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In my opinion, social media should be an integral piece of your digital strategy. But are you aware of the differences of the social media that are available and also the reasons why you’re using the ones you do each day for your business? Each one like a tool in your toolbox, they have a purpose and work best when used that way. Hmm…
Your social media campaigns and content should carefully crafted not only with the brand, product or service in mind, but also based on the strengths of the channel your business is using within your overall strategy. Each social channel behaves differently and your constituents that are interacting with those channels have a mindset that is a little different as well. In many cases, the target audiences using them can be vastly different. Here we will dive into just a few social media options that are commonly used. However, as you will see from the chart below, there are differences that separate each one. If the differences are not recognized and understood by your marketing team, the lack of knowledge may prevent your business from reaching the KPIs you want and need.
Marketing Teams Need To Know The Differences
In the chart above, we reviewed 13 social media traits that nearly all-marketing teams will need to know. These are not all the criteria marketers’ need, but it’s a good starting point. If you take a good look at the differences between all of the social media options, you will discover that if you were a business catering to young college age women, Snapchat and Pinterest are probably your best options. However, just because that may be your primary persona, you must also want to look at how you want to use social media and will it actually do what you need it to? Sometimes the answers to these questions are not easy to find. You will need to know how the social media you are choosing to use works and how its users use it most commonly. While some social media are great for videos, others are not. Some require immediate interaction, while others don’t care if you respond the next day.
All Social Media Is Not The Same
Because social media channels are different from each other, you must think about them as if they are independent of one another, not as one like some businesses tend to do. A good example of this is how different Facebook is in comparison to Snapchat. As you may know, they behave differently, have different target audiences, vastly different reach and even have different features for how they work. Are you factoring all of that into your digital / social media strategy and content messaging?
Social media is different. Okay, I’ve said it. It is different, but how? Communicating on Social media is unique… and it’s even changed a great deal than when it was first was born. It’s also very different from other forms of business communications. The way your brand tells the story on your social media channels should not be a cut-and-paste of brochure content onto a social media post. –UGH, please tell me you don’t do that.
Using social media is fun, exciting and can even be instrumental in figuring out what your customers want and need. If you are responsible for your business social media, my suggestion is to get to know your social media tools just like any other tool you use in marketing. In fact, know social like your best friend. But don’t forget, unlike your best friend, the qualities and traits in social media will change frequently.
YourBrandExposed is designed to look at digital using a creative, analytical, innovative marketing perspective. We’re a team of practitioners working with companies looking to leverage the power of digital, web, social and content marketing strategies. Contact us if you’re feeling the digital squeeze on how to best market and expose your company.
Scott MacFarland – Chief Content Marketer | Digital Strategist
HuffingtonPost | Relevance | Natcom Global
Linkedin | Twitter: @scmacfarland
Email: Yourbrandexposed@yahoo.com
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Sources:
http://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/
http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/character-limit-social-media-blog-posts
http://heidicohen.com/2015-us-teen-social-media-use/
http://www.theneeds.com/learn/n3888725/how-to-bypass-the-31-character-limit-in-wonderhowto
https://static.pexels.com/photos/3327/construction-work-carpenter-tools.jpg