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A Guide to Using Social Media for Non-Millennials

Posted on 20 January 2017

A strong social media presence is an important part of your business’s marketing strategy, whether you’re a new business or you’ve been around for years. Social media platforms are constantly evolving, and it’s tempting to join every platform and start posting.

But the truth is, it’s best to choose the platforms most applicable to your business and manage them well. Here’s a guide to help you choose which social media platforms are right for you and how to best manage them.


FACEBOOK

By far, Facebook has the most users, making it the obvious choice for promoting your business. Over 70 percent of adults have a Facebook account, with ages 25-34 being the most common demographic.

Do:

    • Create a free business page and share the page on your website, through e-blasts, etc.
    • Create a marketing calendar to determine what you’re going to post about and when you’re going to post it.
    • Consider paying for ads to grab the attention of your targeted audience.

    Don’t:
    • Go in without a plan. Once you build a follower base, you don’t want to lose them. Creating an effective social media marketing plan will help you grow your followers and keep them following you.
    • Neglect your page. You need to be sure your company is ready for social and staffed with someone who can manage it. If you don’t have a person in place who can manage your page(s), we can help.

TWITTER

Twitter ranks right up there with Facebook when it comes to top social networks. It’s a great platform to address customer service issues, but because of this, it’s important to be active in replying to tweets. The average twitter user follows five businesses, so it’s a smart place to start a conversation with your audience.

Do:

    • Create a free business page and share the page on your website, through emails, etc. and maintain a marketing calendar.
    • Reply to tweets as quickly as possible.
    • Consider adding GIFs and emojis into your posts, when appropriate. Gifs are commonly found on giphy.com.
    • Activate Twitter analytics.

Don’t:

    • Tweet only about yourself. Retweet others!
    • Post long urls; they’re messy! Be sure to shorten like bit.ly.
    • Hashtag everything. The hashtag is used to highlight relevant keywords or phrases. Stick to a short hashtag if your content relates to a popular keyword.

LINKEDIN

Boasting 450 million active members, LinkedIn is the place to engage other businesses, their decision makers and other professionals, including potential employees and business partners. It’s one of the few social media sites that has more male users than female.

Do:

    • Build a company page.
    • Customise your content for the professional network.
    • Post company updates.

Don’t:

    • Just post job openings. Also consider posting your company’s blog entries, sharing industry-related news and celebrating company successes.
    • Post like you would on other social media sites. It’s a business audience, so keep it uber professional.
    • Remain silent. Connect with other businesses, comment on articles and build respect among your peers.

INSTAGRAM

With more than 400 million users, Instagram is a fun way to reach your customers through pictures. It has a younger demographicand even boasts a strong global audience, with 90 percent of its users being younger than 35.

Do:

    • Use Instagram stories.
    • Link your Instagram and Facebook accounts.
    • Be sure you have enough visual content to maintain your page.

Don’t:

    • Be mindless about your content. Tailor your content for the individual platform.
    • Hashtag everything. Highlight relevant keywords or phrases within your post with hashtag; otherwise, don’t hashtag at all.
    • Neglect advertising on Instagram.

PINTEREST

The digital scrapbooking start-up site Pinterest has over 100 million users, and those users spend nearly an hour and half using it each month on the site. Since nearly two thirds of its users are women, you’ll really need to know your audience and gage whether it’s the right platform for your business.

Do:

    • Pin relevant industries’ pins.
    • Create multiple boards and hundreds, if not thousands, of pins.
    • Think outside the box and create boards that indirectly relate to your company.

Don’t:

    • Exclusively pin your company’s stuff or overly promote yourself.
    • Just pin; also optimize your pins with keywords.
    • Forget about Promoted Pins, as a way to reach a larger audience.

YOUTUBE

With nearly a third of the people on the Internet using YouTube, it’s definitely a platform you’ll want to consider adding to your social media repertoire. Behind Google, YouTube is considered the second largest search engine in the world.

Do:

Don’t:

    • Post only one type of video; post both company commercials and internal videos.
    • Be afraid of posting longer content.
    • Forget about embedding your YouTube links on your company’s website.



Considering any of these social media platforms? Let’s have a chat and discuss what’s right for your business.