A Guide To Choosing The Best Social Media Channel For A Business – Part 2

Businesses today have a dire need to stand out in terms of social media marketing. And why wouldn’t they? With the ever so growing competition and new channels emerging daily, being unique is a challenge. It requires constant efforts.

I elaborated how Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest can be used to leverage results in my earlier post, A Guide to choosing the Best Social Media Channel for a Business – Part 1. Let’s see how the remaining channels can benefit your business in achieving optimum results.

LinkedIn

While LinkedIn may seem to have been compared to various B2C social platforms, in fact, it helps in cultivating solid B2B relationships. So you know if you want to make vendor connections or get updates on a particular industry of your interest, LinkedIn is where you head to. From the concept of a static resume, it has evolved into providing a network of valuable business connections, raise awareness and share knowledge and expertise. Finding skilled employees is a function that has gotten better with time as more and more people are improving their profiles.

So a quick summary of what you can do with LinkedIn: Publish a long-form post to share away knowledge and have it added to your profile. It is also searchable on LinkedIn as well. Join LinkedIn groups that are relevant to your business for credibility and networking opportunities. Lastly, enhance the profile to get in touch with the right people, be it employees or employers.

YouTube

Looking for reaching out to the audience by means of videos and live streaming? YouTube is the answer to your prayers. This is where more than half of the world looks for videos. The purpose of the videos may be for connecting with the audience by means of interaction and engagement. While its sole purpose may sound like a TV but trust me, it’s more than just a TV.

Share away tutorials, fun videos at work, product videos or new promotions on YouTube to grab the attention of your audience. There’s no certain set of rules, it is all just experimenting and what you deem fit to your audience for this channel. While some may think merely product branding would work fine, others post videos of how employees are having fun at work or perhaps an interview with an industry professional.

Instagram

As visual marketing is getting its fair share in the world of visual marketing, Instagram took the world by storm. Its popularity is massive and brands are going totally insane as they experiment photos, short videos in an effort to encourage interaction and delight their customers. As if just that wasn’t enough, Instagram decided on shedding light on a more humane side of the brands and businesses.

So what really sets this apart from Facebook or any other channel that allows picture or video sharing? The image goes first and the text later. So a tip here is to make use of aesthetically creative images that are real head-turners, followed by text. Given our decreasing attention spans, we take visuals more seriously. And if the visuals are so compelling as to make the visitor read the text that follows, bravo! You’re a real winner here! If you think you can get creative with visuals and your business is surrounded via the concept, so share away eye-catching visual content on Instagram.

Google Plus

When it came in, it was supposed to replace at least part of Facebook or become a positive substitute for it. Or at least that’s what it thought it could become. However, the planning got hit with bad press and down went the Google Plus. The results do seem a bit lucrative when compared to the past two years, given the climb it has taken. It has developed its own set of key benefits to the businesses that plan on staying as it has fairly positioned itself as a relationship building platform.

So only the ones who have Gmail as their personal favorite will have a presence on Google Plus? Nope. If you want to open doors to new markets for your business, Google Plus is the place to be. Why? Because it has no barriers when it comes to connecting with the world. Get in touch with experts from various different industries, connect with like-minded individuals and join communities to meet with people carrying similar interests all over the world.

Final Words

So you now have a complete set of the most prominent channels that are dominating the world. Leverage them at their best and see what fits your business need. Remember, you don’t have to be everywhere but just the places your target audience likes to visit.

To be a successful marketer you have to say no to generic and get your hands on the specific. It will help you to gain popularity on your niche first and then the rest of the world. So do your research and choose the social media sites that are right for you.