An Overview Of Popular Social Media Platforms

By Author: Kelley Robbins
Total Articles: 14
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Reaching a wider audience is at the heart of any successful business, and social media is a powerful way in which to do this. It can play a vital role in any successful digital marketing campaign, by generating web traffic, building brand awareness, and increasing conversions and sales.


As a basic guide to Social Media, here are some of the most popular social networking websites, that can help promote your business;


Facebook – The most popular social network, but is also used for business promotion. It allows registered users to create personal profiles, as well as separate business pages. A business page can introduce you to potential customers who may love your product and services. If you decide to pay for a Facebook advertising campaign, you’ll find that you can really drill down your intended audience to target specific geographical locations, interests, demographic, and much more. You can set a daily or monthly budget which you are guaranteed not to exceed, and to manage the campaign is simple, and not at all time consuming. To create an advert, simply click on “Create ...
... Adverts” from the drop down arrow on the top right hand side of the page, and follow the guide. You’ll be up and running in minutes.


Twitter – Hot on the heels of Facebook in terms of popularity, is Twitter – a hugely successful social networking tool that is widely adopted for business and professional use. It differs greatly to Facebook in that it is a micro-blogging service. This means you can only compose short messages of 140 characters that are known as “Tweets”, to a list of followers or communities. The hash tag (#) in tweets allows your message to reach a larger, targeted audience, and they are crucial to increasing your brand awareness. For example, if your tweet is about marketing, at the end of your message, include a link to your website, and add “#marketing”. Don’t use more than 3 hash tags, or Twitter may consider the message to be spam, and will limit your reach.


Google+ - One of the newer social networks, but no less important, it has many similar features to Facebook. Google + business pages are easily found by all who search for your specific products and services, and provide customers with the opportunity to leave reviews, and re-share your posts. It offers an effective way to build a loyal fan base. One special characteristic of Google+ is the use of Google’s +1 button, which allows users to endorse and share your business related content across the network. They work in the same way as Facebook’s “Like” button.


Pinterest - A unique pin board style, photo sharing website that allows users to create, manage and share image collections related to particular businesses, interests, hobbies and locations. A user can browse other users’ pin boards, “like” their photos (via use of a heart button) and “re-pin” other people’s images to their own boards. If for example, you have a restaurant business, it is a visually-appealing way to share images of the food you provide. If you make and sell arts and crafts, again, Pinterest is a great way to share what you have to offer.


All of these social networks have analysis tools, so you can see how successful each message or image has been, in order to create engagement with other people. Social Media accounts are completely free to set up, but for a business, requires regular effort to monitor, update and analyse.


If this seems as if it’s something your business needs, but you feel you don’t have the time to run a campaign of this type, look for a professional Digital Marketing provider to do this for you. Five Rivers has over 17 years’ experience in this industry, and has a team that will work closely with you to ensure your message is conveyed to your targeted demographic and location, whether it be local, UK-wide, or worldwide.


For detailed information about our leading digital marketing agency, visit http://www.fiverivers.net


About Author:


This article is produced by Kelley Robbins, professional writer at Five Rivers to provide basic information about Online Marketing. For more information you can contact her.