Marketing Strategies: 5 Digital Marketing Myths
October 4, 2021
Estate Planning for Business Owners with Julie Eisenhower
October 18, 2021Digital Marketing Tactics: Social Media for Business Owners
We live in a digital world. There are more people participating in social media than ever before. As a result, there are more people turning to social platforms to research the goods and services they desire. Naturally, this means business owners must shift their marketing strategies to include an engaging presence across each of the major social media platforms. But, oftentimes, business owners have a shortsighted view of social media. Therefore, today’s post aims to provide you with a better understanding of social media as it pertains to your digital marketing tactics.
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TIME INDEX:
- 00:42 – Social Media for Business Owners
- 01:46 – Not All Social Media Platforms are the Same
- 03:42 – Facebook
- 06:33 – Twitter
- 10:08 – Instagram
- 12:17 – LinkedIn
- 15:03 – YouTube
- 18:42 – Summary
All Social Media Platforms are Not the Same!
When discussing digital marketing tactics, I often encounter a common misconception among business owners. Many have this mindset that all social media platforms are the same. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Although there may be some common features, each platform caters to a different demographic and uses different mediums to do so.
Now, some of you might be thinking, “Justin, I don’t think they’re all the same.” Okay. Let me ask you this, have you ever created a piece of content and just sent it to each social platform? If so, you’re viewing all platforms as the same. But why should you care? I mean, if you’re posting the same thing across all five platforms, isn’t that better than nothing? Well, not necessarily. You see, I truly believe that good exposure and bad exposure are better than no exposure. However, you could be doing real damage to your brand.
The common goal for business owners on social media is to drive sales. You might use it to track along with trends in your industry, grow brand awareness, or even serve as a customer support channel. But you must know what the platform was designed to do, or you could be harming your overall mission. With that in mind, I want to help make your digital marketing tactics more effective by outlining the five major social media platforms and their differences.
Facebook is by far, the biggest of all social platforms, averaging 2.5 billion monthly users. But, as a business owner, you should know that it has developed a bit of a negative reputation with younger users. In fact, the average Facebook user is above 30 years old. So, if you’re attempting to reach an audience younger than that, Facebook isn’t the best place to start. However, Facebook users tend to grow more active as they age. This is especially true of the 40+ demographic. Therefore, if you’re looking to reach a more mature audience, Facebook may be the optimal platform for your business’s content marketing.
Now, you might be thinking that people are just visiting Facebook to look at cat memes, and there’s a fair amount of that. But, nearly 65% of Facebook users are visiting or interacting with the pages of local businesses at least once per week. The reason for this is that it allows them to gain insights into your business. They can learn who you are, what your values are, the products or services you provide, and what customers think of you in quick, easily digestible snippets. In fact, you can even create an online shopping experience on Facebook. So, what’s the best way to take advantage of Facebook as part of your marketing process?
That’s a great question and I’m glad you asked. You can build or increase your online community by creating short, engaging videos and using one or two hashtags per post, to increase user engagement. You want to keep things short and simple because people have very short attention spans and they’ll scroll right by if your post is too lengthy or uninteresting. Once you’ve built your online community, you can include casual promotion of your goods or services into your digital marketing tactics. Maybe the best part of this is the ability to view your Facebook analytics. You can literally see exactly how many people viewed or engaged with each post, for FREE!
If you’ve never used Twitter, it is a beast. You might want to sign in to Twitter and just take a look at what is going on in there. This platform sees 350 million average monthly users with 40% of them visiting the platform multiple times per day. It’s very popular among tech-savvy individuals. Especially those who are active in B2B, politics, and marketing. Friends, be ready. Twitter users are well researched and highly passionate. The most innocuous statements can incite large groups of Twitter users to descend upon the tweeter with some of the most pointed arguments a person can fit in 280 characters or less.
Like Facebook, Twitter is popular with the older crowd. In fact, 63% of Twitter users are between 35 and 65 years of age. Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that nearly two-thirds of its users are male. Therefore, Twitter is a great place to reach the older male demographic.
However, there are a few things to consider. First, you can look to trending topics to find out what people are discussing at any given time. Second, the more controversial you are, the more engagement you’re going to have. Because of this, you must be ready to offend people. Twitter allows you to be your authentic self. No topic is off-limits. If you want to discuss religion or politics, go right ahead. There will almost always be a group of people that agree with you and, on Twitter, birds of a feather truly flock together.
The benefit of using Twitter in your marketing process is that you can attract new followers, encourage new leads, boost conversions, and grow brand recognition. The key is to make Twitter users feel as though you’re speaking directly to them. You can measure the effectiveness of your marketing tactics through Twitter analytics, monitoring impressions and follower counts. Likewise, you can actually see what your competitors are doing and respond. One of my favorite examples of this is Wendy’s and Burger King. These two brands have had a longstanding and hilarious war on Twitter.
This is one of the most visual social media platforms. There’s very little text on the platform. Instead, users create short videos called stories, or post various pictures and graphics. My wife loves Instagram because she can quickly see what her friends from around the country are doing. But she’s not the only one. There are approximately 1.16 billion monthly users on the Instagram platform. What does that mean for business owners who are interested in incorporating Instagram into their digital marketing strategies?
Well, you must remember the “80/20 rule of selling.” Basically, 20% of your content should aim to sell your products or services. The remaining 80% of your content should be engaging and not directly related to your product. Using the Stories feature on Instagram can be a great way to create content with your ideal customer in mind. This consists of several very short audio and video clips that speak directly to them. If you can incorporate hashtags into your posts, you’ll create even more opportunities for engagement. However, you want to include more hashtags than you would on Facebook. Where you might include one or two on Facebook, you’d want to have between four and eight on Instagram.
The great thing about Instagram is that it provides a more personal look into your business than the other platforms. Similarly, it is becoming a very popular platform for online shopping. But, it is important to note that this platform is especially popular among teens and young adults. Therefore, if your ideal customer is a 50-year-old man, you’d probably be wasting your digital marketing efforts on creating content for Instagram. On the other hand, if your business targets a younger demographic, you can’t afford to ignore Instagram.
LinkedIn is really a unique entity in the world of social media. Unlike the other platforms, it isn’t as driven by likes and followers. Instead, the 310 million monthly users on LinkedIn are business owners and professionals interested in networking, finding new leads, and sharing information about their industries. However, there was a little bit of a shift that took place when COVID-19 hit. More and more people were staying home and the value of engagement-driven content began to grow. Now, you will see more sales and marketing on the platform than ever before. Still, LinkedIn remains a predominantly professional platform. There is very little personal content to be found.
The true benefit of including LinkedIn as a digital marketing tactic is that it enables you to position yourself as a thought leader for your industry. You can share news about your company, your industry, and even create your own blog content to promote yourself. When using LinkedIn, it’s important to include a call to action at the end of every post. You want to inspire others to connect with you so you can generate leads, professional connections, and build brand awareness. LinkedIn is especially useful for B2B entrepreneurs, with 94% distributing content on the platform.
YouTube
I love YouTube. One of my favorite parts of YouTube is that my mother knows how to search for something on the platform and find exactly what she’s looking for. I mean, how many times have you wanted to know how to do something so you just go to YouTube and find hundreds of videos telling you how to do it? Or, maybe you’ve gone to Google to search for it and it offers up YouTube videos to show you how? This is part of the reason that YouTube is the second largest (behind Google) search engine in the world. Each month, the platform sees 2 billion users, equating to about 30 million per day.
YouTube is an engaging video-only format. But it allows long-form videos or extremely short snippets. Likewise, content can be educational or entertaining. My own YouTube channel is full of educational content. It works brilliantly as a means of marketing. Not only can you showcase your products but 73% of adults in the US say they use YouTube regularly. That number trends upward with increases in income and education levels. So, if you’re planning to capture some of this audience, be sure to plan your videos in advance. Know what you’re going to say, how you’re going to say it, and make sure you’re uploading content on a consistent basis.
One of the great things about YouTube for business owners is its Search Engine Optimization (SEO). You can research the most effective keywords and apply them to your own digital marketing tactics. Additionally, you can create greater engagement by encouraging viewers to leave a comment and uploading new content during peak times (evenings and weekends).
Wrapping Up…
Friends, digital marketing is an absolute necessity for small business owners. One of the core principles of marketing is to reach your ideal customers where they are. In today’s society, that means having a strong social media presence. If you’re regularly creating content for social media, that’s great. However, take a moment to evaluate your tactics. Are you viewing all social media platforms as though they’re the same? Is your content unique and engaging? If so, use the information I’ve just given you to change your content so it’s appropriate for each platform.
Look, I know life is hard. But life is good. Marketing across social media can be frustrating. But it doesn’t need to be. Put this information to use and you can make digital marketing at least, financially simple. Let’s go out and make it a great day (and share it on social media)!
Do you have robust marketing practices? Is your company’s online presence regularly generating qualified leads? Are you interested in improving your business’s marketing? Schedule a meeting with the Financially Simple team. One of our advisors would be happy to walk you through an assessment.
