By BuildMyBiz on October 9th, 2013
October 9, 2013 in Sales and Marketing
It’s no surprise that small business marketing efforts have become heavily reliant on social media campaigns. Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook offer cost-effective consumer and client access points that make promoting a company easier than ever before.
Despite the widespread use of these platforms by startup leaders, some business owners might not be optimizing the impact social media can have on sales and audience exposure. USA Today noted that not every social media platform is tailored to each company or industry.
For example, a consumer-focused organization may want to focus on using Facebook to interact with a massive customer base. On the other hand, a B2B enterprise would be better off using LinkedIn to network with large-scale clients in a professional setting.
This highlights one of the often overlooked truths about social media: Each channel is different from the next. Certainly, businesses want to maintain their brand’s voice from medium to medium, but they also need to realize that what works on one channel may not fully translate to other social platforms.
Also, different social channels require various time commitments from small businesses to be effective. On LinkedIn, it’s not a big deal to stay off the site for a day or two, as interactions on the site are usually short and to the point. However, staying off Twitter for a prolonged period could make followers lose interest with an account, especially considering that other tweeters tend to be extremely active. When it comes to social media, it’s all about embracing the culture of each platform, and a large part of that is finding the proper level of activity. If an owner doesn’t believe that he or she can set aside the necessary time to be an effective Twitter user, it might be best to hold off on using the site until time commitments decline.
Get involved to dictate terms
Simply avoiding the use of social media is a mistake. According to The Republic, consumers are using Internet-based mediums to comment, critique and compliment businesses at an accelerated rate. Although this can be advantageous, one poor review or comment can go viral, as was the case with a video of a musician complaining that United Airlines failed to compensate him for breaking his guitar, the source noted.
Without a social media presence, businesses can not respond to such issues. In these instances, companies allow others to dictate their brand. For this reason, getting involved in social media is central to marketing in the modern world.
Source: http://buildmybiz.com/deciding-social-media-platforms-right-small-business-marketing/
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