You may be wondering why there are so many social media sites and especially which one serves you best. Many small business owners complain about not having time to spend creating and updating their accounts on these social media sites, however, if you want your business to be in the forefront, there is no way to achieve this without exposing it to a bigger target market – and these social media sites help you with that.
Facebook and LinkedIn platforms are just a few examples of the many social media websites out there and they all serve different purposes. Keep your mind open to become familiar with their differences and learn to take advantage of each. But the question still remain, why should you care?
LinkedIn is more of a “formal” way of doing business online. You open an account, register your company and its products, participate in “discussions” to get attention, offer and request for advice in your industry, and you can even substantiate your expertise with a profile with referrals, endorsements and the likes. LinkedIn is a valuable resource exposing a great business directory, job leads, and probably it would be the best social site for you to connect with your potential partners, enter to a forum and exchange experiences with other professional with common interests.
Facebook, in the other hand, has its advantages as well. First, millions of people are already registered making it a popular website to visit and its large diverse potential market makes it the cheapest global directory – as you know registration is free. Although it looks like a great place to build social connections, for me it seems more useful for reaching out customers, as well as pitching business ideas or business project, making market analysis and studies, and a good way to let conversations flow between people in and out your business. Facebook chat area feature serves to meet and know the needs and respond to the concerns of your customers directly. Other features that make this website interesting to expanding and growing your business are reports concerning to statistics of visits and tag geographic locations, as well as the creation of albums with your strategic targeted pictures, all of this support branding and marketing your business with a reputable name in your industry.
Everything under the umbrella of social media has a big goal in place: building visibility for your business. And founders of these websites know that you have to go where the people are. When compared to past days, people gathered in the market in the city center; today, they meet online on sites like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+, just to mention a few. So when you are wondering again what is the best platform? You already have an idea of the answer: it’s the one most used and the one you feel comfortable using. Make your social media accounts a place to share information, to create a supported network, to build relationships, and never forget to announce your new products and services.
I wish you success. 🙂