Choosing the Best Social Media Sites for Your Business
Plus, more important than quantity is quality€"keeping your audience engaged. Even if you've joined a dozen sites, if none of these work to widen your reach, turn contacts into customers, and boost your sales, your efforts would be in vain.
And because it's recommended that you join only two to three social media sites, you have to be very picky. You have to choose those that will work best to your advantage and give you what you need. Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ may be on top of the list of popular social media sites but this is not a sure guarantee that they can help your business online. To make the right choice, you must first understand the different types of social media.
The three types of social media:
· Communication - Under this category, we have blogs and micro-blogging sites, which provide venue for updating content in the form of text, video or graphics. It also gives the opportunity to write about a specific topic while allowing people to give comments and interact with the content provider. Examples include WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, Twitter, Tumblr, TypePad, and Posterous. Another subcategory is social networking, which involves an online community that connects by sharing content, interests and activities. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Meetup are some examples.
· Multimedia - Multimedia sites are for sharing and distributing multimedia content such as photos, videos, and audio. Flickr, YouTube, Skype, Photobucket, and Pinterest are some social media sites that fall under this category.
· Collaboration - The third type include wikis and social bookmarking sites. Wikis follow the same concept as the encyclopedia, providing a wealth of information about different topics. It allows for creating and editing of informative content. Wikipedia is the number one example. Social bookmarking sites, meanwhile, lets users store, organize, manage, and share web pages found on the internet. StumbleUpon, Delicious, Digg, Google Reader, and Reddit are top social bookmarking sites.
Now that you know the basic types of social media sites, the next step is to know which factors to consider. Ask yourself these following questions:
Where are your potential customers?
Each social media site has its own unique culture, attracting a specific sector of consumers. LinkedIn, for example, caters to professionals, and would be your best bet if these are the people you want to reach out to. Younger casual netizens, meanwhile, can be found on Facebook and Twitter.
What type of content do you want to share?
Social media sites use different architectural structures, meaning each has its own way of letting users share content. Are you looking into video marketing? YouTube is the top option. Pinterest and Instagram are great for those who'll be sharing lots of photos to attract customers. For text and links, Twitter and Facebook are the ideal platforms.
How much time and budget do you have?
Time and budget also play a role in your decision. You'd have to study the sites' features as well as marketing platforms. While some provide free advertising, others require a fee. Some sites are more time-consuming to manage while others would only take a fraction of your time to use and maintain.
Understanding the different structures of social media and considering the abovementioned factors can help you land the best choices for your social media marketing needs.
socialmediabar.com/garys-blog
And because it's recommended that you join only two to three social media sites, you have to be very picky. You have to choose those that will work best to your advantage and give you what you need. Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ may be on top of the list of popular social media sites but this is not a sure guarantee that they can help your business online. To make the right choice, you must first understand the different types of social media.
The three types of social media:
· Communication - Under this category, we have blogs and micro-blogging sites, which provide venue for updating content in the form of text, video or graphics. It also gives the opportunity to write about a specific topic while allowing people to give comments and interact with the content provider. Examples include WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, Twitter, Tumblr, TypePad, and Posterous. Another subcategory is social networking, which involves an online community that connects by sharing content, interests and activities. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Meetup are some examples.
· Multimedia - Multimedia sites are for sharing and distributing multimedia content such as photos, videos, and audio. Flickr, YouTube, Skype, Photobucket, and Pinterest are some social media sites that fall under this category.
· Collaboration - The third type include wikis and social bookmarking sites. Wikis follow the same concept as the encyclopedia, providing a wealth of information about different topics. It allows for creating and editing of informative content. Wikipedia is the number one example. Social bookmarking sites, meanwhile, lets users store, organize, manage, and share web pages found on the internet. StumbleUpon, Delicious, Digg, Google Reader, and Reddit are top social bookmarking sites.
Now that you know the basic types of social media sites, the next step is to know which factors to consider. Ask yourself these following questions:
Where are your potential customers?
Each social media site has its own unique culture, attracting a specific sector of consumers. LinkedIn, for example, caters to professionals, and would be your best bet if these are the people you want to reach out to. Younger casual netizens, meanwhile, can be found on Facebook and Twitter.
What type of content do you want to share?
Social media sites use different architectural structures, meaning each has its own way of letting users share content. Are you looking into video marketing? YouTube is the top option. Pinterest and Instagram are great for those who'll be sharing lots of photos to attract customers. For text and links, Twitter and Facebook are the ideal platforms.
How much time and budget do you have?
Time and budget also play a role in your decision. You'd have to study the sites' features as well as marketing platforms. While some provide free advertising, others require a fee. Some sites are more time-consuming to manage while others would only take a fraction of your time to use and maintain.
Understanding the different structures of social media and considering the abovementioned factors can help you land the best choices for your social media marketing needs.
socialmediabar.com/garys-blog
