10 Ways Enterprises Can Make the Most of Social Media

Social media is an effective marketing and customer reach vehicle for many companies. Here are a few tips to help firms make the most of social media.

Facebook makes a compelling argument for enterprises to maintain well-designed Facebook pages. The company has 1.4 billion monthly active users and 900 million who check the site (or its app) each day. Through their Facebook page, businesses can create calls to action, update their news feeds so followers can see what they’re up to, upload images and much more. They also can utilize Facebook Insights, which includes demographic information and other critical data that could help them decide how to make content-sharing decisions for the future.

As Facebook and others note, content matters more than anything on social media. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, among others, all say pages should be updated on a regular basis and align with a company’s business goals. However, they argue on the “basics,” some sites saying that a company’s page shouldn’t only promote products and services; it should also enrich followers’ experience by sharing news and sometimes off-topic information.

Advertising is available across Facebook, Twitter and just about every other popular social network. And on social media, it’s surprisingly cheap. In fact, depending on how customers want to use Facebook, a company could get away with spending as little as $5 to promote an update and reach thousands of people. Social media advertising is on the rise, according to research firm eMarketer, with good reason: It’s cheap and companies increasingly are finding it effective.

Twitter has become a popular public relations platform, according to several market researchers. In fact, Twitter has tried to position its service as a place where news can be gathered and companies can share their latest updates. While Facebook is viewed largely as a place where marketers can build a brand, major companies such as Tesla, Apple and others, as well as politicians including Donald Trump, have used Twitter as their vehicle for making news.

Analytics are offered by all of the companies offering social business pages. On Facebook and Twitter, users will be able to see the kind of reactions they’re getting to content, demographic data and much more. Google+ is also quite good at sharing important information. Ultimately, that analytics data can be used to help companies understand who’s viewing their updates, what kind of content their followers care about and what kind of content they should produce in the future to get the best results.

Twitter’s Periscope has become a useful social media tool. The service allows users to stream live video over the Internet to their Twitter followers. Although it’s used largely by consumers, businesses have used it as a question-and-answer platform as well as a way to connect people to what’s happening at an event or speaking engagement. Periscope’s live-streaming feature has a bright future for companies that can think outside the box.

Snapchat has come on strong in its appeal to companies. In addition to allowing media outlets to share news, Snapchat has become one of the more popular ways for firms to offer contests or promotions through their profiles. In addition, bigger companies have partnered with so-called “Snapchat Influencers” who help them extend their branding across an individual’s massive Snapchat following.

Instagram recently launched several new business insight tools for the enterprise. The company has more than 500 million monthly active users and notches 4.2 billion image “likes” per day. According to Instagram, its service is best for businesses that consistently share photos or videos on what’s happening around a given moment. The Facebook-owned company also touts its relatively cheap advertising, which promotes an image across a certain demographic or location.

It’s hard to talk about corporate social media without mentioning LinkedIn. While it doesn’t have the staggering user numbers others might have, LinkedIn is ideal for connecting a company with potential customers and sharing a firm’s value. In addition, LinkedIn, which has been purchased by Microsoft, provides a platform for posting jobs and has some basic analytics data to help companies know what management level (executive, senior level, midlevel or other) is consuming its content. It’s a nice way to connect with professionals.

While Google+ has largely been left in the dust by other social networks, it still has its place in the content mix for one very good reason—Google Search. By creating a Google+ page, companies can fill it out with what they do, the times they operate, where they’re located and much more. That’s all taken into account when users search for related keywords or for the companies themselves. In turn, those accounts might be displayed on the first page of Google’s Search results, depending on the query. For those hoping to improve Google Search placement, Google+ is critical.