How many Social Media Channels are Necessary for My Business to Grow?

Social media platforms play a huge intricate part in a marketing plan. This resource could lead to brand awareness, an increase in online traction, and lead generation.

Companies could benefit from social media channels that are not limited to:

• Relationship Development
• Customer Service
• Resource & Expertise 
• Research & Feedback
• Engagement & Communicatio
• Sharing & Collaboration
• Sales
• Recruitment
• Brand Awareness 

A Social Media Policy Could Avoid Problems in Businesses
Presenting a social media policy to employees could display the companies’ mission, products, services, goals, rules and regulations. By setting clear expectations, the employee will become fully aware of what is expected while participating on social media platforms. This policy can also help to protect the company’s reputation, avoid security risks, empower employees to have a voice, and create consistency across the cross functional departments. The policy could consist of rules and regulations, guidelines, roles and responsibilities, legal and security risks, and accountability.

Introduction of Social Media Platforms
Businesses can use their marketing campaigns to introduce their new association with social media. Marketers can use social media logos, at no cost, on businesses’ marketing collateral and websites to let their viewers/consumers know the business has a social media presence.

Why is social media important to companies? 
Marketers believe that social media;
• builds partnerships
• increase lead generation
• increase exposure and connects to the website’s products and services
• markets the company’s services and products

How many Social Media Channels are Necessary for your Business to Grow?
I believe every social media channel have unique features that give companies access to market their brand to a variety of people and businesses around the world. For example, if marketers are targeting China, FB will not work because it is banned in their country. So marketers must know what social media platforms work in what countries. Having multiple sources for brand awareness and lead generation could lead to various streams of benefits that include but not limited to relationship building, ROI and engagement. Social media demographics help build a better segmentation strategy. For example; a company that sells airplane parts, may not have a high targeted audience on Pintrest. So advertising on this social media channel, may not be cost effective in reaching their targeted audience. Once a targeted audience is established, then companies can start to analyze where their audiences are. Marketers could use surveys to locate their targeted audience. An integrated social media plan could ultimately bring a slew of different prospects from different sources leading them to the company’s universal website. For example, if the targeted audience is women, age range from 30-49, living in the urban region, with some college education then Facebook may be a great channel to market the company. Now let’s, say that same group of people did not see the ad/post on Facebook due to its’ restrictions in policy or for whatever reason, another social media platform could present the same ad/post to capture the same intended audience or people with similar interest. So to reach the ultimate amount of viewers, companies should advertise on multiple social media platforms.

Facebook Users | Top Countries 

Once multiple social media channels are active, then companies can analyze the data to see just what channels are effective in meeting the company’s goals/objectives. They can explore and vet the channels to see which ones are getting the most traction. Once the information is confirmed, then companies will know what social media channels may work for their products and services.

Companies need to know if their industry advertises on such platforms. Businesses must research and become familiar with their competitors’ social media profiles. Competitors’ information can shine some light and point companies in the right direction. Information could be collected by online tools such as SemRush. Google analytics could also provide the referring source to acquire where the audience comes from.

To increase the companies’ reach of audiences, multiple platforms would be ideal. Not only will multiple social media platforms provide maximum exposure, advertising on multiple channels can increase search engine rankings. Businesses want to provide the most quality content on the internet, so their website can rank high. Also companies are able to keep track on what people are saying about them using social media. This gives businesses the opportunity to see just how people feel about the company with the accessibility to respond and fix the situation if necessary. Disgruntle consumers rather go online to complain then call or write the company. Businesses can also use social media platforms to funnel their complaints, concerns, and/or suggestions directly to the companies’ website from their social media page.

There are a number of reasons why a company may feel the need to select multiple social media

platforms to market their business. Choosing the ideal channels to incorporate will take time to research. Here are a few things each company should take into consideration when selecting the channels; if you have a company that is customer service focused and have customers that need or require immediate responses, Twitter may work best for this company. Twitter lets you interact directly and quickly with customers. Or maybe your company only sells B2B, then Linkedin may work for your company due to its’ platform to share relevant knowledge, increase professional and personal growth, connect with other related businesses, and join related groups.

Hootsuite to Manage Multiple Channels

To use time efficiently, marketers can manage several social media channels on an online platform called Hootsuite. This leading social media marketing and management dashboard organizes and maintains multiple networks and profiles while recording campaign results for measurement. The platform supports numerous social network integrations for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, just to name a few. The Hootsuite’s app directory can also provide additional integrations including Mailchimp, Tumlbr, and many more to make the marketer’s efforts seamless and effective. 

Content vs Conversation

The conversation factor is what holds the reader’s attention. The objective is to get personal and have the reader show emotion. With emotion, the marketer has a good chance that the reader will share, like, or store the content presented. A marketer always wants their content to go viral so emotions play a huge part in getting the reader to act. Readers want to be treated as a person and not feel the content is just about the company making a sale. So when the reader starts to feel emotional about what they’ve just read, then it will be easier to ask them to forward the information, write a comment, or respond to a different call to action (CTA). The energy behind the message is what gives it meaning and a life of its own. That happens because we humans like to communication with each other. Thus the conversation begins (Novak, 2010).

Sources:

Jack Sheridan. June 21, 2017. Finding the Best Social Media Channels for Your Business. Retrieved from https://thrivehive.com/finding-the-best-social-media-channels-for-your-business/

Hovde, Kristen. February 22, 2017. Why Every Business Should be Using Multiple Social Media Accounts. Retrieved from https://www.business.com/articles/why-every-business-should-be-using-multiple-social-media-accounts/

Heather Hamilton. July 21, 2017. Choose the right social media platforms for your business. Retrieved from https://www.lightspeedhq.com/blog/2017/07/social-media-platforms-for-retail-business/

Wikipedia. 2018. Hootsuite. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hootsuite

Novak, Catherine. July 27, 2010. Why Conversation, not Content, is King. Retrieved from https://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/why-conversation-not-content-king