In the dreams of a businessperson, a bodiless eternal voice spoke out.
“I am the world’s largest stage. I accommodate both the spectators and performers on me.”
“My stage doesn’t have a limit. I keep growing when people use me.”
The businessman keeps thinking.
“In my stage, your voice is audible, even when you are in the midst of a billion humans.”
It opens up, “I am chanted as the social media platform.”
Physical platforms express the entertaining noise
Social media platforms build your business voice
Social media platform is a website based interactive platform to deploy, control and manage social media solutions. In it, you can create and maintain social media pages for your business.
Social media platforms have unlimited potential still unutilized. It has enabled many businesses to build a real image of their offerings.
“Build it, and they will come” only works in the movies. Social Media is a “built it,” nurture it, engage them, and they may come & stay.”- Seth Godin
Without a doubt, businesses have created a unique style, selling point, marketing, and a voice for themselves with social media platforms.
How to select the social media platform ideal for your business?
As a businessman, sales or marketing professional, you are in a never-ending battle to find the social media platform that is ideal for your business.
Its hi-time we solve it here!
i. Target audience:
You must find answers to different questions of your target audience to choose a sound social media platform. Finding the demographic elements relating to the social media engagement is helpful too.
You must conduct the target audience research with the help of social media platform expert. Based on their report and insight, you can construct your strategies.
The target audience you engage depends upon the types of social media platforms they prefer.
The different social media platforms are of five categories. They are;
- Social networking sites
- Image sharing and messaging sites
- Video sharing sites
- Social blogging
- Social community and discussion sites
ii. Type of business:
Analyzing your business, you must decide your marketing on social media platforms. The b2b and b2c businesses require different approaches on different social sites.
iii. Benefits and features of social media platforms:
As a businessman, who is planning to invest in social media marketing, you must compare and review the different social media platforms. It depends on your brand and goals.
Social media platforms that are useful for different businesses:
iv. Resources and skills of the organizations:
It is entirely essential that you have all the resources and skills necessary to engage your audience. Every social media platform requires different skills to reach the target audience.
You must work your way through the social media plan, and ensure that you have essential skills and resources to deal with it.
v. Objectives and goals on social media:
From your target audience report on social media platforms, you must make a business audit to fill the existing gaps in your social media plan.
You must focus on the social media platforms that help in increasing engagement with your audience, rather than the goal of attaining some followers.
It would help if you kept in mind that an engaged audience can convert to deals rather than just the larger audience.
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Business gaps to work on the social media platform:
- Growing customer base
- Improving customer loyalty and customer service
- Customer feedback channels
- Updating customers for the new products, deals, and services
- Informal market research
3 Social Media Platforms ideal for business:
Think about this for a moment. You have sweated blood to conduct intensive and extensive research for finding out the ideal strategies for social media platforms.
Deep down you have a question about whether the present trends would work well for the future? Let’s check it here.
We are showing the present and future social media platforms ideal for business. They are based on changing trends and user convenience.
Businesses that gained with Facebook
i. HubSpot:
HubSpot had won in Facebook through successfully engaging the audience by distributing their content. They portray themselves as an “all-in-one marketing solution” and deliver on brand promises with 350,000 loyal followers on this social media platform.
ii. Intel:
Intel used Facebook as a tool to cut out the inconveniences caused due to intermediaries. They aimed to sell their microchips to the customers from the b2b social media platform. Their homepage has more than 35 million likes.
iii. Salesforce:
Salesforce created Facebook content that offered tribute to their employees. They celebrated their team efforts on this social media paltform when they reached a one million milestone and termed themselves “the company behind the world’s #1 CRM solution.”
iv. Dove:
Dove created an inspiring video and publicized on Facebook. They asked their audience on this social media platform to talk about people who meant something to them and tag them. It improved their engagement of timeline contest.
v. Oreo:
Oreo adds an image and shares a tip that tells a story about their brand or the customers on this social media platform.
Why businesses rely less on social media platform like Facebook?
Over 80% of users said that they either rarely or never click Facebook ads, while 32% said that promoted posts should not exist.
i. Social media oversaturated:
If you do not have a dynamic and customized message in Facebook your business will suffer in some way or the other.
ii. Personal and business accounts:
Facebook has a setback where you cannot distinguish your personal and professional account.
iii. Pay to connect:
Facebook requires you to pay if you post any business ads. Reports on this social media platform specifies that you can reach only 16 percent of the audience for business.
iv. The aftermath of random posts:
The random postings consisting of positive or negative reviews over this social media platform can affect the credibility of your business.
v. Limited reach:
Facebook related brands cannot reach their communities without paying for their content. They need to repay to re-pitch their products on this social media platform.
1%-5% of people who liked your page will view your updates. You need to pay between $5- $300 to reach 500-50,000 people beyond your fans circle.
Businesses that gained with Twitter
i. Amazon:
Amazon tweets about different products they sell. With their products, they tweet helpful blog posts to educate and inform their audience. They have an engaged community of customers on the social media platform who they encourage to take up Prime membership.
ii. Microsoft:
The Xbox support feed in Microsoft Twitter page held the world record for the most responsive brand on this social media platform. They offer customer service and brand loyalty and reply to more than 100 tweets per day.
iii. VMware:
VMware focuses on the industry-level approach. They have a separate @VMwareNews profile to maintain a VMware specific persona. This social media platform offers webcast and live sessions to keep them in touch with their product.
iv. Sony:
Sony is involved in cross-products. They conduct cross-promotion to other Twitter accounts or social media platforms and share high-quality and eye-catching content on their Twitter page.
v. McDonald’s:
McDonald’s uses Twitter cover photo to promote having breakfast all day. They created a hashtag for it, and their updates on this social media platform are uplifting.
73% of Twitter users shop online each month (compared to 69% of Facebook users). – GlobalWebIndex
Why should businesses use Twitter as their social media platform?
i. Reach target audience:
Twitter has immense viral potential. You can target the most specific audience. A retweet from a famous person can give your tweet activity a reach of ten or thousand customers.
ii. Direct personal engagement:
Twitter has a customized option of interacting with customers on a more personal level. Direct private message with the customer can have a significant impact on your business.
“6% of marketers are planning to increase their use of Twitter this year; compared this to the 62% who are going to increase their Facebook usage. – Social Media Examiner report, 2018.”
iii. Website links:
You can build useful website links or backlinks on this social media platform. The backlinks, in turn, may also drive more engagement.
iv. Product updates:
Twitter can immediately offer the news to a large number of people on your product updates. They possess and enhance responsiveness.
“74% of people who follow a brand on Twitter do so to get product updates.” – Twitter
v. Authority:
You can build your authority when you are actively engaged in the Twitter chat. It can give you valuable and potential business contacts, from your industry.
vi. Level playing field:
Twitter provides that equal opportunity to all their users to drive their audience. Every member of this social media platform has the potential to get millions of followers.
vii. Coping with the competitors:
You can monitor your competitors’ Twitter presence to analyze their marketing strategies and customer insights. You can also gain valuable lessons on their techniques and experimentation on approaching the audience.
“36% of businesses have used Twitter to generate leads.”- HubSpot (State of Inbound, 2018)
viii. Influencer connects:
With the help of Influencers on Twitter from your industry, you can quickly build your customer base. Influencers are just the big treasure, who have more room to increase your audience involvement.
“LinkedIn gets over 1 million searches a day.”-LinkedIn
Businesses that gained with LinkedIn
i. Adobe:
Creative team in Adobe share new videos in their LinkedIn page which show the insights to customers on how they work.
ii. Evernote:
Evernote uses their company pages to make useful discussions. Their LinkedIn page has a community forum and troubleshooting message board.
iii. IBM:
IBM promotes a nice mix of stories from around the world and from their content hub. They also cross-promote Tumblr posts and hashtag campaigns in their LinkedIn page.
“49% of key decision makers are in LinkedIn.”- LinkedIn
iv. Mashable:
This social media platform mostly posts business and productivity-related tips on their LinkedIn page. They consider business-related topics, even when they make a silly post.
v. L’Oréal:
L’Oréal makes customized and user-specific content for their different products like Lancôme, Yves Saint Laurent, and Redken and so on. They engage and share relevant content with each of their specific target audiences.
What weakens LinkedIn?
i. Old profiles:
An old LinkedIn company profile can adversely affect your business. The accounts on this social media platform seem to take more time to respond.
ii. Emotional Quotient:
LinkedIn shows the Intelligent Quotient of the candidate who is searching for a job, a marketer for a Lead generation, etc. This social media platform does not support any format for writing the much-required profiles for business.
iii. Commonality:
LinkedIn is ridden with age-old practices of marketing. Only a stand-out content would have higher visibility on this social media platform. Having a spammy content will be in the same place as earlier.
Businesses that gained with Instagram:
i. MailChimp:
MailChimp plans their Instagram strategies very carefully. They do amazing illustrations and pop-art. It does its promotions and designs with a design-centric team. They have a fun, mischievous and timely hashtag.
ii. Intel:
Intel’s Instagram marketing focuses on new and current customers. They also show how a b2b business can focus on its semiconductor business and look after their Instagram marketing.
“Intel alone has gained over 1.1 million followers by highlighting its company voice while showcasing technology products”- Intel Instagram account.
iii. Oracle:
Oracle does a thought-provoking commentary on technology and future of it. Their image contains some humor and personality.
iv. Tesla:
Tesla has an Instagram account that is product heavy. They provide smallest or minutest details about their cars on Instagram, and they don’t portray mere They have visually appealing images, and their Instagram account has professional quality photos.
v. National Geographic:
National Geographic has contributors all over the world for the most number of intriguing photos. They reached more than 53 million followers in 2016.
Eight hundred million people from 195 countries access Instagram each month. Almost 11% of them, i.e., 86 million, follow National Geographic- National Geographic Instagram account.
Why should businesses opt for Instagram as their social media platform?
“Over 1 billion people use Instagram.”- Monthly active Instagram Users Jan 2013 to June 2018.
i. Visual trigger with branded images:
If it is Instagram, it means images and not just words. They must provide visual appeal and not just stop at that- It must trigger the humans.
Humans think something in the form of images before they put them to words and actions. You need to create photos, and videos on a regular basis to this social media platform.
ii. Smooth scrolling and tagging:
Scrolling and tagging are user-friendly on The previous posts of the products are placed on a grid which makes it easy for the user to search for images, and you can share multiple photos in a single post.
In Twitter, using too many hashtags are spammy. On Instagram, you can use hashtags an unlimited number of times. You can post them on comments, or suggestions to increase your views. You can also link product hashtags or links to your website or online store.
iii. Mass interaction platform:
You can share your latest stories in DM and archive your most recent posts over this social media platform. A carefully crafted Instagram strategy can build brand awareness for your business.
“95% of US Instagrammers use YouTube.”- Pew Research Survey of US adults 2018
iv. Feedback and insights:
With the Instagram images and posts, people would talk about your products on different social media platforms. They can even refer your products and drive more customers to your business.
It also has a comment block filter feature to keep your page safe from spammy reviews and maintain the positivity of your page.
“There are 25 million business profiles that users visit and 2 million monthly advertisers on Instagram.” – Instagram, 2018
v. Competitor watch:
You can discover some of the best practices in your industry and design a creative strategy for your brand when you observe your competitors Instagram activities and followers.
vi. Micro-influencers:
Partnering with the influential Instagrammers who have followers from 1000 to 9999 people can boost up your product sales. You can build relationships with them to engage more audience for your business.
vii. User-generated content:
Instagram adds value to your business, and its User-generated content can pull other viewers or users to become your customers. Based on their likes, shares on this social media platform, your product can increase referrals.
“Users engage on an average 53 minutes a day on the Android Instagram.”- SimilarWeb, 2018
Businesses that gained with YouTube:
i. Cisco:
Cisco balances its education and entertainment content with the right mix. They make short promotional content videos and also possess videos divided into themes and business lines. They are not direct sales videos as they also show how their solutions work.
ii. AutoDesk:
AutoDesk publishes tutorials to help the youth learn new skills related to software. Their videos promote web or graphic design as a career or hobby. They focus on stories and brands built upon virtual reality.
iii. HP:
HP creates fun and official videos that the fans of their tech videos and fans of their partners could enjoy it.
iv. Walmart:
Walmart’s videos include easy recipes, new product tutorials, blogger partner contributing their reviews and so on. They have a good variety of content.
v. Red Bull:
Red Bull portrays a lifestyle that their target audience lives when they do YouTube videos. Their product is an energy drink, and they either have athletes or other risk-takers as their customers. They explain the life that the target audience would have after using their product over this social media platform.
“There are 30 million daily YouTube viewers worldwide.”- Dustn.tv
Why should businesses use YouTube as their social media platform?
i. Free social media platform:
Creating a YouTube channel is free. All one needs is a Google account, with which, you can create a YouTube account. It would be best if you had some camera, video creation and editing tools, and long-term content with channel promotion.
ii. Ever-growing platform:
YouTube is progressively growing as users have easy, and free access to videos on 6/10 people prefer online video platforms to live TV, and businesses stand to gain with promotional and educational videos on this social media platform.
“300 Hours of the video is uploaded on YouTube per minute.”- VAB Data, 2017
https://influencermarketinghub.com/12-best-types-of-youtube-content/
iii. Awareness and credibility:
With a YouTube business page, you can build credibility related to your niche. You can advise, show behind the scenes of the business. When you possess a YouTube channel, it means you influence the viewers’ decisions through visuals.
iv. Connect deeply:
YouTube is one of the best social media platforms to build a deep connection with your audience. You can get your first clients, help established brands grow their business by running a YouTube channel.
“78% of marketers say video gives them a good ROI.”- Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing 2018
v. Visibility:
YouTube and Google are conglomerates. YouTube videos appear in Google search engine. They provide long-term visibility and also offer new relevant customers to find your product. A highly ranked video search can give an extra boost to your business.
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“Video will represent 80% of all internet traffic by 2021.”-Cisco Visual Networking Index 2017
vi. Social shares:
Social networks encourage video content with enhanced features. When you share 60-second stories on YouTube or Instagram, it is likely to attract more shares and likes.
“Social video generates 1200% more shares than text and images combined.”- WordStream video marketing statistics, 2018
vii. Business with trust:
Effective marketing and promotional YouTube videos in a conversational form trigger the user to turn into your customer. They build trust and confidence in a customer to buy a product.
viii. Engage the laziest customers:
Animated videos with entertainment, nostalgia, and simplicity on this social media platform can help you engage even the laziest of the audience to approach your product. A modern customer wants to see a product in action that reaches their eyes and ears.
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Conclusion:
“You should initiate building your social media platform the moment you decide you’re going to sell something, whether that will be in 2 days or 200 days from now.” – Guy Kawasaki
After we have discussed on what social media platforms can gain more for your business, it’s time to try out. If you wish to have more suggestions on social media platforms and other exciting strategies, connect to us through www.webcaptive.com.
