Most website owners are aware of the importance of having a strong social media presence, but once they start working on creating that presence, it’s easy for them to feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of social websites that are out there.
A couple of sites will create most of your social traffic.
For most companies, trying to have a presence on every social media site would be a waste of resources. There are a handful of social sites which have a huge user base, and focusing your efforts on those particular sites will generate the best results.
That’s not to say that you should ignore niche websites, just that you should pick the sites that you spend time on carefully. You might want to create accounts on several social media sites and link them to your main profiles so that important announcements get cross-posted; however, it’s not a good idea to spread yourself too thin.
Reserving names on social media websites is a good way to protect your brand, but you should consider working with a social media agency to ensure that your profiles are well maintained. Bare profiles which show very little interaction with the site’s users could actually damage your brand.
Consider your audience.
If your business wants to reach people who work in the games industry, then maintaining an account on NamesInGames would make a lot of sense. If you want to reach people interested in fitness, then a presence on Bodybuilding.com is a good idea. Neither of those demographics are likely to be regulars on Bebo or Pinterest.
A good photographer, however, would definitely want a profile on Pinterest. A brand that wants to reach young teenagers would do well if they maintained a brand profile on Bebo, as well as a presence on Facebook and possibly even MySpace.
What do you want from your social media campaign?
Most businesses use social media as a way to connect with their users, ask for feedback, and promote special offers and new products. There are other benefits to social media marketing, though. For example, Twitter and Pinterest are both good for generating website traffic, and Google+ can be useful for increasing your Google search rankings. Companies that would like to increase footfall at their physical store may want to run campaigns on Foursquare and take advantage of Facebook Places too.
It’s important to define clear goals for your social campaigns. Having clear goals will enable you to monitor the success of your campaigns more accurately, and make it easier to tweak your marketing efforts over time.
If you’re not sure what you want to achieve via your social media presence, consider working with a social media agency to find opportunities and possible markets. Most companies can benefit from having a strong online presence – whether that’s through raising brand awareness, increasing brand loyalty, access to better networking opportunities, or even improving SERPs. A good social media agency will be able to help you identify the options that suit you best.
About the author: This is guest post from Amy Fowler of social media experts, Boom Online Marketing. To find out more about Amy, follow her on Twitter.