Roughly around the early 2000s is about when social media took the internet by storm. Boy, it has been an ever growing storm since!
Check out these current statistics from the Pew Research Internet Project1:
∙ 74% of online adults use social networking sites as of January 2014.
∙ 19% of online adults use Twitter (January 2014)
∙ 71% of online adults use Facebook (Sept '13)
∙ 21% use Pinterest (Sept '13)
As we analyze these statistics we may think to ourselves:
How do I leverage today's social media users for my business?
How do I gain and retain quality followers?
How do I mold the social media to my advantage as a business driver?
These are all excellent questions, which we will address regarding several of the top social networking sites of today. There are many ways in which these questions may be answered, here are a few suggestions:
Keywords: Use keywords in the titles and descriptions of pins and boards
Visuals: Never leave a pin without a picture or info graphic and use attractive pictures as the cover photos of boards to entice the pinner to look further.
Links: Including links is as easy as copying and pasting into the source or description of the pin. Also be sure to share on all relevant social media networks.
Boards: Create organized and collaborating boards. Boards say a lot about the owner of the Pinterest. Therefore, make sure the boards are professional and relevant to your business and pinner interests.
Followers: Put yourself in their shoes, think of what they want and share great content catered to them. Don't be afraid to interact with your audience. Reach out and follow the influencers that will spread your product through their channels.
Pages: These can be very valuable to have for business. Pages can be used to boost engagement through contests, voting applications, and sales promotions. By engaging the customers, it can help drive them to your business.
Events: These are another great way to get customers excited about a promotion or special event happening. By having an events page, some businesses can include ads or other posts that require the person to show to the business to get a discount or other special offer.
Advertisements: Sponsor your events and pages with facebook advertisements. Now keep in mind, these are not free. Facebook also allows the opportunity to "Boost" a post, ad, or contest to make it available to a greater audience. This is a great way to get the word out.
Connect: Be sure to connect your business facebook to other websites that your business uses such as the main website, twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, and blogs. Connecting all social media to each other gives people a good idea what your business is all about. Remember to link all social networks to your website, it matters.
Engage: Be sure to post fun and updated photos, videos, and statuses to your facebook page. Facebook users love fresh photos and videos and that will draw them to your page. As people are drawn to the page, interact with and talk to them. This shows that the company is invested in and cares about their input.
Brand Yourself or Your Business: Be sure to create a catchy, relevant, short bio and brand the twitter page with (@YourBusinessHere). The easier that is to remember, the more the people will remember the company. Top off the page with high quality profile and background photos. This will be the public's first impression of the business, make it great!
Acclimate: Learn the language of twitter, get used to using hash tags and search.twitter.com. Hash tags create an online community and make engagement, contests, and promotions easier. One click on a hash tag and it takes you to the page where everyone has used that same tag and their comments.
Use Variety:
Mix of Tweets: Keep the page interesting by varying the styles of tweets. A few different types include: ask and answer questions, forward links, spread the word about articles and news through re-tweets, quotes, and videos.
Reach Out:
When first getting Twitter started this is the hardest part, reaching out to gain followers. One way is to follow those you want following you. By following more people it allows them to notice you and will intrigue them to find out more. When establishing followers don't be afraid to challenge other businesses on Twitter. This is a fun way to get noticed and attention of a greater crowd.
Ultimately, at the end of the day it's all about gaining and retaining followers and sharing relevant and interesting content.