Social media platforms help you understand your prospects and convert them into loyal customers.
Get social to be successful
Social media are one of the three pillars of content marketing and using some form of them is essential to your business and its success. They let you:
- listen to your customers and develop better products for them. These products will also be more profitable for you.
- assist your clients with outstanding customer service. Or just to converse with them.
- drive traffic to your website so you can convert visitors into customers.
- demonstrate your authority, expertise, and trustworthiness.
- help make the world and the lives of your clients better.
- develop relationships and deepen customer loyalty.
- increase awareness of your brand.
- and so much more
This post provides you with the resources for developing a successful social media strategy. Read it now and bookmark it so you can reference it anytime your business needs some social media success.
You should determine which social media platforms are most appropriate for your company as part of an overall content marketing strategy. The posts linked to here can help you make those determinations. They contain detailed resources for learning about the myriad of social media platforms and what each one can do for your marketing efforts.
Social media marketing is a field that changes daily if not hourly. Consequently, I’ve updated my older posts on the social media platforms that are most useful for small business.
Social Selling
One of the most significant benefits of using social media is increasing the effectiveness of your sales process. It is a very efficient method to research prospects, connect with them, and then demonstrate your authority, expertise, and trustworthiness. Buffer has an informative post with detailed demographics for the various social media platforms.
See my post: Can social selling turn you into a rainmaker?
Pinterest is the fastest growing social media platform with some incredible upside for driving increases in your revenue. It is one of the first visually oriented social mediums, and that is why it is so strong. It primarily appeals to women, but males’ use of Pinterest is on the upswing.
See my updated post: What your business can get from Pinterest.
I have to admit I am a Facebook hater. I only use it personally under duress from my “real friends”. I also question its effectiveness for most B2B companies. It has devolved (not developed) into a pay-to-play platform where 98% of your followers don’t even see your content. However, it can work for some B2C small businesses if they are willing to advertise on it. Especially if your products are personal in nature such as health, fitness, cupcakes, etc..
Twitter is one of my favorite social media platforms. If used correctly, it is the most useful for educating yourself in your area(s) of expertise and listening to your prospects and clients. It is also a vital social selling tool.
See my updated post: The Essentials of Twitter Marketing.
The most beneficial platform for marketing your B2B business is LinkedIn. It can power your social selling efforts like no other social medium. LinkedIn is also a fantastic resource for developing thought leadership in your industry. And it is the best way to connect with real professionals that may eventually do business with you. The content shared on the platform is also likely to be the most useful for you as a small business owner.
LinkedIn also owns Slideshare, an effective platform that I won’t cover here but will in the future.
See my updated post: The Essentials of a LinkedIn Marketing Strategy.
Summing it up
Currently, these four along with Instagram are the big five social media platforms but there are up and comers like Tumblr and Snapchat. You don’t have to be on all these platforms, and there is a lot of information to digest if you want to develop a successful social media strategy. However, it is worth the effort in the long run and can pay big dividends. We are here to help, so please contact me with any questions.
Thanks for reading.
Reuben Walker
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Image courtesy of MsSaraKelly via Creative Commons License. Sepia tone added.
Reuben Walker
Reuben is Ringmaster of Mobile Atom Media and its division Mobile Atom Code. In addition to his content specialties, he is also a full-stack developer.
An ABJ graduate of the University of Georgia and MA graduate of Georgia State University he lives in Orlando, FL with his wife and English labrador. He received his full-stack certification from the University of Central Florida.
For great curated and original content on entrepreneurship, content, design, and code follow him on the social media platform of your choice via the icons in this site’s footer. Or join the 42,318+ followers of his Flipboard Magazines.