Social media is everywhere. It certainly creates challenges (anyone who’s hired young people fresh out of college can attest to this), but it also creates a great deal of opportunity for businesses that devote the time to creating social media plans and following them through.
Here are a few of the reasons why our clients use social media platforms of some type:
Total Reach
Few types of marketplaces offer the total reach that social media does. We hate putting stats here as they require constant upgrading, but facebook claims to have over 500 million active users, twitter has over 75 million accounts, and LinkedIn near 80 million members. And it’s not just the kids: facebook users have an average age of 38; twitter 39; and LinkedIn 44. The total number is 37 for all of social media according to pingdom.
Establishing Expertise
Blatant advertising doesn’t work in many social media platforms – especially not from pitches instead of discussions when new – but by posing questions, publishing useful content, and answering others’ questions, you can develop a following and build up an expertise status. LinkedIn Groups are especially useful for this purpose.
Niche Markets
Reach people in a space where they’re already comfortable and spending their time. By choosing the right platforms and groups, you can invest your time in developing relationships with exactly the right markets.
Reputation Management
Although Google recently changed its algorithm to allow single domains to have more than two listings in their standard Web results for any particular search, social media profiles represent a great way to gain more real estate within search results for your brand / personal name. Additionally, you can use the profiles themselves to squat or build a strong reputation within those individual communities where people might be searching for you.
Free Exposure
While there are some intriguing ad buy options with facebook and LinkedIn depending on your goal and industry, traditional social media exposure carries zero monetary cost. Creating a great presence requires a lot of time and effort, but it’s something you can do without any out-of-pocket costs.
Loved By Search Engines
If all of the above weren’t enough, the search engines love many social media platforms. By building an effective presence on facebook, LinkedIn, or twitter, you can use these profiles to help optimize your main website.
