Finding the right social networks to advertise with can help you understand how much money you need to invest. Social media marketing takes a lot of hard work, and it does require money if you want to generate some decent returns. Which social media networks are the best for your business? Here is a social media 101 guide for your business?
Currently Facebook is the largest social media network with 1.06 billion active users. This social media is for all individuals and all businesses can find their target market. When you post to the Facebook page you must focus on adding information that is valuable to the user. Some things that work well are infographics or linking to industry news. Facebook ads can help you get new likes, but they might not always help you get people to click back to your website. The amount of money you spend on Facebook advertising will vary on how much you can afford. Most companies will start with the minimum of $1 a day. Do not boost a post on Facebook as it normally does not bring you back major results. To use Facebook advertising correctly, select the right group based on your location, your services, and keywords. The right search terms will help the ad to be displayed to a relevant audience.
Businesses normally have a large interest to Twitter. Currently Twitter has 255 monthly active users. Their limited messing amount allows a company to send out a quick message to their audience that is 140 characters or less. Twitter is great for companies hoping to start using hashtags and start trending on the social media giant. The hashtag symbol is major when using Twitter and it can usually bring you more results than you will find with advertising. Twitter has a number of advertising options from PPC ads to promoted tweets, promoted accounts, and promoted trends. It is easy to spend a great deal of money on Twitter promotions as it will bring followers if you take the time to narrow down your niche audience. There is no minimum requirement to start advertising on Twitter.
Currently Instagram has 200 million active users. All the videos and pictures you upload can help you connect with customers. This social media site is growing by the day, and it connects with Facebook to make it easier for people to share pictures and short videos. Right now Instagram is new to the advertising world. They offer ads that are simple uploaded picture that will be promoted across the social media site. The ads created for Instagram are different from what you will see on other sites. They want the ads to be creative and quality, not quantity. The key audience using Instagram is 18 – 44 years-old. If your target audience is in this age range, this is a social media world you do not want to miss out on.
Currently Pinterest has 70 million active users that are predominately female. Retailers, manufacturers, and travel sites find great success with Pinterest. One important thing to know about Pinterest is that is does work well for companies planning to upload how-to demonstrations. For your Pinterest page to generate results, use SEO titles. Keep your personal Pinterest page separate from your company page or it will cause some confusion with your target audience. Pinterest is called an “online scrapbooking” social media site. Previous Pinterest advertising methods were set on a view limit. Now, the ads are in direct competition with Facebook and Twitter. Promoted ads will appear as pins in the top of broad search terms.
Snapchat
Currently there are 700 million photos and videos being sent each day. Snapchat is huge will millennials, and the advertisers hoping to reach them. Ephemeral messages are quick, usually 10 seconds or less. You will have a lot of people sending out these short messages. Snapchat stories are immensely popular, and driving in a lot of followers for businesses hoping to connect with the right younger audience. You do not need to pay anything to sign up for Snapchat. There are not specific advertising methods in place at the current time, but this could change. Companies spending time on Snapchat have found the best way to make a splash with Snapchat is by creating direct snaps and stories. Direct snaps allow you to create an image and directly share it with another user or multiple users. The pictures you take need to be done in the app. If you choose to do a video, you need to keep it to 10 seconds or less. Using the stories feature is another great way to make a splash with your audience. This feature allows you to take multiple pictures or videos and put it into a story.
YouTube
Currently there are 1 billion unique users that visit YouTube each month. This is a social media world that is available for everyone and every business. Companies have found the best way to attract users is by uploading helping videos like how-to videos. This is a great way to help you build a strong following online. If you create videos that are entertaining, you might end up having some fun videos that are considered “viral” videos. One way to create a video is by creating a list of the top ten questions in your industry and answering them on the video. This is a simple way to start off your YouTube account with a bang. If you want to promote your videos, you will need to consider investing some money into YouTube ads. These ads vary from standard ad banners, in-video overlay ads, and video ads. The YouTube advertising program is one of the best out there as you can narrow it down to your niche audience based on location, keywords, gender, age, and other things. Your ads can appear on some of the most popular videos currently trending. You need to look at the amount of money you are willing to spend before you set an expensive advertising bar.
Social networking provides a great opportunity to build a large online audience. You can find opportunities to interact directly with your customers, and improve your online reputation. Experiment with the major social media accounts to find the one that will work the best for your organization. For more information contact Performance Driven Marketing today (801) 326-0582
