There is no question that social media sites have been a boon to many small businesses, but are you using social media to better relate to your customers? Are you tapping into the full rainbow of social media sites and their niche set of users?
Social media sites are not all built the same, and in their differences, they each attract a certain type of audience. For instance, Facebook is inarguably the most popular social media site in the world with over 500 million active users. These users thrive on the ease of use of Facebook and the simplicity of staying in touch with loved ones and friends. Twitter is more of a mini-blogging site where people share their thoughts (in 140 characters or less) and try to get people to follow them. Flickr or YouTube are sites where people can share and distribute visual media.
Which Social Media Sites To Use?
In order to answer this question, you need to ask yourself a few other questions. You can get the most out of one, two or even a few social media sites if you answer these types of questions:
- Where do my customers go? – This may be a polling question you can ask your customers when the make a purchase, or even when they sign up for your email newsletter. Finding out whether they have a Facebook account, post photos on Flickr, or prefer to read Twitter updates. The results can help you decide which social media routes to take.
- What do my customers want to know about my business? – Do your customers like the sales you offer? How about the photos you take of your products, business site, or employees? Do your customers want to hear or watch testimonials from other customers? This can be a big help in determining where you should focus your social media efforts.
- What is YOUR goal through social media? – This question can solidify your decision and commitment to choosing one or more social media sites. Will you choose to post mini-blog updates on Twitter multiple times a day? Will you gather fans and post business news and sales on Facebook? Or perhaps is your business more visual and you want to post photos and/or videos on Flickr or YouTube? Get your goals in order and reconcile them with your customers’ social media habits, and you’ll have a winning recipe for customer relations online.
Every customer and each social networking site is different, but by tapping into where your target audience prefers to frequent, you can take advantage of the full power of social sites.
