In these modern times that we live in, social media is part of our life bur for business can be more important having a presence on these platforms. Today we will explain why entrepreneurs should use social media for business and the most popular platforms for it. Keep reading!
The most popular social media in business
First, let’s talk about what social media is! These platforms allow online communication, creating spaces to interact with your customers and possible clients while sharing information in real-time. This could help the business promote and sell its products and services, develop connections, and build the brand image. Social media for business is not the same as a personal profile, you must be aware of how to use them, pros and cons, and what they can offer, but we will get to that part. These are the most popular social media for business!
Social Networking Sites
They are the most popular ones. Right now, they offer business pages or profiles, separating them from the personal ones. Here every entrepreneur can be very creative using different tools like images, videos, infographics, and more to promote or sell products and services. With these, you can attract followers, new customers, and consolidate the brand’s image. Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram are the most popular!
Job Networking Sites
These sites are perfect for a professional profile, connecting with other businesses of the same area, and to find skilled people to recruit as your personnel. The best example of this kind of site is LinkedIn.
Blogs
A Blog is an online site where people can put their thoughts, opinions, adventures, and everything you can think of. But not many businesses understand that amazing tool that is a blog. Customers and potential clients would appreciate that you give more information about your area, products, production, personnel, and interesting facts. Different articles will bring more life to the business creating a solid interaction with your followers. A Blog can be hosted inside the website, or you can use one of the many free blogging tools that are online such as Blogger and WordPress.
Micro-blogs
Besides a full blog, we can find micro-blogging sites such as Twitter and Tumblr, where you can send short messages to your followers. These platforms are excellent if your business has so much information to share, and that can be shared with short sentences. However, these platforms tend to be more personal than for business, so you need to be smart and creative to use your business profiles.
Video Platforms
Social Media platforms allow post videos, but many have a duration limit. However, for long videos, you can use sites like YouTube, Vimeo, or DailyMotion. Here you must create a ‘channel’ where the videos will be uploaded. From there, you can share them through any other social media.
Podcasts
Podcasts are audio posts that can be shared through platforms such as Spotify. The main benefit of podcasts is that you can share all the information narrating. People can listen to it in the car or while traveling. Some people don’t have the time to read posts, so for them, it’s easier to just listen to them.
Social-news communities
There are several platforms just to share links or news. Here you cannot sell products or services, but you can share your latest post on any other social forum. The most popular communities are Digg or Reddit.
Location-based services
These platforms can help you to connect with other businesses in your town or city. They are also incredible to interact with locals and even tourists who want to know more about your business. Foursquare is the best example here. It gives all the information about the different companies in the area. Still, it also allows us to recommend or rate a business.
Why use social media in business?
The main reason to use social media in business is that it allows you and your team to have constant interactions with your customers and catch possible clients’ attention. You can also check what their opinions are about the business, and even if they are sharing your pages and posts. Social media for business is one of the best channels for advertising products and services, just being creative, and considering that you can have a close relationship with customers and remember to reward loyalty.
Benefits of Using Social Media in Business
- With social media, you can attract customers while building a close relationship and strong loyalty.
- You can reach international markets and increase the local reach.
- Social media platforms are a great place to do market research.
- While building customer networks and investing in advertising, you will increase your revenues
- The brand can grow, not just the image but the business overall.
- With the connection that you are creating, you can exchange ideas to improve your processes.
- Find the best and the most skilled personnel.
- Social media is the best place to publicize your website, increase traffic, and improve the search engine position.
- Check out the competitors and how their strategies are working.
Disadvantages of Using Social Media in Business
Using Social Media is a work of dedication. Still, you must be smart and have the best strategy to get all the benefits of using those platforms. However, if you are not sure how they work, that can damage your business and make you lose money.
- If you don’t have a clear marketing and social media strategies, you won’t get the benefits.
- Probably you will need resources to manage the different social media platforms. The best is to have a team just for this.
- Social media platforms need dedication and constant monitoring.
- You can get unwanted feedback on your social media. Hate and bullying are constant on social media. That can even get subject to different laws. For that reason, you must be prepared for any eventuality.
Social media in business is a must, but just like any other part of your business and process, they must be used wisely and with the best team. Check out more interesting articles with the Magazine. Don’t’ miss a single post through our social media!
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