Download The Most Effective Social Media Tools for Your Business

Social Media – The What, Why and How?
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube – you know most of the social media channels, you might even
have an active online presence, but have you ever thought about the possibilities they offer for your business? For
any company, regardless of size or activity, social media is an important channel of communication and in recent
years it has become an integral part of any marketing plan.
Nowadays, most businesses understand that social media is a key resource. So how can you benefit from using
social media channels through promoting your business, increasing brand awareness and sales? You should keep in
mind the following things:
1. Social media advertising reduces marketing costs
A tweet or a status update is definitely more cost-efficient than running paid add campaigns using traditional
media. Newspaper and television advertising can cost hundreds and thousands of dollars per advertisement, and
maintaining a social media presence is essentially free – it’s a no-brainer!
2. By using social media channels, you can offer customers better assistance
Through social media, you can respond to your customers in a timely and efficient manner. It’s quick and easy to
reply to the comments, questions or concerns of your customers on social media. Social media is so much more
engaging than any other tool in business right now. It’s a great opportunity to really get to know your customers, to
interact with them and to gain their trust.
3. You can establish your brand personality online
Social media can help to humanise your brand. It is easier for customers to establish a connection with you on
social media compared with any other form of advertising. Let your customers know that you’re actually a human,
use ‘behind the scenes’ information about the company, employees or offices, and show who you really are to
achieve a great rapport with your customers and to establish brand loyalty.
The Most Effective Social Media Tools for Your Business:
 Facebook remains at the top of the online marketing tools available. Although it was originally created as a
social interaction channel, over time, it has added many features to encourage business promotion. It is a
complex social network that provides many tools and services for businesses such as Facebook business
pages and advertising. A Facebook page should be updated daily for best results (or more frequently). The
secret lies in the power of the posts – post messages that attract fans to like, comment and share, and
remember visual posts attract more ‘likes’ than purely text. Think about your audiences and what they are
interested in, and don’t constantly link back to your website. Facebook is for engagement and not just
advertising – so engage your audiences!).
 Twitter – is one of the most popular social media platforms. Basically Twitter is about sharing
information, thoughts, and advertising as a ‘tweet’, in a maximum 140-character message. If you’re not
familiar with it, you should know that Twitter offers a user guide for businesses. First, create an account on
Twitter with the name of your business and then start to promote it through attractive tweets. You can tweet
about the launch of a new product/service, news related to the company’s field or links to video clips of the
company. You can ‘retweet’ posts by others as well, and this is a great way to build your following.
 On Instagram, you can communicate with your audience through images. Create your own Instagram
community centred around your products or services, and try to attract and retain followers by using
relevant #hashtags. As it’s a visual tool, Instagram works well for tangible products, including creative
enterprises, home interiors, fashion, and hair and beauty. It’s also great for experiential businesses such as
tour operators, hotels, and galleries etc.
 Google+ is a social network managed by the most popular search engine in the world. An account on
Google+ can help improve visibility in the search results page but the tool has failed to reach the heights of
competitors such as Facebook and Twitter. Nonetheless, Google has some great online tools available
which will be explored in our next blog post.
 YouTube isn’t just for looking up grumpy cat videos or searching for the next Australian idol musician. It
can be a great tool for business and is ideal for showing ‘how-to’ instructional videos, or behind the scenes
tours of your organization. You can post presentations, product overviews, company profiles, product
launch info – just about anything! If you work in the multimedia/design/film space though, you might wish
to try Vimeo instead as it has extra features.
 Pinterest is currently one of the fastest growing social networks. You can share images and infographics
on a virtual board. Simply create an account for your business and begin to create an attractive board. This
communication channel is an optimal choice if you are in a visual business.
 LinkedIn is a professional network where professional people connect. LinkedIn can be used effectively
for recruitment, monitoring competition, obtaining referrals from current customers and partners, finding
partners, suppliers and new customers.
 Last but not least, you can create a Blog where you can write at length about business, services, products
and other success stories. There are lots of great free tools to help you start your blog. WordPress is our
favourite, but Blogger and Tumblr also have similar features.
So that’s social media in a nutshell, but if you’re finding it hard to navigate and want some assistance in setting up
your social media presence, contact us and we can help to simplify the process!