Social Media for Increased Visibility

Social Media is a part of most people’s daily lives and admittedly it is also a big part of mine. Each one of us have different reasons for using Social Media, some are using it for entertainment, communication, watching current news, listening to music, learning new things, shopping, and even finding a new job. 

70% of America’s population is active on their social media accounts and 49% on a global level. So, almost half of the world’s population is using their Social Media Accounts on a regular basis.

And this Pandemic forced a lot more people to use Social Media since we are required to stay at home. 

Have you ever thought of other benefits in using Social Media Accounts? Like marketing your Shops or Businesses! I bet you do! And if you are already doing it, I salute you for that girl and keep on going! But let me help you to understand it deeper for a more effective and efficient use of different Social Media Platforms.

What are The Top Most Popular Social Media Sites?

Based on the study made by STATISTA, Facebook has the most number of active users. Followed by YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Instagram and so on.. You can see the statistics below.

But girl let me tell you, not every kind of business can base on this statistics in marketing your brand through Social Media. You still have to consider where your target markets are spending most of their time. For example, in Tiktok if you’re an Accountant and is looking for established businesses that you can apply your accounting skills that will help them, it is not most likely feasible since most of the users in Tiktok are only from 16-24 years old and it is not most likely for professional use. But if you are a small business owner for a lip gloss brand, Tiktok might work for you since there are a lot of girls and teenagers actively using it. So, this is what I mean in considering what platforms suit your business the best.

Let us Break Down Each Social Media That I am Using. . .

INSTAGRAM

Launched by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in October 2010 in IOS and April 2012 in Android. From then on Instagram remained popular despite being acquired by facebook. 

What’s good about Instagram now is their Business account which started in June 2016. If you have a personal account with many followers already and want to promote your brand, anytime you can change it into a business account what’s good is you already have followers instead of creating a new one and starting back from zero followers.

Also one requirement in a Business account is a Facebook Page linked with your Instagram account. Since it works almost the same way and Instagram is now owned by Facebook.

Instagram is a semi-formal platform, you can promote your brand whatever it is from foods to apparels to your services. You can actually see a variety of products on Instagram and it is just alright, you can post from the food you ate for breakfast to the services you offer in your consultation business as long as you can always relate it to your brand. It is flexible in the variety of brands since the main goal in this platform is to share good quality pictures or infographics that will catch your prospective client’s attention.

When you post on Instagram it will appear on your followers NewsFeeds for 21hours only. So, posting from 1-2 per day is advisable. 

Reaching your target market is easy, you just need to have relevant hashtags in your every post so when someone is looking for that topic your posts will appear to them. Either way you can also find and connect with prospective clients the same way using relevant hashtags of your brand. This is why connecting and finding prospective clients on Instagram is easy.

FACEBOOK PAGE

In February 2004 Mark Zuckerberg together with his College roommates founder Facebook. And in December 2005 Facebook already had 6 million active users with only a span of 22 months. What’s admirable is that for years Facebook has been the most popular Social Media Platform and with most active users. It is also the main reason why you can see a lot of business pages in Facebook Promoting their brands since a lot of people have their own Facebook account and active users. 

Posts on Facebook will only last up to 5 hours from posting it, but it can stay on top longer when engagements in your posts keep on coming, meaning it’s likes, comments or shares. So, posting engaging content that will capture the attention of your target market should be made consistently.

Facebook Page is a bit tricky because you have to really capture the attention of the people for them to like and follow your page. Unlike in Instagram both parties will gain followers that’s why it is easier to gain followers. In Facebook page creating engaging and relevant posts is the main source of likes and follows. But if you are willing to pay, you can use the facebook ads. In this facebook will be the one to reach your target market and endorse your product which is really good. But running a paid ad won’t stop there, you have to monitor regularly if your ad is working so your money will not be wasted. If an ad is not working stop it, and divert your funds with ads that are giving traffic to your page or whatever your purpose is. 

Facebook page also has an application called Business Suite, where you can post, message, monitor insights, etc. in one place. They knew that business owners are busy so they created this so you can do all needed in both Facebook and Instagram in one place. Mostly, I am using this in monitoring the insights of the posts. 

LINKEDIN

Founded by Reid Hoffman, Allen Blue, Konstantin Guericke, Eric Ly & Jean-Luc Vaillant in May 2003. Unlike Instagram and Facebook, LinkedIn is designed for professional networking. 

Mostly, the users of LinkedIn are CEO’s, Business Owners, Professionals, and some individuals looking for a job.

So for example if you’re running an online store for women’s apparel , it is more unlikely that users in LinkedIn will be interested in your posts since their main purpose in using LinkedIn is not to shop but to build their connections with professionals and business owners or to look for a job.

Usually each post lasts till 24hours from the time uploaded so again 1-2 posts per day is enough to make your account active and engaging. What’ s good about LinkedIn is when someone likes or comments in your post there is a higher possibility that your post will also appear in their connections feed, thus reaching more people. So the more people are commenting and liking in your posts the more it is having exposure on other people’s feed.

Gaining connections is also easy since almost all users in LinkedIn want to gain a lot of connections, when you approach someone there is a high possibility that they will accept you. Again just like in Instagram, they are accepting connections because both parties will gain in the process.

PINTEREST

Started in January 2010 and founded by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp. It may not be as popular as Instagram but Pinterest has the best algorithm in terms of reaching your target market when the right keywords were used. When you Pin a fresh Pin it will last till almost 4-5 months, the longest from all Social Media platforms. 

In the previous years, Pinterest is so easy to use because you do not need to Pin new fresh pins everyday. You can just create a few new Pins and then Repin it to other boards which will gain more views, clicks, or saves.

But lately, a lot are saying that Repining old Pins is not getting any good tractions compared to before. So the key in Pinterest is to create and pin fresh new Pins consistently. It may seem a lot of work, but the results will all be worth it.

Pinterest is the best platform to lead your clients directly to your website and also adds to your website’s SEO in your every post. I myself am so obsessed with Pinterest so I am Pinning fresh new Pins 3 times a day and I am slowly seeing the result with the increasing views per monthly and increasing followers. So, the wisest way to use Pinterest is to use the right keywords and hashtags for your brand and to Pin fresh new Pins consistently

Other Social Media Platforms:

Twitter – Your tweet will only be visible up to 21 minutes from being posted. So as for my personal choice I am not using Twitter for my brand because tweets will easily disappear from the feed unlike other platforms. So it will require a lot of work compared to Pinterest but the result is not better than Pinterest.

YouTube– One Video upload will last up to 6 days from the day of upload, so it is also a good platform for marketing your brand. And as of the moment I am contemplating on creating one because people nowadays are very active on YouTube which also brings it to top 2 of most used Social Media platforms. And once you reach a certain number of views and subscribers your account will start to monetize thus generating a new source of income.

What Works For Me. . .

So far in my personal experience as an online business consultant, I am gaining the most engagement on Instagram followed by LinkedIn, I am also getting more clients on Instagram. Since I am more established and have more followers and connections on this platform. But right now I am working on my Facebook page and Pinterest Account to maximize the advantages of these accounts.

Aside from Social Media I am also gaining clients through the referrals of my previous or present clients. So a great relationship with your client and exceptional service will help your business succeed. Because it is innate for all of us to look first on previous client’s reviews or testimonies before we will try an unknown product or service. So aside of the help of Social Media Visibility, previous client’s referrals and testimonies are helping me gain clients. 

This has been a long blog, this just shows how broad, deep and useful Social Media is to our Businesses and not just for leisure. So girl what are you waiting for, stop that random scrolling in your social media accounts and start creating one for your businesses! I hope I helped you in choosing what Social Media platform will best suit your brand! Can’t wait to hear your success stories with the help of your social media visibility!