Digital marketing plans can be great tool to reach customers, but not all social media websites are created equal, before you start a major online marketing campaign you should take the time to consider what social media networks best fit your business type, goals, and customers. Your initial planning should include deciding where best to spend your internet marketing time and advertising dollars for the best ROI.

For the most effective social media marketing campaign, also consider the demographics of each social media platform. Here are some basics that can help you be more focused in digital marketing.

1. Twitter
   Individuals and corporations use Twitter to reach out to their customers. It’s a great way to interact directly with your customer and other brands. You’ll want to post at least once and in some cases multiple times a day to gain traction, but you can share just about anything you choose. Posts have among the shortest lifespans on Twitter compared to other social networks. As many users tweet multiple times a day your company tweets will get buried in your followers feeds quickly.
2. Instagram
   Instagram is more visual than other social media platforms, making it ideal for luxury brands, lifestyle, food and fashion companies. One of the nice features of Instagram is that you can integrate it with Facebook and Twitter to re-purpose posts across other platforms. However, it’s difficult to include clickable content within an Instagram post. While Instagram is a hugely important place for brands selling a physical product it can also be a great place for service providers to share photos that support a positive company culture, charity activities, and any business happenings that might reflect positively on your business, employees, and services.
3. Facebook
   Facebook users tend to be older than 24. If your company targets older markets, then Facebook is a good bet. But Facebook has changed its algorithms to make it more difficult to reach customers without spending money on an ad campaign. A digital marketing company can help your organization decide if that’s where you should spend money. Facebook is a huge market and because users tend to share a lot about themselves ad spending can be targeted fairly well using the vast collection of data Facebook has amassed about their users, that said, if your not willing to pay to play, at least for now, it can be a slow process to build a new brand on this social media channel.
4. Pinterest
   Pinterest users tend to be female between the ages of 18 and 49. The platform is visual. If you have a product that photographs well, Pinterest can be a good investment. The platform has some good tools to reach customers, such as the buy button which lets customers make a purchase with just a click of a button.
5. LinkedIn
   LinkedIn is a professional platform that is more for job-seeking, networking and finding clients. Businesses that are B2B service providers may find the platform very effective. This platform isn’t as casual as other platforms, but it can help you get introduced to people who can help your business. At the very least every business should have a fully filled in profile on LinkedIn and ensure that all information is up to date.
6. Google+
   While Google+ has not been nearly as successful as the other social media marketing channels listed above there is some value associated with maintaining a profile for your business. Google+ is linked to your Google My Business profile (which is extremely important to maintain for your business). Something many people do not realize is that sharing articles on Google+ expedites their indexing, so if you are blogging for SEO or just trying to get new pages of your site to rank it’s well worth sharing links to your content on Google+. Building a following will also improve the rankings of the content you share as Google will see that more people find your content useful or engaging. So don’t discount this network simply because most individuals don’t spend hours scrolling the feeds like they do on Twitter and Facebook.

It should come as no surprise that there are still many more social networks out there. Some social networks have cult like followings and you might find that one in particular is the perfect niche audience that applies to your business. Ensuring that your business is at least on the major networks is worth doing, your profiles and posts will show in search results, your users may look for information about your business on social networking sites. Customers will want to engage with your brand for things like complaints, questions about your products, and more… In part social media marketing is about providing a place for users to get answers and service will help your business succeed.

The Best Social Media Marketing Services

There are many factors in choosing the right social media platform for your business. Work with a professional SEO and digital marketing agency to spend your money wisely and build a better online face for your brand. SEO Pro and KO Websites have years of experience and success working with new and established businesses to improve their website traffic, sales, and online reputation. Our typical client is a business owner who wants to boost their business but doesn’t want to hire a new full time employee or devote the significant time it takes to build and maintain a social media presence. Call today to get started – 510-276-9904