Table of Contents:
The difference between a personal account and a business account
Picking the right platform for your business
Likes, comments and shares
Social media is a great way for your business to obtain a social presence. Many platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook allow you to reach an ample amount of people across the world and offer many opportunities to advertise and promote. Social media is a good way for small businesses to get themselves out there and gain customers. Social media is free to use and oftentimes, start up businesses start on social media before getting an official website. Understanding what social media is and how it works is essential to use it to your advantage. If done properly, your business may become successful. If neglected, your business may have to suffer through the consequences.
The difference between a personal account and a business account
Social media platforms are a tool for anyone and everyone. Social media can be whatever the user makes of it. For personal use, it can be used to connect with friends and family and share special moments. It could also become an academy to learn anything imaginable. A personal account is runned by one user. This individual has full control of the account. Because of this, followers could clearly see this person's personality, likes and dislikes. A personal account is filled with selfies, reposts of things they like, stories of their daily lives, photos with close ones tagged, etc. Friends and family like and comment on these photos and repost and share. Personal accounts could be anything and there really is no structure to it. The owner has free range and could do whatever they want with it. Business accounts on the other hand, have more structure. Think of a business' social media page as another website. Their homepage embodies the aesthetic of their business. Posts are specially curated to match the brand as a whole rather than a single individual. Businesses need to be careful with the items they post and need to put more thought into everything they do. These accounts follow a schedule and work on the same wavelength as the business. Multiple people, rather than one individual, work on one social account to ensure that the page matches their business.
Picking the right platform for your business
The type of social media platform you choose depends on you and your business. You need to decide which platform works best for your business. Each platform is unique in their own way and offers different features for your business. Each platform caters to a certain demographic over another. A good way to decide which platform is best for your business, take a look at who your audience is and match it to the top demographic of the platform.
Social Media Platforms and what they have to offer:
Facebook is still, far and away, the most popular social media platform
It boasts 1.79 billion worldwide users
73% of the US adult population
The most evenly-distributed demographics of any platform
1.66 billion mobile active users
Despite being arguably the second-most recognized platform out there, Twitter is fourth in usage
230 million monthly active users
Delivers 1 billion unique visitors to websites via embedded links
400 million active users a month
Instagram user base is skewed towards a younger demographic
Instagram has a user engagement rate of 4.21% - far exceeding Facebook and Twitter
40 million photos are shared on Instagram everyday from a user based that is 75% outside the U.S.
Google+
Google+ users are 67% male
The majority are in technical and engineering fields
The average age of users is 28
Although the platform boasts 2.2 billion profiles, only 4 million or so are active
Pinterest has, in the past year vaulted its way to the #3 spot as most popular social media platform
21% of all U.S. adults are using it
84% of those users are female - which makes it the second most popular site by far for this demographic
Snapchat
50% of new users are over the age of 25
85% of monthly U.S. users are between the ages of 13 and 34
30% of teens rank Snapchat as the most important social network
7 of 10 users are millennials
60% of college students say that they would purchase from a brand if sent a coupon via Snapchat
Likes, comments and shares
Think of likes, comment and shares as feedback. Your followers are able to engage with you and your business through likes, comments and shares. Each type of engagement offers different insights. Likes tells you how much people have seen your posts and have reacted to it. Having a lot of likes lets you know that your audience likes what you have to share. If a post gets more likes than all your other posts, then maybe you should start posting things that are similar. If a post gets less than the rest, maybe you should stop posting those types of posts. Comments lets your audience directly share their thoughts and feelings about your business and products. The comment section is the most important section of your social media page. This is where you could establish a relationship with your customers. Relationships create loyal customers. Audiences are also able to read through the comments made by others to get a feel of your business. The comment section will become a part of your potential customer’s product purchase decision making process. Shares may become the biggest potential for your business. When people share your post, it is as if they are advertising your business and products for free. When someone shares your post, your post has now reached that person's followers in addition to the followers you already have. Thus, reaching potential customers as well as existing customers.Â