Social Networking is an established practice in companies and it is considered to be an integral part of online marketing. With the number of social networking sites on the rise and each one offering a different service and catering to a different audience, where do you draw the line? As a business, you cannot afford to spend infinite time maintaining your social networking sites. So which ones can you leverage to maximise the efficiency and ROI of your company?
We have compiled a list of the top five social networking sites that we feel are important for companies to consider when drafting your social media strategy. These sites are the absolute must haves for any company.
Facebook – This social networking site has become the de facto site for all business, companies and even cottage industries. With close to 900 million users, Facebook is the ultimate market place to sell you products and services. Having a Facebook page not only increases the trust your consumers have in you, it is also a great referral marketing platform
- Source : – http://www.socialbakers.com/countries/continents
- Twitter – You can think of Twitter like a teaser campaign. This social networking sites acts as a medium to advertise your product in 140 characters or less. The tweet should be crafted in such a way that it entices the viewer to the main show – your website. It is the ultimate lead generation site, if used properly. But the down side is that you have an extremely short time span (less than 2 mins) before your tweet becomes history. You should also look at peak engagement times, to increase the chances of interaction.
- Source : – http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/twitter-top-countries_b26726
- LinkedIn – This is a one of its kind business networking platform. Catering pre dominantly for B2B networking. This is your rolodex online. Businesses and people who are all looking to network are on LinkedIn. This is a must have to not just for making business contacts and connecting to new suppliers and vendors. But it is also a great recruitment tool. There is also an on-going debate about whether LinkedIn is a lot safer for business than Facebook. It is however a lot more of a targeted audience than Facebook. A recent survey revealed that LinkedIn is the most effective B2B social media platform.
- Source : – http://www.business2community.com/social-media/the-statistics-behind-b2b-social-media-marketing-0251200
- YouTube – This is second only to Google and is the second largest search engine in the world. This platform is an effective manner of merging traditional TV advertising with social media. Use your YouTube channels to publish your advertisement, case studies and success stories. Being an extremely visual medium, it is a great way to connect with your audience and gain success virally. The channel attracts over 4 billion video views a month. This is the perfect marketing outlet for any company.
- Source : – http://cdn2.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/YouTube-Infographic.jpg(Produced By freemake.com)
- Pinterest – This might be a surprising inclusion for some. But looking at the trend in social media and the attention that it is attracting, we feel it’s a must have for any company. Comscore too recently published a survey on how “Pinterest is disrupting the social media landscape”. It is a visual media by way of pictures but it generates greater referral traffic than any of the mainstream social media platforms apart from Facebook.
- Source : – http://www.conversity.be/blog/comscore-pinterest-is-disrupting-the-social-media-landscape/
- Noteworthy mentions : — Flickr – A visually appealing tool that can act as your business album.
– Google+ – Since the executives at Google+ have commented that this is not a social network but more a Google upgrade, we have not included in the list of social networking sites. But this does not diminish its importance for your business and your search engine optimisation. You should certainly consider this a staple part of your search engine optimisation strategy.
Social Media Business Consultant | Social.Local.Mobile Marketing-Strategist| Speaker | Trainer
Based in Sydney, Australia, Logan has been an avid & passionate social media user since the advent of Facebook. As the Social Media Business Consultant with over 30 years’ experience in corporate, SME business, together with running his own organisation for the past seven years. Logan is focused on guiding organisations through the four stages of social media for business – Education, Strategy, Implementation and On-going Management. If your business needs expert assistance on creating a custom Social Media and Search Engine Optimisation Strategy, contact us via logan@logannathan.com. Logan is also an expert on LinkedIn and is running a series of workshops over the next few months. To Register: – http://www.ictsocialbusiness.com.au/social_media_education/social-media-training-workshop/Getting-leads-from-LinkedIn
Stay tuned for more developments from Logan’s company.
