Social networks are currently an essential part of our daily lives, allowing people to connect, interact, share and exchange information. They have become little by little something without which we can’t seem to live.
Every day billions of people are connected to them, and they have become a gateway for companies . It is estimated that 3.4 billion people use social networks, which represents 45% of the world population.
Due to its massive use, can have a very significant to find target audiences and potential buyers , in fact, the 54% of people use social media to research products . This can represent a great opportunity for you and your business if they are well managed, giving you the possibility of having a more natural and easier interaction with consumers.
How they benefit Local Businesses?
Social networks are platforms formed on the internet, intended for users to contribute their own content. These contents arise from their interests and allow to collect very valuable information about each one of them and their circle of relationships. In turn, allow the establishment of profiles that can then be exploited as advertising media and as marketing tools.
They provide an important online medium, function as powerful search engines, have versions for all devices and create relationships between users. The mixture of all these ingredients results in an effective and profitable advertising medium.
It is important to differentiate the different types of social networks and their purposes. Some are used primarily for personal relationships, others are more focused on sharing content and generating entertainment, and others are used to create professional networks.
Knowing them and differentiating their implications with electronic commerce is the first step. It is about understanding the objectives of each network and the people who participate in them.
We can place two movements.
First step:
Distinguish the social networks in which your company must be present. It is essential to realize which networks are used by the public you are interested in capturing and how to share relevant content on them .
Interacting with some current and potential consumers can be a good way to reveal the ones they use to search for products similar to the ones you have to offer.
Second step:
From the choice of the social network, the need to create a profile arises. It is important to keep in mind the difference between pages and profiles , since, while networks such as Facebook or LinkedIn require the creation of a company page; others like Instagram are managed with commercial profiles for business.
Social Networks with a focus in personal relationships
They offer users a way to stay online with their friends and family. Which does not mean that they cannot be use to boost a business , since people talk about services and products constantly. A clear example of this type of network is Facebook , whose original purpose was to connect people.
An SME can benefit from this network taking into account the context, that means that publications must be agile, interesting and useful , that is, they do not look like advertisements. Let’s imagine a clothing store: on your Facebook profile you can post photos of customers wearing clothing from your business, with the aim that users refer to or share these photos. This action will allow to expand the store’s exposure to more people.
Redes sociales for entertainment
The purpose of this type of network is not the direct relationship between users, but are designed so that users can upload content , (videos and photos), with the aim that they are consumed by a target audience. The best-known network of this type is YouTube , where the goal is to post and watch videos, and they have a fabulous global reach.
Continuing with the case of the clothing store, we could think of this network based on the business being able to upload videos of activities in which another format would not have the same impact. For example, you could upload a video to YouTube explaining step by step how to tie different knots.
Another famous network of this type is Pinterest , where people post and consume images. The clothing store could use this network to display representations of more urban looks .
Social networks for business professionals
They tend to be oriented to the business world and attract people who want to create a network of collaborators who are looking for work or who want to hire someone; and the most prominent is LinkedIn. Here again it is important to be aware of the context to use them correctly.
Let’s continue with our example: A clothing store shouldn’t use this type of network to sell its clothes, but it can track down its next employees. On the other hand, if we think of a company that sells products to other companies.
Niche social networks
These are the most specialized or sector-specific social networks , dedicated to more knowledgeable topics or audiences who know well what they need and are looking for precise content or expert advice.
Some examples are the Tripadvisor site, where you can consult and publish opinions about trips and establishments; u Open Table , dedicated to restaurants.
There are many, many different sites dedicated to a wide range of different industries. Even if these sites have a smaller number of users, they may be just the type that fits your particular business.
The most used social networks are: Facebook (87%) and YouTube (68%), the latter being the one that attracts the most young followers (76% are between 16 and 30 years old). Instagram (from 49% to 54%). Then come Twitter with 50% and LinkedIn with 57%.
Facebook
It is the most massive of social networks with & nbsp; 2.449 million users worldwide. It has a large audience and an international reach greater than the rest of the networks.
Facebook is like a large shopping center full of potential buyers < / strong>. It provides interested users with tools to implement extensions of their e-commerce business, including bid submission, tools for re-dissemination of offers, and high traffic from potential customers.
YouTube
YouTube is the online network of videos more biggest of the world. It has more than 1 billion active users and more than 500 million videos viewed daily.
This network offers companies the possibility to reach millions of people through videos, which is indispensable in almost all areas of the market. The video format provides an entertaining and accurate advertising channel, since things can be shown to the public in a limited time and with great detail .
Instagram
Instagram was one of the first social networks that were designed to be accessed with a mobile device. Today it can be viewed on the computer desktop, but the platform is designed to be used on cell phones, and is characterized by the possibility of sharing photos and videos between users . As we said, it is designed for mobile phones, and the reason for this is that they have an integrated camera that is perfect for generating visual content in a massive way. This network provides, to search engines like Google, an image component, which can be used by any type of professional or product merchant to be shown to a target audience. In addition, it offers the possibility of adding texts and hashtags to create trends.
Twitter
This network differs from the rest in that user tracking is not reciprocal. It has a system of hashtags that are the key to the success of this network compared to others. This, however, has allowed easy integration with other media, for example television programs that develop hashtags with the topics covered in the programs so that they can be commented on Twitter .
One of the peculiarities of Twitter is the identification of hot and popular topics. These are called treding topic and it consists of the most commented, most widespread, and most talked about trends on current issues.
If you have an electronic store, it could be beneficial for you to hear what is happening on Twitter, as it could be a great ally to help you improve your sales. Additionally, If you take care of your profile on Twitter, you can have your own means of communication to use it for commercial purposes if you wish.
This social network demands witty content, of high informative value, fun, but not purely commercial. Commercial messages on Twitter should be an exception and managed with great caution. It is an attraction marketing, not pressure like traditional marketing.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a large professional network, very successful and well established internationally . This network offers people the possibility of showing themselves to the commercial world, it is the open curriculum of millions of people who want to communicate with different companies from a professional point of view.
Provides the ability to segment audiences for advertising campaigns, which is defined as precision marketing.
Snapchat
Snapchat is a photo, video and text sharing application for mobile devices. It is characterized by its proposal of ephemeral contents known as snaps, that are eliminated a few hours after publication and could only be viewed by users for the time determined by the author of the content.
Despite not being a niche social network, it has a very specific audience made up of hyper-connected teenagers.
Pinterest
Pinterest is a social network of photos that brings the concept of “wall of references”. There it is possible to create folders to save your inspirations and upload images, as well as place links to external URLs. The most popular topics are fashion, makeup, weddings, gastronomy and architecture, as well as DIY, gadgets, travel and design. His audience is predominantly female throughout the world.
Purchase intention consists of the probability that a subject will buy a product or purchase a service, which can be translated into a basic metric to develop a conversion funnel. There are tools that allow you to capture the searches of users who browse the internet in search of products or services such as Google AdWords .
The path that a consumer travels from when he searches for and visualizes a product or service on the web, until he makes the purchase is not easy at all. In this sense, the purchase intention is measured at the moment in which the user is in front of the possibility of real purchase , what is called, in front of a product file.
It is possible that many times, people are about to make the purchase but for one reason or another they abandon it and continue with their activities. This mechanism is something natural that happens often, and it is there, where social networks play a leading role.
As we explained at the beginning of the section, in Google AdWords we managed to capture searches that denote the purchase of a service or product. From this, using social networks such as Facebook or Instagram, it is possible to incentivize users with visual and attractive messages to generate demand.
For example, if a person is about to buy a pair of sneakers in an online store, but abandons the purchase because they do not have time to do it, cannot find the credit card, or can’t decide on the model; It is possible to capture this information and then direct advertising for this product to your social media profiles, naturally and not at all invasive.
Marketing seasonality
Let’s think of the concept of seasonality as the moments of the year that can make a product or service have more or less demand . This can be predicted and analyzed with the use of certain tools.
This question, of the rise or fall in demand, tends to have similar characteristics every year, and they have to do with the seasons of the year or important dates. These factors have a notable impact on the demand for products.
Knowing this concept is very important for planning the marketing campaigns that you want to carry out. It is necessary to generate an organization in advance, through different actions and SEO strategies. Some could be:
- Do some keyword research.
- Modify and adapt your website according to the season.
- Make the most of local SEO positioning.
- Bet on advertising campaigns.
- Reinforce with e-mail marketing campaigns.
Now, social networks have a wonderful relationship with the concept of seasonality, since content posts should always be well contextualized depending on the season and the demand for products .
For example, in times where there is an important event such as Christmas, Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, among others, a good advertising campaign on networks would generate demand through some publications days or a few weeks before the date.
Tools to generate automatic content
Something that would be great for you to know is that there are tools to make it easier for SMEs to generate automatic content on their social media profiles . These are tools to facilitate and simplify the process of content marketing campaigns , and the correct use of them can be very advantageous.
It would be advisable to start by defining what type of content you would be interested in generating automatically and constantly to upload to a specific type of network, that is, without images, videos, written content, etc. Once this is defined, the following would be to choose the appropriate tool for each specific action.
If you are interested in generating content to position yourself in search engines, you can use tools such as SEM Rush SEO Content Template , which provides information on the main results factors to position yourself positively . The template that offers helps to analyze the content that has a better position for the target keyword you want to use.
There is also Answer the Public , which provides results of suggested data and allows you to view combinations of auto-completed searches .
On the other hand, if you are looking for a tool that makes it easier to generate visual content, we could think of Canva , one of the most popular design platforms. Creating visual content is not usually easy for those who do advertising campaigns without professional design knowledge. However can make the content format much more attractive , so make use of This tool can provide graphics for social networks and blog images, even infographics and much more.
Post smartly
Beyond the fact that, carrying out a good network marketing campaign requires generating content and publishing it constantly. You must do it intelligently by contextualizing each of the publications. Planning a posting schedule could be the key to success.
Stay updated
If you want to make a difference with your pages or profiles on the networks you have to be updated. Following the trends on Twitter should be practically an obligation in your daily tasks.
Be original
You can always visit competitor’s social networks but it is important that you do not copy content. If you make copies you will not be well seen by your visitors or followers. So think about it and use all your creative capacity to create the best publications that can exist.
