Difference in Social Channels
Which is right for your Social Presence?
Strategy and viral recipe aside, the next question you’ll be faced with is “Which channel do I start with? Facebook? Twitter? All of them?”. Each channel has its own unique purpose, so your strategy may shift slightly depending on the channel. To make things easier, it’s recommended to start with one channel, and once your credibility has been established, you can move into more channels – if it makes sense for your business.
FACEBOOK: Known for their community atmosphere, this channel can connect businesses with other businesses, competitors and prospective buyers allowing for focus on getting to know the customers rather than thinking you know them.
With utilities such as Facebook Live, Groups and Advertising, businesses can engage with their target audience with a few simple clicks. Tapping into an existing audience and creating lookalike audiences will allow your business to attract the right customers them.
If unsure where to start your social media presence, Facebook may be the wisest choice as it grows with the business. Start just by talking to existing buyers and learn what your competition is doing. When ready grow your audience to find new customers and convert them to your business now knowing what they need.
TWITTER: Similar to Facebook, this channel can connect a business with their audience and other businesses, allowing for market and community research.
When setup incorrectly, this has been known to be time consuming, as it's designed to create impulse reactions. Provided you have other established channels and a website, you can auto post to twitter from these sources to reduce the heavy lifting - you'd be amazed at the results!
When communicating on Twitter, it's important to not alienate one audience over the other. Don't be too salesy or too personal - be a healthy mixture. This will attract the high-end users on Twitter, and while it takes some finesse, you'll reap the benefits of long-term customer loyalty.
INSTAGRAM: Do you have a younger audience? Can you take quality photos?
Instagram is a visual channel - more about the photos than the description associated with the photos. Many successful retailers use this channel to showcase their new clothing line, or accessories for the upcoming season. With idyllic photos highlighting the merchandise, the likelihood of the image being shared and viewed by potential customers is a version of digital word-of-mouth.
YOUTUBE: 100 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute, with fewer than 1% ever exceeding 1 million views. So, when businesses use this channel, make sure the time it takes to record, edit and post is worth getting a few hundred or even a few thousand views.
Videos such as how-to's, time-lapse of restoring items (think trash to treasure styling), tips & tricks, and more! Put yourself in the shoes of your audience and create a video based upon what they would find useful.
