In retrospect, its quite amazing to think how quickly Social Media came onto the scene and swept the world, changing the marketing ecosphere forever. It wasn’t too long ago now that businesses relied heavily on other strategies like word of mouth and email marketing to get their message out to their target audience. While these fundamental approaches still remain important, they aren’t the number one way to increase your reach for your business and what you are delivering. That golden mantle now belongs to Social Media.
Social Media first came onto the scene several years back in the form of now defunct sites like MySpace where the original design was for people to create their own personalized page and digitally interact with friends. A number of years later we saw the rise of Facebook, which completely took over the world and changed the lives of everyone. Fast-forward to today and we now have an abundance of platforms in addition to Facebook, such as:
- Google Plus
- Linked In
- YouTube
Originally all of these tools were utilized for personal and friendly needs with exception to LinkedIn, however it didn’t take long for businesses to recognize the potential that could be harnessed through digital social interaction. Businesses and marketing agencies soon realized the critical importance behind utilizing these platforms and jumped on board.
All of the aforementioned social media platforms can be utilized in many smart and engaging ways for you and your brand. In this blog, I will touch on three of the most important forms in my mind being Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Firstly, lets look at Facebook. Out of all the social media tools available in the world today; it is has the biggest install base by far. In a study released earlier in the year by Facebook they stated that there are over over 16 million active users in Australia. Just think about that for a second.. 16 million people when our nation’s population is around 24 million! That is quite astounding. If you’re an Australian business, you could look at that as several million reasons to build up your profile and get active on it. Now of course you shouldn’t expect to reach every one of those people, but if you can grasp the smallest percentile in your state in your suburb, then that is more eyes on your brand and product in the end, which is always a positive right?
Lets use a construction business as an example for why Facebook would be a great option! With your page, you can use it to promote all of your weekly developments and builds going on with handy photos and videos to give consumers a taste of what you have to offer and what your style is. Additionally you can drop in casual posts from time to time about some of the services you offer and relatable stats, such as how many clients you have and the number of houses built etc. It is a perfect way to advertise your product! Facebook is very simple to use and would be where you would want to capitalize on first.
Secondly, lets move on to Twitter. Twitter is fairly different to Facebook. It is great for sending out short and sweet messages in under 140 characters or less. Through incorporating smart hash tags and creative taglines, you can easily get your message out to the public, whatever it may be. For instance, if you are local tile shop in Adelaide, and you want to broaden your appeal, a simple tweet for yourself could read something like “@AdelaideTiles are now open 7 days a week and offer great affordable prices on our range #Adelaide #tiles #SouthAustralia”. It tells people who you are, what you offer, when you are open and where you are based in less than two sentences. What a great way to attract people to your brand!
What’s also good about twitter is that there isn’t a whole lot of maintenance to be required with your page either! It’s more about delivering your message in a clear and straightforward way. I definitely recommend Twitter!
Lastly, there is LinkedIn; it is very different to the aforesaid social media platforms as its design is predominantly for businesses and professionals to interact with one another. In saying that, it is still an exceptional way to attract clients and consumers to your brand. It operates very similar to Facebook in the sense of having a page and managing it, however it is used predominately for professional purposes. It is a great way to connect and network with people also, meaning there are several positive outcomes just waiting to be grasped by joining LinkedIn. So whether you are in the construction or retail or even the medical field, LinkedIn is an incredibly vital element to broaden your appeal and outreach. It’s definitely worth your time to join.
So there you go. I hope after reading through this, you now possess a better understanding of why Social Media is so important for you and your business in today’s modern day and age. It is perhaps the finest and simplest way to communicate what you have to offer to your target audience in an effective and direct manner. Whether you are a locally run painting company in the northern suburbs of Adelaide or a major national construction company spreading all across Australia, there are many positives and benefits to increasing and managing a strong presence in the social media world.
If this has you interested and you are keen to get started. Have a chat with us here at Knackmap to see how we can help you through Social Media Marketing. Email us at help@knackmap.com or give us call at 08 8120 0586.