Beyond Facebook: It's Time to Work Other Social Media Sites Into Your Business' Branding Strategy - Here's How

There's no doubt about it; Facebook is a proven internet marketing platform that small businesses can and must use if they want to popularize their brand without spending a bundle. The only drawback, however, is that businesses can often get hung up on Facebook, devoting all of their social media marketing efforts to the one platform and missing out on big opportunities to develop their brands via other channels online.

In some cases, other social media sites are actually better suited for marketing certain types of businesses or for helping to facilitate specific business goals. Discover how and when Facebook should be used for brand development purposes and when it's good to add one - or better yet, several - of the popular online platforms to your social media marketing repertoire.

How & When to Best Use Facebook

The fastest way to turn Facebook friends or followers off of your business is with hard-selling. In other words, this is not the place for you to inundate your followers with information on the products and services you sell. Instead, think of Facebook as a great way to popularize your brand, communicate news from your business or industry with current and prospective customers, find and reach out to new customers, and share content that's not sales-oriented but relates to the interests you and your customers share.

Now let's look at some of the other popular platforms your business should be using in your social media marketing strategy to attract new customers and keep existing customers engaged, all with the goal of generating more leads and sales!

LinkedIn:

LinkedIn is the ultimate social media marketing site for B2B (businesses that sell products and/or services to other businesses). It's also a fantastic place to network with other people in your industry or to introduce yourself to potential clients. LinkedIn is where businesses 'talk shop,' share content related to their industries and develop relationships with people who have an interest in what it is that they do.

Pinterest:

Any business where visuals can play a big part in their branding strategy should have a solid presence in Pinterest. Artists, photographers, restaurant owners, fashion or interior designers, and the like can create storyboards as a free way to market the products and services they offer. To get started, use Pinterest to do a little market research; find out if your brand is already being pinned and by whom. Create storyboards that speak to their interests and watch as your followers do the marketing for you via pinning.

Twitter:

Have a lot to say? Twitter is the place to communicate with your current and prospective customers, any time and all the time! Regular communication is great for brand development, so attract followers' attention with snippets of well-written, headline-like news and other information that relates to your business, but more importantly, your industry. Then, sit back and watch as your tweets go viral!

Instagram:

Many social media marketing gurus predicted that 2014 would be the year of the visual and that Instagram in particular would play an important role in the branding strategies of small businesses everywhere. It's unlikely that 2015 will be any different as far as the popularity of visuals goes, so open an account for your business if you don't already have one. Instagram is the perfect way to show customers the human side of your company, something which is vital to converting new customers, generating leads and sales. Take smartphone pictures of your staff or show behind the scenes images. Remember, all of your photos don't need to be of your products and/or services but can relate to your company's philosophy. This is a fast and fun way to show people what your business is all about.

If you're starting to think that 2015 should be the year your business broadens its reach on the internet, you're right! Get in touch with Saltmedia to learn about the other ways we can help your business stand out online, bringing you the new customers, leads and sales your business needs to succeed.