Choose the right network for your company.
Whether your aim is to engage with business owners or the general public with your social media content, it is important to engage the right demographic for your target audience.
With the many social platforms most of us access in our day to day lives, it’s important to not only engage the right audience but for your social media presence to be suitable. For example, LinkedIn is more of a formal platform due to the target audience being primarily for business owners, therefore this network would be beneficial for presenting a formal side to your business.
Whereas Facebook, which has the demographic of predominately 18-29-year olds, would have a more informal approach, therefore your page needs to be presented in a way that relates to your target audience.
Some social media platforms are more suited than others depending on the business. For example, Instagram has its purpose of an audience being able to post visual content, therefore this platform of social media would be suitable for companies with an interest in photography, videography or other forms of visual content. With some audiences being interested in the visual presentation of your company, this could be an appropriate platform to visually showcase your brand.
Distribute content to the appropriate network.
It is important to think carefully about where your content should be posted whilst keeping in mind how appropriate it is for the social media’s demographic.
LinkedIn provides a platform to advertise you company in a more formal and business-like manner. Therefore, content for this platform should be appropriate for your core audience, which is predominately professionals on LinkedIn. With this in mind, marketing your company should be with a more formal tone and have the main function to advertise your company so you can network with others on the site.
Facebook is more of an informal platform in which your core audience is often the consumer, therefore your tone needs to be a bit more informal and down to earth appeal to your target audience. Using the many functions on Facebook such as event sharing, and Facebook live could show your content in many different ways which will engage different audiences. Content on Facebook could include photos, updates and events your company have created or attended.
Instagram is more engaging to the younger audience and could be useful if you want to promote your company more visually with functions including Instagram stories and posting photos. Hashtags that are creative and unique to your company can be another marketing tool. Unique hashtags make it easy for your audience to search for posts directly relating to your business. Furthermore, it’s another technique to advertise your company and a way to filter feeds with only your content.
Visual branding to attract the right audience.
Visual presentation is important to branding your company’s image. You can do this by being consistent with your house style by only using certain colours and fonts and showcasing your logo so audiences can easily recognise your company on all social media platforms.
You can present your content visually in three ways: photo, video and text. Choosing the appropriate content for each platform is important to achieve the intended purpose for each audience.
Text could be your main focus on formal sites like LinkedIn as you may prefer to represent your company solely on a professional level. You could use images on this platform as they are a simple way to get a message across to other businesses e.g. showing what your company does.
Facebook could be a mixture of all three types of media, however due to the audience being the general public, your text can be less formal and more down to earth. Photos and videos can be used to take more of a behind the scenes approach. This content can appear less polished, but far more relatable to the audience and still tailored to your company needs
Instagram is primarily for visual media due to the demographic being young people. With Instagram’s feed layout being a way for consumers to just scroll down past content, it is important that your visual presentation is eye catching and unique for the consumers.
When is the right time to upload content?
Even though you might be posting at 10am on Monday morning, it doesn’t mean your audience is active on social media. In order to engage your audience in an inclusive manner, it’s important to think about when your consumers are on social media.
Looking at the fact that the majority of peoples’ lives are 9-5, it’s important that your content is seen by as many people as possible. Weekdays could involve you posting early at about 8am as people are commuting or getting ready for work, lunchtimes and evenings when your audience has the time to look through their social media accounts.
It is best to upload your content on social media on weekends as many more consumers are active with more people looking at your feed. Due to many social media platforms’ algorithms, less immediate engagement could make your post disappear quickly, hence why timing is key when posting content for your company.
Conclusion
Social media can have a big impact when marketing your company with a range of audiences having social media platforms. Therefore, picking the right network for your audience will enable you to interact with them in an easy and professional way.