
It’s important to understand social media management basics and social media marketing can be quite different depending upon each platform’s unique environment.
Social media is the most cutting edge form of marketing and networking today and done in the correct way, will increase communication with customers and provides the opportunity to promote products and services through social engagement.

Facebook
Facebook’s informal, friendly environment requires an active social media marketing strategy that begins with creating a Facebook Business Fan Page. You will want to pay careful attention to layout, as the visual component is a key aspect of the Facebook experience. Social media marketing for business pages revolves around increasing your dialogue with audiences by posting industry-related articles, images, videos, etc.
Facebook is a place people go to relax and chat with friends, so keep your tone light and friendly.
On 30th January, 2013 Facebook executives declared their numbers at the company’s earnings media call showing the network’s steady growth.
Here are some of the figures Facebook released:
• 1.06 billion monthly active users as of December 31, 2012
• 618 million daily active users for December 2012
• 680 million mobile as of December 31
• $1.58 billion in revenue for the last quarter
• $5.32 in average revenue per user in 2012
Google+
Google+ is the new competitor to Facebook and it promotes the same fun and friendly atmosphere. On Google+ you can upload and share photos, videos, links, and view all your +1s. Also take advantage of Google+ circles, which allow you to segment your followers into smaller groups, enabling you to share information with some followers and to block others. For example, you might try creating a “Favoured Fans” circle, and share special offers only with that group. You can also try hosting video conferences with Hangouts and experiment using the Hangout feature in some fun, creative ways. Some social media marketing ideas: if you’re a dog grooming parlour, host a “how to” session on how to shampoo your dog. If you own a local restaurant, offer a cooking demonstration for an easy to make recipe.
The latest figures from the Global Web Index now track Google+ as the second largest social network in the world, with an estimated 343 million monthly active users. Closely trailing Google+ is Google’s own YouTube in third place, followed by Twitter in fourth. All three are trailing Facebook by a significant margin, but Google+ is gaining ground and doing so fast.
Pinterest
Pinterest is the latest in social media marketing trends. Pinterest’s image-centred platform is ideal for retail, but anyone can benefit from using Pinterest for social media purposes.
Pinterest allows small businesses to showcase their own product offerings while also developing their own brand’s personality with some unique pinboards.
Flickr
Flickr – almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world – has two main goals: to help people make their photos available to the people who matter to them and to enable new ways of organizing photos and video. In Flickr, you can give your friends, family, and other contacts permission to organize your stuff – not just to add comments, but also notes and tags.
Twitter
Twitter is the social media marketing tool that lets you broadcast your updates across the web. Follow tweeters in your industry or related fields, and you should gain a steady stream of followers in return.
Mix up your official-related tweets about specials, discounts, and news updates with some fun and quirky tweets inbetween. Be sure to retweet when a customer has something nice to say about you, and don’t forget to answer people’s questions as much as possible. Using Twitter as a social media marketing tool revolves around communication, so be sure to interact as much as possible
Instagram
Instagram is an online photo-sharing and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures, apply digital filters to them, and share them on a variety of social networking services, such as media sites including Facebook or Twitter. A distinctive feature is that it confines photos to a square shape, similar to Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid images.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is one of the more professional social media marketing sites. LinkedIn Groups is a great venue for entering into a professional dialog with people in similar industries and provides a place to share content with like-minded individuals.
Encourage customers or clients to give your business a recommendation on your LinkedIn profile. A Recommendation makes your business appear more credible and reliable for new customers. Also browse the Questions section of LinkedIn; providing answers helps you get established and earns trust.
YouTube
YouTube is the number one place for creating video content, with can be an incredibly powerful social media marketing tool. Created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, YouTube LLC was bought by Google for US$1.65 billion in November 2006 and operates as a Google subsidiary company.
Viewing Stats:
- More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month
- Over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube
- 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
- 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
- YouTube is localized in 53 countries and across 61 languages
- In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views or around 140 views for every person on Earth
- Millions of subscriptions happen each day. Subscriptions allow you to connect with someone you’re interested in — whether it’s a friend, or the NBA — and keep up with their activity on the site
Location-Based Social Media Tools
Social media platforms like Yelp, FourSquare, and Level Up are great for brick and mortar businesses looking to implement marketing social media. Register on these sites to claim your location spot, and then consider extra incentives such as check-in rewards or special discounts.
Reddit
Reddit, or similar social media platforms such as Stumble Upon or Digg, are ideal for sharing compelling content. With over 2 billion page views a month, Reddit has incredible social media marketing potential, but marketers should be warned that only truly unique, interesting content will be welcomed. Posting on Reddit is playing with fire—submitting too much sales-focused content and your business could get berated by this extremely tech-savvy community. If you have content you believe the Reddit community (majority is young, geeky, liberal, and internet-obsessed) would enjoy, you could reap tremendous benefits and earn valuable traffic.
Using social media in marketing does more than improve site traffic and help businesses reach more customers; it provides a valuable venue for better understanding and learning from your target audiences.
Hopefully this guide has helped you better understand how using social media for marketing can improve your business. Need help with your social network marketing? Contact us here.