videos publicly or with their networks as
well as comment on the videos of others. Through
videos, you can take customers on a tour of your business,
show how to use your products, or introduce employees.
Blogs
allow users to self-publish posts of a longer
length than is generally practical with other social
media platforms and can help establish you as an
expert in your field. A blog on your website also has the added
bonus of generating the kind of content that places your business
higher in organic search results.
Google+
is more than Google trying to replicate
a Facebook experience. It offers unique features
such as Hangouts and Hangouts On Air. Hangouts
is a video conferencing tool that allows up to ten users to
video chat with one another. Hangouts on Air lets you live
stream your video chat and automatically record it on your
YouTube channel.
Pinterest
is a content-sharing service that allows
members to “pin” images, videos, and other objects
to their pinboard. If your content is highly visual
(and your audience is mainly women), Pinterest may be a
good choice for your business. Choose compelling photos or
translate your data into infographics.
Vine and Instagram
are both platforms that allow
users to film short videos—up to 6 seconds or 15
seconds, respectively—on wireless devices via apps
and then share the videos on Facebook and Twitter. The brevity
of Vine and Instagram videos makes them easier to digest
than full-length ones.
Regardless of what you pick on this menu, the most important ingredient for social media success is
valuable content. Make sure your content inspires people to engage.
Get a taste of what these platforms can do for your business
