While some companies are late adopters to social media, there are other companies that try to be on the cutting edge of every social network available—regardless of whether their target audience is using the network. They will set up YouTube channels, Facebook pages, Tumblrs, Twitter accounts, LinkedIn profiles, Foursquare pages, Pinterest boards, corporate blogs, and Google+ pages and then try to manage them all effectively. For most companies, this is a strategy that is doomed to fail.
When creating a social media marketing strategy, just as with any marketing strategy, you need to first determine who your target audience is and how you are going to reach them. If your target audience is 18-34 year-old males who are students or are interested in technology, it would be strategically smarter to focus on Google+ where up to 70% of the users are male and the top user groups are “students” and “software developers”. If your target audience is 25-34 year-old women who are interested in crafts, then you should focus on Pinterest, where the users are 80% female and the content tends to be more about hobbies, gifts, food/recipes, interior design, and fashion. If your company is in the retail industry, a Facebook Page is a no-brainer, while if you are a B2B company it may be better to focus on LinkedIn.
Instead of spreading yourself too thin by trying to have a presence for your company on every social network available, find the networks that work best for your business and maximize your efforts there by posting:
- Regular updates for your audience
- Compelling content about your brand or industry
- Information specific to your target demographic
By focusing your attention on relevant social networks, rather than being a social media butterfly, you will be able to achieve a better return on your investment of both time and money. What are the social media networks that your customers use?
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Circle us on Google+
Subscribe via RSS
