Selecting the Right Social Media Platform for Your Business

As technology advances, social media accounts for businesses are now essential to reaching out to your customers and growing your brand. The broad term of ‘social media’ should not be considered the same across the board, as each available platform is unique in its offerings and audiences.

When thinking about the overall use of social media and how you post content, there are correct and incorrect ways of using each platform. The specific intentions of users, based on the social media platform they use, must be considered. You don’t need to worry about which social media platform is currently the most popular; but rather, focus on how each would best promote your brand and products.

According to oberlo.com, Facebook still strongly controls social media with 2.8 billion active users. It can be used for a wide variety of reasons, from sharing photos to providing important company updates. Facebook also allows the use of business pages. With business pages, you can fully customize the way your page looks to tailor it to your brand. Each status update or post can be promoted with the ‘Boost Post’ function. For a fee, this allows you to post the update as an ad for a selected audience of your choosing. There are also other ways to show off your products and services. Facebook has a rather unique feature called Facebook Marketplace in which you can upload pictures and descriptions of your products and services for any user to shop for.

LinkedIn is another social media platform and is primarily used for seeking career opportunities and networking. There are currently more than 30 million companies that use LinkedIn for business and have their own company page. On top of that, there are roughly 690 million LinkedIn members seeking to network, connect, and find a career. If you own a business and are looking to create a LinkedIn business page, or add to an existing one, you will want to add as much detail as possible to your company profile to increase effectiveness in recruiting new hires. Once you have your profile officially set up, it is time to start adding content. You can add a basic status to your company profile or you can create a job advertisement. You can also like, share, comment, and connect with other professionals in your field of work. LinkedIn is one of the very few social media platforms where professionalism is almost always necessary when engaging with or sharing content.

Twitter is another great platform for your business to use. Much like Facebook and LinkedIn, Twitter has a profile option for both individuals and businesses. When setting up a business page on Twitter, there are four key parts to your profile. Your header photos are the most important. You have the option to include a profile picture and a cover photo that go above your profile picture. Next, your display and account “@name” are completely customizable and customizing them is the next step in setting up your business profile page. You will want to make your name very similar or exactly like your actual company name, so customers easily locate your profile. Your bio is the next key part, as it allows you to briefly summarize who you are and what you do. You’ll want to make sure to provide contact information in the bio. Lastly, you will want to set a pinned tweet. A tweet in Twitter’s terms is essentially the same thing as posting a status on Facebook or LinkedIn. Tweets fall on your profile page in chronological order, so users on your business profile will see your most recent tweet first. The unique thing about a pinned tweet is that no matter when it was posted, it will always be the first tweet a user will see on your business page. Ideally, a business would use a pinned tweet for breaking news or important information.

Twitter also is known for its heavy use of hashtags. Anywhere within your composed tweet, you can include a “#” symbol, followed by verbiage of some sort. This will instantly turn the verbiage blue, as it treats it like an internal link. Hashtags are an easy way of tracking your tweet because Twitter allows the use of searching for specific hashtags. For example, if your business is currently hiring for multiple positions, you can compose a tweet and say “#NowHiring for this position.” You’ll notice in the hashtag that there was no spacing between the words “Now” and “Hiring.” That is because a hashtag cannot have spacing, or you essentially break the link. You could turn the “#NowHiring” hashtag into a viral hashtag that hundreds, thousands, or millions of people are interacting with.

In conclusion, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are only three great examples of how social media helps businesses grow. From personalized business pages to paid advertisements, social media platforms are great resources for any business to reach out to as many users as possible in the shortest amount of time. Each platform has unique features that will help you reach out to different audiences. Facebook has it’s ‘Boost Post’ function, Facebook Marketplace, and a completely customizable business page. LinkedIn has professional connections, job postings, and a business page. Twitter has the creative use of hashtags, pinned tweets, as well as a business profile. There are many ways of using each platform. To be the most successful, try to make sure you’re taking advantage of each unique feature.

About Automated Systems, Inc.
Since 1981, Automated Systems, Inc. has been a leader in providing innovative core banking, digital banking, and data processing solutions to community banks nationwide.  An array of integrated applications provide partnered banks with tailored, cost-effective, competitive choices.  ASI delivers industry-leading technology backed by unparalleled in-house conversion, training and support teams; paving the way for progressive, top-notch customer service.  ASI corporate headquarters are located at 1201 Libra Drive, Lincoln, NE 68512, 1.800.279.7312.  For more information about banking solutions from ASI, visit www.asiweb.com.

About Insite Data Services
IDS data application hosting services combines secure and cost-effective core banking applications, enterprise-class servers and storage, and proven virtualization technology.  IDS hosts all of the bank’s servers in secure data centers that use state of the art security systems including identity verification and biometric scanning.  Insite Data Services also offers IDS On-Time, a full-service solution dedicated to back-office bank processing.  These operations experts allow partnered banks to focus on their most important asset, their customers.  For more information visit www.insitedataservices.com.