Recently, I attended a marketing conference that focused almost entirely on content and social media strategy.
Several sessions, including one of the key-notes, focused on visual marketing and the importance of social sites such as Instagram and Pinterest.
My first instinct was to begin strategizing how Mavidea could utilize these tools to further our social marketing.
As the conference continued and more information was shared about blogging, content writing, call-to-actions, social sites etc. I started feeling a bit overwhelmed and then came to the conclusion that just because a social site exists, does not mean I should be spending my valuable time there! #duh
The key word is TIME
A big change in marketing for many businesses within the last several years is the growing truth that your time is as much or more valuable than your money when it comes to marketing. With the right idea(s), you can create content, engage users, and grow your business with a minimal marketing budget, but the tradeoff is that it requires a BIG time investment!
Like many, you are most likely thinking “this is great! Finally, I can afford to market my business successfully!”
It’s easy to believe that you’ll be able to invest a great deal of time into your marketing strategy, but reality quickly hits you on the head reminding you that you have a limited amount of time and energy to devote to marketing.
Because of this, it’s better to choose a couple social media sites that fit your business and your prospects.
The Content Marketing Institute’s 2014 research concluded that the average B2C business used four social media platforms last year, and B2B used six.
So, which social platforms are right for your business? Let’s look at a couple of the big ones…
Facebook: Currently the most used social platform by B2C businesses, Facebook is generally a great social platform for all businesses! The best content to post on Facebook is anything that gives prospects a sneak peek into your business, including pictures of your team working, having fun, at happy hour and so on. Also, it’s a great place for contests, blog posts, hilarious videos and more. Facebook is great for both B2C and B2B businesses.
Twitter: The fastest growing social platform during 2012-2013, 34% of marketers are using Twitter to successfully generate leads. Businesses have great luck with Twitter, but to make Twitter effective for your business, be sure to post a minimum of 3 times per day and use hashtags to increase engagement.
YouTube: The #2 most visited website, second only to Google.com, having YouTube in your social marketing is a no-brainer for both B2C and B2B. Video marketing is a huge opportunity for businesses and with video trends going towards more organic and casual videos, it’s easier than ever to create video content for your prospects! Plus, every business has a story to tell. YouTube receives 1 billion unique visitors every month – your prospects are definitely on YouTube!
LinkedIn: A great tool for B2B businesses! With over 313 million members, including 3 million businesses with business pages, LinkedIn is a gold mine social media platform for B2B businesses. Make sure your company page is completed and updated consistently. The best content to post on LinkedIn is articles, blog posts, press releases and other professional content.
Pinterest: Visual marketing has begun to really take off, making Pinterest the third largest social media site. More marketers are paying closer attention to Pinterest. Once seen as a social platform mostly for sharing ideas and photos, many businesses have benefited from having a presence on Pinterest. 80% of the content on Pinterest is repins – making it a great place for content to go viral. But is this a great platform for all businesses? No. To effectively use Pinterest, like all social platforms, make sure your audience is on Pinterest and then come up with a visual marketing strategy specifically for Pinterest. Check out Home Depot’s Pinterest page for an example of a big business doing it right.
The biggest take-away is this: Choose a few social media platforms where you know you have enough content to keep them updated, and forget about the rest.
Buffer
Last thing...if you are not sure which social platforms your prospects and customers use most, then start using a tool like Buffer to get the most mileage from your content. With Buffer you can post to several social platforms at once. Once you better identify where your customers and prospects are hanging out, you can choose which, if any, social sites you want to remove from your social marketing plan.
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Another great tool like “Buffer” is “If This Than That” (ifttt.com)