The Power of Social Media in Establishing Your Company’s Brand

The internet has revolutionized entire industries. The days of getting a brand’s name out through mailings, TV ads, and newspaper ads are over. In the 21st century, truly effective marketing takes place on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Around the globe, 2.65 billion people use social media with more joining every day. Here are a few of the most powerful social media tools for boosting your business growth and earning a healthy bottom line.

Facebook

Facebook is arguably the king of social media. It debuted in 2004, as a small website for meeting singles at an American university, but quickly blossomed into the largest social media site on Earth. According to Brandwatch, 68% of U.S. adults use Facebook and a new user registers every 6 seconds. Best of all for your business, Facebook’s marketing algorithms are scary in terms of how accurate they are, recording users’ interests and then targeting ads from marketers in their direction. One of the most important rules of thumb for online marketers is not necessarily to focus on how many people your ads reach, but who those people are and whether they will actually respond to the ad and purchase your product or service. Facebook delivers the goods in that department.

Pinterest

Many people mistakenly imagine Pinterest as simply a collection of images from the web. Infront Webworks says this is a drastic oversimplification of what Pinterest actually is. The CEO of Pinterest has described it as a “catalog of ideas,” as in a place to share ideas and for like-minded people to exchange tips regarding mutual interests. Whatever Pinterest actually is, the website boasts over 300 million active users—a rich pool of people who congregate based on shared passions who are ripe for targeted advertising. The site’s operators have made significant headway attracting new advertisers. Creating an ad account on Pinterest’s user-friendly advertiser site is fast and easy.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the largest job-networking site in the world. Users can create either an individual page—usually for job seekers or professionals looking to network—or a company page for a business or group. Both options are free, with a chance to upgrade to a premium package. LinkedIn is a great platform for cultivating a professional image for your company and introducing yourself to a new audience. LinkedIn now allows video advertising. A well-placed, well-produced marketing video can turn over huge numbers of new customers, and LinkedIn is one of the best platforms to showcase your company’s professional work. According to Podium, the point of a LinkedIn headline is to let everyone know who you are and what you do. This must be creative, include the name of your business, be targeted toward your audience, and use keywords in order to effectively establish your brand using this platform.

Twitter

This fast-paced, mini-sized social media platform is unique among social media offerings because it is all about delivering the most effective message in the most concise way possible. The site has 326 million active users every month, so you should consider this an important potential audience for your business. Twitter’s three biggest advantages are that it’s free, a crafty message can reach millions of prospects in a matter of seconds, and you can build your company’s good image by amassing followers and earning re-tweets. Nearly all of the most successful global brands have a presence on Twitter. Twitter traffic is largely driven by the use of hashtags, which can be a huge asset for reaching customers when they’re used wisely.

Instagram

Instagram, owned by Facebook, has over 600 million active users. Businesses that routinely upload high-quality and engaging content can quickly gain tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of followers. Foundation says that you can build relationships with other businesses for B2B marketing as well by following, liking, and sharing content from them. Marketing on Instagram has the added benefit of using Facebook’s behemoth marketing algorithms to target your intended audience.

YouTube

YouTube is owned by Google and widely regarded as the second-biggest social media site behind Facebook. The original concept was that individual users could upload their own unique video content, hence the name “YouTube,” but it has since expanded into a huge online platform for videos covering all types of topics from music to news. Nearly 2 billion people use the site every month. Targeted advertising with high-quality video can attract a healthy new flow of customers to your business.

For businesses with the right strategy and dedication to learning how to use these platforms effectively as tools for increasing their reach, these options offer substantial benefits over more conventional marketing strategies. They are quicker, cheaper, and, most importantly, can be geared to special interests to reach the eyes of consumers most likely to purchase your products or services.

Interested in learning how social media can help your business? We recommend reading: 5 Ways Technology Can Help You Increase Sales in Business.