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How To Effectively Utilize Social Media For Your Business

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How should I utilize social media?

As a business nowadays, there’s a huge push to utilize social media. It’s no small feat, and can sometimes be difficult to even know where to start. What platforms should I use? What should I post? When should I post? All these variables can make social media seem overwhelming, but we’re here to help!

Let’s break it down a bit.

We all know the heavy hitters when it comes to platforms. To list a few:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn

You may be thinking, do I need all these platforms? Nope! In fact, an inactive social media account is worse than no social media account at all. Having a social media account with no content, or old content can diminish your brand’s credibility. Viewers may think you’re business is closed, out-of-date, or untrustworthy. Being so, you should strategically choose which platforms to use, and we’re here to teach you how!

So let’s talk about how to choose which platforms are right for you.

How to choose the right social media platform

The main goal of utilizing social media is to connect with your customers and target audience. With that being said, the simplest way to identify which social media platforms you should use is by looking at your customers. What platforms are they using? Utilizing the same social media platforms as your customers gives you the best opportunity to connect with your target audience.

Secondly, it’s important to think about what people are using this social media platform for. Each social media platform tends to be tailored for specific types of content. For example, Instagram is made for visual content (images), which makes it a great place to showcase products and events. With this in mind, you will be able to better optimize your content to perform well on that specific platform.

Now remember, don’t force it. If your business doesn’t have much in terms of visual content, Instagram may not be the right platform for you. In this case, your time would be better spent creating and sharing content on other platforms that better suit your business.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the big platforms and how to best utilize them.

Facebook

Facebooks is a large and pretty versatile platform, which makes it a good starting point for many businesses entering social media. Engagement-based content tends to best on Facebook and its flexibility allows you to present that content in a way that makes the most sense for your business.

Expanding your online presence with Facebook enables you to further connect with your customers through messenger and post comments. Actively engaging with customers through these features will help strengthen your relationship with them, build awareness for your business, and even drive traffic to your website.

Facebook, like many other social media platforms, has also given businesses the opportunity to post ads. With Facebook being as versatile as it is, there’s no surprise they have many different ad types to choose from such as photo ads, video ads, polls, collections, and more!

The process for creating campaigns and ads on Facebook is actually super cool. From picking your objective (what you want to accomplish with the campaign), to segmenting your audience it can be a great tool to reach your audience and your business goals.

Instagram

Instagram has become a more versatile platform but is still heavily based in visual content. Today there are a few different ways to utilize Instagram from posts, stories, live, product integration, and more.

The first step to using Instagram is to ensure the quality of the content you’re posting. Users want to see real, professional-looking content. That means taking the time to take good photos and edit them correctly. If this is something your business is able to take on, Instagram can be a great platform for you.

Let’s look at some specifics.

Instagram posts are a great way to showcase products, events, and so much more. With a business account, you are now able to link products on your posts so customers can shop right from there!

Instagram stories are great for quick updates, behind the scenes, or even fun little series. For example, each Tuesday, we post a series of Instagram stories with the theme “Tech Tip Tuesday” where we provide digital marketing tips.

Now, Instagram does have more limitations than Facebook. Being a visual-based platform, you can not put clickable links in your post captions. However, we’ve all seen “click the link in our bio” and this is a way around the limitation.

On Instagram, you are able to have one clickable link in the bio of your profile. We know this doesn’t sound great if you have multiple links you want to share, but there is a solution! Websites like Linktree and Flowcode provide you with a landing page for all your links, so you can just link to that in your bio and visitors will be able to then see all your links in one place!

Click here to see how our Flowcode page is set up!

Youtube

Youtube is another visual-based platform and is one of the most difficult platforms to gain traction on. However, that shouldn’t deter you from utilizing if you have the right kind of content, in this case, that would be videos.

As with any social media platform you utilize, you must be active in order to reap the benefits. Don’t be afraid to interact with your audience, respond to comments and questions, and use CTAs! Getting someone to watch your video is great, but the real goal here is to get them to take the next step. Adding CTAs to the end of your videos, to your video descriptions, and even to your channel bio will aid in directing your viewers where you want them to go.

Another key element to success on Youtube is customizing your channel. Making it feel like your brand will not only help with brand recognition but also will keep your channel looking clean and consistent. A great way to do this is by adding custom thumbnails to your videos with clear titles. This will ensure consistency and will also give viewers a clear idea of the video content.

Check out the channel for our client InvisalignDrs.com below!

More technical things to consider when working with the Youtube platform are titles, descriptions, and tags. Searching on Youtube is very similar to searching on Google. This means choosing the right title and tags, and ensuring you have a well-thought-out description is crucial.

Titles are heavily weighted in Youtubes search algorithm, so make sure you are using descriptive, clear, engaging titles. Tags on Youtube act as keywords would on your website. It’s a good idea to use some of the tags Youtube suggests as they are going off of what people are searching for. However, it’s good to also come up with a few of your own by thinking about what a viewer would be searching for when they come across your video. Remember, as with keywords on your website, avoid cramming in as many as you can.

The descriptions on your can serve multiple purposes. They should, of course, include a brief (one to three sentence) summary of the content of your video. Then you can add a link to your website, blog, or other social media with a CTA relevant to your video.

For example, if your video is showing how a product works or its functions, you could add a link to that product on your website!

LinkedIn

LinkedIn has become the “Facebook” for business professionals. The LinkedIn platform has easily become the most important social media asset for businesses looking to expand their network. It has become the go-to place for professionals to network, explore their industry, and apply for jobs.

Utilizing LinkedIn as a business allows you to build credibility and a reputation within a more professional setting. Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn is pretty versatile when it comes to content post types. Within the platform, your business can share articles, behind-the-scenes work, events, job opportunities, and more.

Being so, one of the best uses of LinkedIn is sharing and promoting your business. Businesses often share what they’re up to, their work, and news within their industry. This is a great way to network with other businesses in your industry and establish your reputation.

Another huge draw to LinkedIn is for professionals looking for work. LinkedIn is a great tool for promoting and managing your open positions. It’s also a great way to find new talent that could be a huge asset to your business.

Let’s wrap this up

There are countless social media platforms available and any of them could be an asset to your business. However, this is only true if you’re willing to put in the work to be active on those accounts and share consistent, quality content. The best way to choose the right platform for you is to look at your business goals, what are you trying to achieve with social media? You should also remember to consider where your target audience is at, what social media platforms are they using?

Answering these questions and keeping these simple tips in mind, should put you well on your way to discovering the best way to utilize social media for your business!

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