Social media has become one of the most powerful digital marketing tools over the past few years. It provides amazing benefits and allows you to reach millions of customers all over the world. If you’re not already using them for your business, you might want to start right now. You have been missing out on valuable customers and inexpensive marketing.
Some of the benefits of using social media as a digital marketing tool are:
- Improved brand awareness: they can help you reach your target audience and even expand your market.
- Engagement with your customers: social media gives you new opportunities. You can set up two-way communication with your customers and target audience. This can help you win their attention and convey your brand message.
- Improved brand loyalty: having a social media presence makes it easier for your customers to find you and connect with you. That can increase customer retention and customer loyalty.
- Better customer satisfaction: customers appreciate a personalized reply. No one wants to read an automatic one. This allows you to create a voice for your company and generate a good impression.
- Brand authority: being active on social media is crucial. Answering your customers’ messages and posting original content is important as well. This helps create a positive image in your customer’s mind. Satisfied customers translate into word of mouth advertising, which is free advertising.
Now that you know the many benefits of using social media in your business, you are probably wondering what apps you should use. Well, there are many social media apps out there these days. Each of them has a different purpose, characteristics, and audience. Today we are going to talk about the 5 most used social media apps and how they can be useful.
1. Facebook
Facebook is the most popular social media platform in the world. With over 2 billion active users in the first quarter of 2018. India and the United States are the countries with more Facebook users in the world. According to Statista, Facebook is ideal for the online positioning of brands due to its ubiquity and immense reach. There are Facebook fan pages with millions of followers. Some of which feature popular artists, athletes, sports teams and other media figures. Coca-Cola has over 100 million followers and ranks among the leading product brands. According to this same study, photos are the most popular type of content posted by brands on Facebook. Due to the fact, this is a visual-driven social network.
In order for you to build a presence on Facebook, you must offer value to your audience and keep them engaged. How? You have to be creative and post great original content. Some ideas include creating competitions and sharing surveys that ask for their opinion. Interact with your customers by answering each of their messages personally.
2. Instagram
As of December 2017, Instagram had over 800 million users worldwide. This social network, created in 2010, allows users to post pictures and up to 1-minute videos. It has many features people love. Photo editing with filters and frames, a chat called Instagram Direct, and InstaStories to name a few. In 2012 Facebook bought Instagram for 1 billion dollars.
Instagram is all about the visuals. Your brand needs to be recognized easily by your audience. In their endless stream of Instagram posts, you need to stand out. Follow 3 simple tips: create visuals with a consistent style and quality. Stick to a color scheme that represents your brand. Don’t overcrowd your photos and captions with text. And don’t forget to connect with industry influencers, bloggers, and partners who can promote your page.
3. Twitter
In the first quarter of 2018, Twitter reached 336 million active users, according to Statista. This is a microblogging platform created in 2007. It allows you to post short text messages of no more than 280 characters, as well as photos and videos.
Twitter gives you the possibility of reaching a high number of potential customers. Mainly through retweeted messages from your followers. This is why your tweets should focus on establishing connections rather than promoting your brand. Interacting with your customers is crucial. Show interest in their opinions. Provide them with relevant information about your brand. Show them you want to improve your services and products.
4. Pinterest
As of January 2018, Pinterest had 175 million active users. This is an image sharing platform used to create and manage collections of images. For example; events, hobbies, movies, art, etc, in thematic boards. Its name is derived from the words “pin” and “interest”. The functionality of this platform follows the metaphor of boards in which you can pin what interests you.
The essential user benefit of this social network is that it is pictorial and panel oriented. It is very easy to move from topic to topic. The text content is minimal and you’re not forced to a certain order of browsing. You can tell that it’s very different from the platforms we’ve covered up until now. In order for your Pinterest strategy to work you need to create great visual content. Don’t try too hard to promote your brand, which will only drive followers away. A great tip is to demonstrate expertise on a topic and become the go-to account for a certain subject. If it is related to your brand, it has the potential to bring in new customers.
5. Snapchat
With over 191 million daily active users, Snapchat is the 5th most used social media app out there. Snapchat is a platform whose main identity is based on ephemeral messaging. Images and messages are only available for a certain amount of time. Photos and videos posted on stories disappear after 24 hours.
Marketing through snapchat requires you to be more creative than other platforms. It doesn’t take a lot of effort or budget. Some strategies you can use include sharing “behind the scenes” footage. What’s going on in the office, or after hours? This can allow you to share the personality of your brand and give customers exclusive insight. You can also offer coupons or discounts, flash sales that they have to grab in less than 24 hours.
With these strategies, you can get your online marketing campaign started. You can start taking advantage of social media. Marketing through social media can bring many benefits to your brand. You need to remember every social network is different and you have to create unique strategies for each of them. A good idea is to contact a social media agency to help you through the process.
Do you have any questions about digital marketing through social media? If you’d like to share or suggest something, please leave a comment below.
