November 16, 2016

Social media is a large part of our day-to-day lives, both personally and professionally. Many businesses take to social media to broaden customer reach and brand awareness.

But where should you begin? And how?

Facebook

Facebook has 1.8 billion active users, making it the most used social media platform. Get your page in front of your preferred audience by regularly posting, boosting posts, creating ad campaigns, and engaging with users.

Boosted posts appear higher in users’ News Feed, so there's a better chance your audience will see them. This requires basic targeting (location, gender, age groups, and interests) and a small budget. Putting together an ad campaign takes more work. Campaigns require a larger budget, copy and images, and advanced target marketing.

Of course staying active on your page is also an effective and inexpensive way to build an audience. Use hashtags, fun copy, and images to attract and keep Facebook users on your page.

Twitter

Twitter is fast-paced and timely. This platform helps businesses concisely get messages to their following. Using hashtags relevant to your brand or tweeting about trending topics helps put the business in front of your desired target market.

You can advertise on Twitter through Twitter cards. Twitter cards look like standard tweets, but appear on the timelines of people who don’t follow your business page. These cards can feature images or video and drive traffic to your site.

Instagram

Instagram is a platform where you can let your personal and creative side out! Fun, lifestyle photos of products and teammates perform the best for businesses on this platform.

Pro tip: If you run Facebook ads and boosted posts, it will automatically run on Instagram if the two business accounts are synced together!

Snapchat

Snapchat is one of the newest social media platforms brands are using in marketing strategies. It allows followers to get “an inside look” at the day-to-day action of your company. This platform is also a great tool to use during events. You can create custom geofilters and live-Snap the event’s activities, speeches, and decor. This makes your brand appear fun and involved!

Although social media marketing requires constant attention and strategizing, by utilizing these social media strategies, you’ll be able to effectively market to your business's target audience.

Sarah Temple, Communications, Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship