We’re back with Tip #3 of Boosting Your Business Using Social Media ~ on ongoing, 5-part series that helps you small business owners out there that are look for easy & quick ways to make social media more effective for you! Be sure to read Tip 1 and Tip 2 if you missed them! Part 3, today’s post, focuses on the importance of diversifying the social media platforms you use. You really shouldn’t put all your eggs in 1 social media platform because the different platforms are most effective when used differently. Using multiple platforms will help you reach a wider and more varied audience which will help to boost your business/brand.
Before we get started, let’s get the #1 thing I hear out of the way. “I don’t have time for all these social media platforms.” Yes, social media marketing is TIME CONSUMING. But it’s also FREE marketing. And though it takes time, there can be a method to the madness – thus the Condescending Wonka meme. You DO need a strategy for using the platforms effectively so you aren’t wasting your time.
So first, decide which platforms you want to use, and then start using them in their different ways. Different people might have different opinions on the platforms, but personally I have found the following:
I could probably talk to you guys in depth about how to use each one of these platforms but really the point of this slide isn’t to do that, it’s to say that you do need to have SOME sort of strategy when you think about the social media apps you use and how you are using them. This goes hand in hand with the “I don’t have time” comments. That is fine (and true AND understbandable) so I would advise you to think about which platforms might give you the biggest returns and then select just a few to use strategically, instead of trying to half-ass all of them.
I’ve also personally found that using the platforms the same can be ineffective. If you post the same content across ALL the platforms, chances are you are not using each social media app to its fullest potential. So for me personally, I use these platforms:
Twitter: I get MINIMAL clicks to the blog on Twitter when I post my blog posts (even with pictures!). There is just TOO MUCH in a Twitter feed and most people don’t click away from Twitter (as often as they do on Facebook). So I have found Twitter to be more effective in networking and finding answers to my questions, instead of getting people to the blog.
Facebook: sharing IMAGES and links to blog posts. You will note that engaging posts with images get far more views than text only posts on Facebook. You will also note that re-sharing the same post over and over will not get you very many views. I’ll talk more next time about my love/hate with Facebook (and how I get success there).
Instagram: sharing IMAGES (Facebook owns Instagram, you know that right? So you see the correlation here? Images!). Again, not a lot of clicking going on here (thanks to Instagram not really allowing URLs within posts or on images) but Instagram is a great place to share your brand and use HASHTAGS to boost your business. Try to post a few times a day and try to make sure the image is clear and explains what you are sharing.
Pinterest: this is my NUMBER ONE source of traffic. I pin most images from my blog posts and I keep SEARCH in mind. I (yes this is insanely time consuming) re-write every pin to have the text explain what the image is because people use Pinterest to SEARCH. So if they want to find “DC weddings at Josephine Butler Parks Center”, I need to make sure my images have that text as my image description!! This one takes the most time, but also shows me the best returns.
Youtube: I am new to this one! But here is where you can setup a channel and start pushing your video content
In sum, as I said before, you don’t have to use them all, but as the great Ron Swanson once said, don’t half ass two things, whole ass one thing – and what that really means is don’t try to be on every single social media platform just to say you are. It will be much more beneficial to your brand/business if you pick 2 or 3 and use them strategically.
