[SusanParticipant Points: 220]

In today’s world, you would be hard pressed to go anywhere without seeing most (or all) of the people around you staring at their phones. In coffee shops, subway trains, airports, and even in fancy restaurants, people are connecting and communicating online…and in many cases, it’s through social media outlets. Given that, it would only make sense to take advantage of social media for marketing your new business. But which outlet will serve your business the best?

The answer is, it depends.

Just like any other product or service that’s being advertised, it is imperative to determine who the audience is before you decide which platform to use. So, let’s take a look at some of the top social media options you could use.

Facebook: First, the granddaddy of them all (this doesn’t refer to actual age), is Facebook. With roughly 2 billion active users around the world, it would appear at first glance that using Facebook would get your idea in front of the highest number of potential customers. Yet, while this is true, it is still important that you target your marketing to your specific customer. There is a lot of information being shared on Facebook at all times. So, you’ll need to provide something that will stand out.

Twitter – While Twitter limits you to only 140 characters, it can also be a good way to spread the word about your product or service. This platform currently has more than 320 million users, so you are likely to find the customers that you’re seeking – again, provided that your message really stands out among the crowd.

Pinterest – Pinterest is a much more visually oriented platform, so it can work particularly well if your product or service can stand out via pictures, graphics, or other eye-catching elements. It is also more of a niche network than Twitter or Facebook. For example, many of Pinterest’s users are women who are seeking information and ideas on fashion, food, beauty, and similar items.

YouTube – Today, there are many marketers who believe that video is the “place to be” when stirring up interest for a product or service. Here again, if you have something that is visually appealing, this platform could work very well for you. Likewise, if you are able to provide a step by step presentation of how your product works (such as life insurance), YouTube should also be considered.

With the many social networking options that are available today, which have you used for your business – and did it work out well for what you were hoping to accomplish?

[MatthewKeymaster Points: 355]

I wanted to add instagram as I’ve seen a lot of retail stores use this as a way to get their customers to post their products for coupon codes or a free item. You can use instagram but only for a few types of businesses.

What social media platforms are you currently using Susan to build your business if any? On the forums here, we choose facebook and twitter to start, but we may add in LinkedIn as well. I use facebook, youtube, and twitter for most of my businesses that I currently have now. Social media is a great way to engage your customers after a sale, but making yourself stand out through contest or clever posting of humor and fun facts. Knowing what your customers find interesting is a huge advantage in this market. One thing that every customer hates is “click bait”. While clickbait will get you clicks, most often it puts the customer in a bad mood and lets them know you don’t care about offering true content.

[ursellbParticipant Points: 0]

Yes if you know how to use it. I tried
Facebook and it didn’t work for me. I
was trying to do marketing on Facebook.
And I don’t have a lot friends on Facebook and I didn’t know how to use it that way. I didn’t have money to pay for it.

[ParamParticipant Points: 10]

Very nicely explained by Susan. But I really think Facebook is still the king in most of the cases. Twitter builds more of your personal profile. Instragram is an awesome retail promotions tool and a direct selling place. Plus, it’s very powerful in reaching people if you use the following hashtags no matter what your post is about. Without these hashtags, I could get only 50 likes on an interesting image. But with addition of the following likes, I could easily get hundreds of likes and the post becomes available globally. Relevant or not, it’s all in the reach of your post at the end of the day. More reach more followers. More likes.

Best Instagram Hashtags of all time:
#love
#instagood
#me
#tbt
#cute
#follow
#followme
#photooftheday
#happy
#tagforlikes
#beautiful
#self
#girl
#picoftheday
#like4like
#smile
#friends
#fun
#like
#fashion
#summer
#instadaily
#igers
#instalike
#food
#swag
#amazing
#tflers
#follow4follow
#bestoftheday
#likeforlike
#instamood
#style
#wcw
#family
#141
#f4f
#nofilter
#lol
#life
#pretty
#repost
#hair
#my
#sun
#webstagram
#iphoneonly
#art
#tweegram
#cool
#followback
#instafollow
#instasize
#bored
#instacool
#funny
#mcm
#instago
#instasize
#vscocam
#girls
#all_shots
#party
#music
#eyes
#nature
#beauty
#night
#fitness
#beach
#look
#nice
#sky
#christmas
#baby

[SusanParticipant Points: 220]

Absolutely. In addition to Facebook, and / or any form of social media, is having a good email list. Growing your email list can be as easily as having in optin box on your website. This will provide you with “permission” from those who sign up. In return for giving you their email addresses, it is important that you offer them something of value in return, such as a free ebook or report. This can help you to increase your email list, and to then have regular communication with these individuals.

[SusanParticipant Points: 220]

Has anyone used Instagram to marketing their business? This is a social media platform that I am not really familiar with (in fact, at this time, I don’t even have an Instagram account). But it seems that more and more, I’m seeing marketing and advertising from companies – both large and small – that are using this particular platform. If you have used it, are there any tips as far as “do’s” and “don’ts”? I’m also curious as to the amount of reach you can get with Instagram. While it does seem that Facebook has a tremendous amount of reach for potential clients, it also seems that it is a somewhat crowded market place.

 

[MatthewKeymaster Points: 355]

I feel that instagram is really good for any business that is very aesthetic like arts, food, fashion, and other related ventures. That along with maybe pinterest for those types of things. I don’t currently have an instagram account either.  However, I feel that it would be a good way to get your customers involved by displaying things they’ve bought and their outfits.

[James MugoParticipant Points: 27]

Yes. The reason being that in this digital  era we are living in, social media plays a very big role in businesses.

[Joseph MuriithiParticipant Points: 10]

Since social media platforms have become part of modern man,it could be a really great step for a new business to create awareness of it’s existence.This may help in persuade the users of a certain media platform to involve themselves in that business person or organization.This is just like advertising but in this case it’s by using social media.

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[TIMParticipant Points: 17]

Using Social media for market could sometimes be a great kick for your product or whatever you might be selling. There are many large company’s that actually do this, and there are websites that will actually help you with this. There are a few websites that pay people for posting advertisements of products on your own social media site. This is great to get into because you could get your brand out there to a more larger audience.

[MatthewKeymaster Points: 355]

Before sitting down and hashing out a social media campaign. It is extremely important to hash out what your ideal customer actually is, what’s their gender, age, where do they like to  hangout, what’s their household income normally like, what interest do they have outside of your products and etc. Social Media can be a huge push for your products if you do it correctly. Is there still room to grow in Social media with all the advertisements?

[Jenny MaxwellParticipant Points: 12]

Online lead generation is easy and cost effective way to get new leads. Online lead generation methods are,

• Content Marketing
• Customer referral
• SEO, SEM and PPC
• Cross Promotion
• Social media
• Direct MailingThese are free medium you can go through which can be very complicated and tedious, instead you can go through some paid tools that provides you the leads and are also reliable such as,
• LeadLake.com
• Growbots.com
• Hoover’s
• DiscoverOrg  
• Relpro.com These tools will help you to get enough leads you need and can help you to get quality leads.

• This reply was modified 1 week ago by  Matthew. Reason: Admin Edit

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