One of the questions I’m constantly asked from businesses about Social Media is

“There are so many options out there and I don’t know where to start. Do I have to do everything or are there certain platforms that are better than others for my business?”

Well the answer which most of you will want to hear is actually the correct path to take

1. No you don’t have to do everything
2. Start with 2 Social Media Platforms, master them and then maybe consider a 3rd if relevant

In this blog we’re going to take a look at the available Social Media Platforms and which types of businesses are most suited to them

THE GOLDEN RULE
The Golden rule for any form of marketing is to ask the simple question – is it where our customer’s eyes are?

From the early days of newspapers and magazines to Radio and TV that rule has always been the same

Market yourself where your target markets ears and eyeballs are

Just because comparatively Social Media is new – we don’t rip up the handbook and basic principles of marketing

The Golden rule is the road to success

So let’s take a look at each of the individual Social Media platforms

TWITTER
Twitter training is by far the most popular of our social media training courses and it is so because its user base crosses that divide from B2B and B2C

For 90% of businesses out there they can extract value from twitter whether you be an accountant or solicitor through to a cafe or retail outlet

Twitter’s barrier to entry and it’s key benefit is that it moves so fast and is real time

For people new to the platform it can be a dizzy headrush of noise you can’t decipher

For seasoned users it’s the news on steroids with handy little tricks to dip into those sources you want

Pros: A quick way to get information out there fast to a wide audience; Best platform for 121 conversations; Supportive hyper local tweeters

Cons: Time Intensive; Trolling

LINKEDIN
The super serious social network – the BNI of the Social Networking world if you will

80% of readers of this blog will have a LinkedIn profile. The problem is that only 25% of those people will actually be active on a regular basis

Stats out there on LinkedIn indicate that its monthly active users are around a quarter of its total user base which implies many are logging in sporadically

LinkedIn is about Relationships, Trust, Reputation and Knowledge – it’s the 1st thing any of do after meeting someone whilst networking – type their name into LinkedIn and connect with them

There is the argument that all B2C businesses should have a LinkedIn profile to research B2B service providers, but LinkedIn is mainly for B2B businesses

Pros: Connect directly with decision makers; Reputation Building via LinkedIn Recommendations, People are there for business rather than socialising

Cons: Clunky Interface; Sporadic usages of users; Facebook lite content

FACEBOOK
There’s no denying that facebook is hard for B2B brands

It’s much easier for a restaurant, personal trainer, bar to break through baby photos, missing cats, celebrity deaths than it is a blog from a B2B firm

There are local businesses out there with 100s and 1000s of likes on a page, but often engagement on those pages is still low

There are even social media companies out there that struggle with facebook engagement – we’re a little different in that we’re ingrained in the local community and our posts do reach thousands each week

So where can facebook work for B2B? Facebook advertising can be highly targeted so that you can reach facebook page admins (i.e business owners) in a defined geographical area

So if you’re a printer, a web designer, an accountant looking to target local businesses you can still do this easily

Pros: Everyone is on facebook; Facebook advertising data is unparalleled; Easy to invite contacts to the page

Cons: Facebook is social more than business; Organic Reach is being squeezed;

INSTAGRAM
The big question with Instagram is simply – how much visual content do you have and how much can you produce in future?

With instagram being visual the businesses that have broken through have been foodie, fitness, health & beauty, arts and craft – brands with big strong visual identities

How do you break through if you’re not as visual?

A lot of business coaches and consultants use quotes and stats to build up an audience

Offering a behind the scenes glimpse into an organisation is a way to humanise B2B Brands

And heroing clients on Instagram is another way to expand the reach of your audience

Pros: Engagement is high on the platform; Good to attract younger demographic; A real chance for brand humanization

Cons: Very content intense; No Clickthroughs to website apart from biog; Favours B2C rather than B2B

SNAPCHAT
It says a lot that the 2 brands i’ve seen heavily pushing Snapchat physically in Manchester have been JD Sports and KFC

2 brands that attract the youth demographic

The big question for many with Snapchat is, what is the ROI for my business of me spending the time there versus the other platforms

Older brands attempting snapchat have tried to force similar content to other platforms into Snapchat and it hasn’t seemed authentically snapchat

Speak to regular snapchat users and they’ll tell you they want to keep in touch with friends there and not businesses

And yet American marketing gurus are pushing it as the must have for your business – which isn’t strictly true at the moment

For most businesses reading this magazine – the honest answer is other platforms will deliver greater ROI for you at the moment

But keep watching

Pros: Content Consumption; Youth Demographic; It’s now

Cons: People don’t want businesses on there; Can’t automate; Time vs Impact intensive

YOUTUBE
I’ve listed this as Youtube, but many of the same rules apply whether it be Facebook Video, Periscope / Twitter Videos or the forthcoming Instagram Live videos

There are various Social Media platforms which focus on video

80% of data shared online will soon be video – the reports differ on whether that will be 2018 or 2020, but times are a changing and video will become the norm

With video marketing play to your strengths – put the most confident camera friendly person forward as the face of the brand

Unrehearsed stuttering videos from those uncomfortable in front of the camera don’t portray the best 1st impression for your business

Pros: People absorb visual information quickly; Discoverability; Video is where the world is going

Cons: Easy to do badly, Time Intensive

WHAT NEXT?
Think about which of the above Social Media Platforms are most relevant for your business

Realise that there are always exceptions to the rule and one size doesn’t fit all

Execute heavily on the 2 platforms you choose – action is key to social media success

NEED HELP WITH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING – CHAT TO US
Chat to about Social Media for YOUR business so we can better understand YOU and what will grow your business

We can only find out what is unique to your business by chatting to you

And then we can look at the best Social Media Platforms for your business

Look at our Social Media Training and Social Media Management services

Or

Please call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk

Alex

Alex McCann is owner of Altrincham HQ – a social media management and training company based in Altrincham, Cheshire that has worked with 100s of local business developing their social media strategy. Alex has 350+ LinkedIn testimonials and is ranked number 1 for Social Media Marketing in the UK via independent customer reviews on Freeindex.