Great question.

The world of social media is a vast and complicated frontier to navigate.

With so many options it can be difficult to find a platform that works well with the goals of your business.

You’ve got to create content, find an audience, create engagement, run ad campaigns and so much more.

It’s a huge undertaking.  These are difficult tasks for anyone, much less a business owner. However, businesses can see amazing benefits from using social media.

Every person who sees your posts, follows your accounts, or interacts with you online is another opportunity to drive awareness and conversions for your brand, products, and services.

Not sure where to get started? Here’s a practical guide to help you dive in.

Facebook for Business

Facebook Social Media Business

Industries: Local Businesses, Entrepreneurs, Business to Consumer, Non-Profit

Audience: 30+, Everyone

Post Frequency: 1x a Day

Best For: Behind the Scenes, Awareness, Retargeting Ads

Key Metrics: Reach/Impressions, Social Shares, Video Views, Link Clicks

With two billion users, Facebook is by far the largest social media platform for businesses to reach an audience.

You can connect with friends and family, learn-interests of the community, and build long lasting relationships. Its ability to work across multiple devices and robust advertising features, empowers you to extend your reach whenever, wherever.

However, there are some flaws.

For instance, there’s a lot of noise. Other businesses like yours are on social media, too. Therefore, to compete you need a fairly generous advertising budget.

Another disadvantage is the fact that Facebook may be too broad of a platform. It’s great for awareness but it may be too broad of a reach.

However, with the right amount of engagement and storytelling, you can embrace all the bells and whistles this platform offers.

Facebook Business Features

Here are some ways you can utilize Facebook for your business.

  • Pages: Create a “virtual storefront” for your business with Facebook Pages. You can include key elements of your business like hours of operation, contact information, services, and much more.
  • Events: Increase attendance at an upcoming show with Facebook Events. This features the ability to invite friends to attend, displays location and time, and includes co-hosting capabilities.
  • Offers: Create discounts or deals directly from your Facebook page. This is an easy way to encourage people to come to your Facebook page and take action.
  • Reviews: Showcase your business’s trust and authority with Facebook reviews. Nothing beats a recommendation from your friends.
  • Services: Highlight your professional services, add photos, and build awareness about what your brand offers.
  • Shop: Entice and encourage people and their friends to purchase your products directly from Facebook.

To get started on Facebook, head over to Facebook Blueprint for free online training.

Instagram for Business

Instagram Business Social Media

Industries: Fashion, Health, Food, Social Influencers

Audience: 18-40 Years, Millennials

Post Frequency: 2x a Day

Best For: Engagement, Virality, Storytelling

Key Metrics: Impressions, Likes, Comments, Engagement

For the visual storytellers, Instagram is the perfect medium to sky rocket your business. Over 25 million businesses use Instagram to market themselves online.

Instagram offers the opportunity to share behind the scene moments and your passion to inspire the surrounding community area.

Once you’ve created your Instagram account, optimize it to be found on social. Add details about your business, including your name, profile picture, website URL and an about section.

Be sure to include your contact information so people can directly connect with you when they need to.

For businesses focused on fashion, health, food, and social influence, Instagram has everything you need to stand out.

Instagram Features

  • Filters: Generate eye-catching images of your products and services with Instagram’s photo editing tools. Whether you use their pre-made Filters or custom editing, you can instantaneously make your business’s images better.
  • Likes: Show the love with Instagram Likes. You can connect in simple, yet impactful ways with this feature.
  • Comments: Respond to your audience with authentic engagement by commenting and replying to posts. Just a simple tap and the app will empower you to respond.
  • Shop: Sell products directly from your Instagram Business account by connecting your Facebook Page. Super easy to implement in just a few clicks.
  • Direct Messages: Answer important questions about your business with Instagram’s Direct Message inbox. You can easily filter messages, and offer quick replies to frequently asked questions.
  • Insights: Gain key metrics about your audience engagement with Instagram’s Insights. You can see accounts reached, impressions, and top performing posts so you can always know what type of posts are the most effective.

Create an Instagram account today to launch your business online.

LinkedIn for Business

Linkedin Business

Industries: Information Technology and Services, Marketing and Advertising, Human Resources, Computer Software, Financial Services, Business to Business

Audience: 21+ Age, Professionals

Post Frequency: 1-3x a Day

Best For: Networking, Events, Publishing Articles

Key Metrics: Reach/Impressions, Likes, Comments, Engagement

Established before Facebook, LinkedIn is home to 260 million professionals. With the ability to connect to other users, businesses, and organizations, each user can build a network of colleagues and associates.

As your network expands, LinkedIn organically introduces you to new users and businesses that might be of interest.

This platform is a great way to grow your network and keep up with all your professional relationships.

Profiles on LinkedIn are expansive with deep levels of customization. Users can upload a header image, profile image, a description, job history, and more.

Business pages can link with employees and send updates directly to user’s news feed.

LinkedIn is a powerful professional marketing and connection tool. Here are many ways to harness its power.

LinkedIn Business Features

  • Sponsored Updates: Pay to promote your company page so you reach new people to connect and engage with about your products and services.
  • Showcase Pages: Spotlight Key areas of Your Business with Showcase Pages. This feature is particularly great for industries that have multiple components of their business.
  • LinkedIn Publishing: Share thought leadership, industry news, and company events with LinkedIn Publishing. This is a great way to get your ideas and thoughts directly in front of your audience.
  • Groups: Meet new people and grow your network with LinkedIn Groups. You can discuss industry trends and news, post jobs openings, ask other opinions, and share expertise.

Boost your business on LinkedIn with just a few steps.

Pinterest for Business

Pinterest Business

Industries: Fashion, Wedding Planning, Interior Design, DIY, Health and Self Improvement, Chefs, Professionals

Audience: 18+, Females

Post Frequency: 1-2 a Week

Best For: Driving Website Traffic, Blogs, Awareness

Key Metrics: Reach/Impressions, Link Clicks

Pinterest is the DIY center of the internet. Recipes, workouts, crafting projects, art…the list is endless.

Pinterest for Business is all about inspiring your audience to try new things and share ideas.

Therefore, creating significant engaging content and exploring different topics are critical to be successful. You can choose from several content formats on Pinterest, including standard Pins to multi-image Carousels.

Pinterest Features

  • Pinterest Business Page: Create a Business Page to extend your feature reach.
  • Boards: Segment your audience interests with different boards and topics. Be sure to include a mix of your own Pins and feature similar businesses, too.
  • Pinterest Widgets: Encourage people to share content to their Pinterest by adding a widget to your website’s blog.
  • Analytics: Adjust your content strategy by measuring your Pin performance and traffic trends using Pinterest Analytics.

Give Pinterest a try. Check out all the resources they offer.

Twitter for Business

Twitter For Business

Industries: Hospitality, Entertainment, Technology, Retail

Audience: 18-50+ years old.

Post Frequency: 1-3x a Day

Key Metrics: Retweets, Impressions, Link Clicks, Mentions

Each day, over 500 million Tweets are sent over Twitter.

It’s one of the fastest growing and most prominent social platforms, despite the tiny character limit.

It provides an excellent platform for short form content, quick updates, promotional content. Crafting excellent tweets is an art, an important one to learn if you plan on using the platform.

It’s exclusive access to what’s going on in your industry and community. You can start discussions, connect with influencers, and build a reach beyond your brand. Regularly posting snippets of updates is key in the microcosm of short attention spans and shorter posts.

Twitter Features

  • Hashtags: Explore communities, find inspirational posts, and connect with influencers by using industry related hashtags to get your brand noticed.
  • Advanced Search: Use Twitter’s Advanced Search to keep up with the news, do in-depth research, track brand mentions, discover new marketing content, and more.
  • Twitter Collections: Curate content to share with your followers with Twitter Collections. It’s a great way to put your brand and thought leadership at the forefront.
  • Trending Topics: Keep in the loop with Twitter’s Trending Topics. This highlights the most current, trending topics that people are talking about, so be ready to join the conversation!
  • Retweet & Mentions: Get noticed by top Twitter influencers by engaging with their content through retweeting and @ symbol.

Try out Twitter and see if it’s a great fit for your business.

Align Your Business’s Social Media with Strategy

Getting started with any of these platforms is a daunting task. It requires a strong brand identity, constant content creation, and a unique writing style.

For small businesses, this can be far too much work for you to take on in addition to running your company.

For big businesses, you might need to hire several new employees to take on all these responsibilities, to start diving into the world of social media.

That’s where Strategy comes in.

Whether you’re big or small, have no accounts or you are on all these platforms, we’re here to help you in your journey. Our social media services help elevate your business to reach your goals.

Ready to launch your campaign? Start with Strategy.

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