Social media can be a very powerful tool in a company’s marketing strategy but do you know how to get the most out of social media for business? We sat down with Stockport creative Aqua Design Group to talk about the pros and cons of a variety of social media platforms.
For a platform that started out as a recruitment and jobs website, this has now grown so no matter what type and size of business you have you can have a presence on the site and app. This takes the form of a personal profile which can include your previous educational and work history, reviews from people that have worked with you and an ongoing project and awards section. It also has the facility to create a business page, so you can post articles and projects related to the business.
By splitting it this way, you can get two aspects of the business covered. Your personal page for more interaction and spreading the word about the work and projects you do on the business page.
• Pros – B2B dedicated platform, messaging service for connections, connect with fellow LinkedIn app users at networking events.
• Cons – Invisible user feature (which is very anti networking).
In the words of Aqua Design Group this is the platform that keeps on giving. Not only can you connect with a wide range of people the direct business contact can be liberating as you don’t need to go through a mountain of search engine searches and break any GDPR compliance as you’re sending a tweet to who you want to. The networking is varied too, with so many # hours relating to regions, creative communities and business competitions set-up by well-known high street names promoting small businesses and women in business, such as #SBS (Small Business Sunday) and #WOW (Women on Wednsday) it can be an instant tweet away from your next project or follow that could be a great contact.
• Pros – Instant response, engaging networking, instant contact with public figures and business people, focused tweets due to number of characters used.
• Cons – Not everyone follows back and engages and you may wait a while to get a response from a big name or celeb.
The platform you either love or hate (the Marmite of the social media world). This has always been built around the person to person contact and that also applies to the business side with business pages targeting the B2C market. Just like LinkedIn you can split your presence between a personal profile and business page, but the reach on Facebook can be much greater if you’re prepared to pay for it.
• Pros – Consumers can comment on posts and you can share within groups across Facebook, Consumer focused.
• Cons – Paying to get more reach for posts, fake reviews, consumers can be quick to write snap posts about businesses.
Not used by Aqua Design Group themselves but a good photo upload platform for the creative and visual industries. Widely used by public figures, individuals and businesses.
• Pros – Hashtags can help connect and reach out, Celebs use the platform, Video feature,
• Cons – Heavy image based.
We hope you have found this of interest and Aqua Design Group mentioned they would be interested in holding a social media workshop for Marketing Stockport members. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Richard Higginson at Marketing Stockport.
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