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Social Media Strategy

What Social Network is Right for Us? Part Two

social_media_circle_nobckgdThe social media landscape is ever-evolving, with networks dying as quickly as they’re born. Similarly, the features on some networks change at the drop of a hat. With Facebook, for example: today it’s cover photos, but who knows what we’ll have this January. The best social media strategies adapt to these frequent feature changes.

The number one thing that you should consider when choosing a social network is the community around it and not the features it has: is your target demographic using it? If not, why are you? Social media is not one-way. It’s about listening as much as it is sharing.

Your product or service will also impact the social networks and services you choose to integrate into your social media strategy. For example, a jewelry creator with beautiful snapshots of necklaces (or a cake designer with gorgeous fondant designs) would find an easier following on Pinterest than a copywriting consultancy with sample copy snippets.

Lastly, remember that while social media is a key component of your overall strategy, there’s no replacement for a strong core site: keep your home tidy first.

Here’s the first half of a two part series in what to consider when choosing the right social network for your business. We’ll look at the lion of the bunch, Facebook, first. Google+, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr will come next week.

Facebook: It goes without saying that Facebook is incredibly active, with around 1.19 billion monthly active users. Translation: a lot of people are logging in, reading, writing and sharing information. The community is right there, waiting to connect with you.

Up until recently, Facebook’s profile system wasn’t the best for business. You had to create a group or befriend people— following wasn’t one-way and the profile template wasn’t ideal for sharing company posts or information. Facebook now actively caters to businesses and provides detailed information on ads, promotional pages, insights (analytics), and beyond.

Because the service was once walled-off, people generally maintain a more intimate persona on Facebook: think baby and family photos right alongside interesting articles on personal news feeds. Promotional content should be balanced with general interest pieces— this is not the place to bombard followers with hard sell after hard sell. Give them good, free information that you can meaningfully comment on. Lifestyle content is crucial for solid Facebook engagement.

Content-wise, Facebook is good for sharing many kinds of media. Embed videos, add text, external links, images and more. The timeline displays content clearly and different kinds of media get equal amounts of space. For comparison’s sake, Pinterest is much more well-suited for static graphics and images.

In short, regardless of industry, most businesses will get a lot of mileage out of posting material to and engaging with customers through Facebook. Compared to most other social networks, it’s almost as personal as it gets, and the user base is incredibly broad, meaning your target demographic most likely uses the site.

For more information on this social media beast, we’ve compiled a special document to help business owners use Facebook better. Tune in next week as we dissect more popular social networks.

If you need guidance, we’ll help you determine which services are best for you in a detailed, custom consultation. Schedule a 1-on-1 today to see how we can help you craft a more robust digital strategy.