Section 1.09 – Signing up on Social Media
Why sign up on SM?
It is imperative to sign up on Social Media (SM) platforms for this course and your future.
Since 2020 there have been a lot of changes in my personal and professional lives. Zoom became a default meeting room, webinars became regular events, and online training was boosted. But the most impactful change was how online access and social media had a sudden new meaning to signing on SM for a business presence to penetrate a new market. It just goes to show the importance of social media marketing, leading many entrepreneurs and professionals to refocus on their SM marketing strategies.
Every Social Media platform serves a different market with its own needs. When signing on social media ensure it is relevant to your vision and goals to the best of your understanding.
Engage with potential customers where they are on SM such as these; Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, Youtube, TikTok and many more.
Importance and benefit of SM
The world connects through the internet, and social media networks are present in the lives of billions worldwide. Social media is becoming one of the most critical aspects of digital marketing which provides incredible benefits by reaching millions of customers worldwide.
Engaging Customers
One of the best reasons for entrepreneurs and businesses to be marketing through SM is that potential customers are present on these platforms. It is an excellent way to engage and interact with them on a personal level. Performing simple market research can help you determine which social networks your target audience uses the most. Additionally, by communicating and engaging with your customers, you can win their attention and convey your brand message. That way you can reach more audiences in real-time and establish yourself in the market.
Cost-Effective
As anyone can do social media marketing even with investing colossal cost, it is possibly the most cost-effective way for an advertising strategy. You can create an account and sign up for free on almost all social networking platforms. Being cost-effective is crucial as it helps you accomplish a greater return on investment and helps you to hold a larger budget for other marketing and business payments.
Increase Traffic
One of the significant benefits of social media is that it can help to increase your website traffic. By sharing your content on social media, you are providing users to click through your website and visit it for more information. The more quality content you share on your social account, the more inbound traffic you generate while making conversion opportunities.
Improve Brand Loyalty
Having a social media presence makes it easier for your customers to find you and connect with you. This will help in improving customer retention and customer loyalty. Since developing a loyal customer base is one of the main goals of any business, social media should be in your strategy. Usually, brand loyalty and customer satisfaction go hand in hand. Social media is not limited to introducing your product; it can also be used for promotional campaigns. The customer considers these to be service channels where they can directly communicate with the business.
Enhance SEO Rankings
In calculating rankings on search engines, presence in social media is becoming an essential factor. The algorithm that secures a successful ranking keeps evolving. Nowadays, it is no longer enough to optimize your website and update your blog regularly simply. Successful brands tend to have a healthy social media presence. This presence acts as a signal to the search engines that your brand is valuable, credible and trustworthy.
Summary of a few Social Media
There can’t be any negative notion about social media if one is looking to succeed online. It is an absolute must to sign up on an SM platform. Research and decide which one you will start your first profile on if you are NOT on SM. If you already have an SM profile, research how to better your personal or business profile.
1.Facebook
With 3 billion users and growing, Facebook is undoubtedly the most popular social network in the world as we speak today. This is no guarantee it will always be! The world is changing at a rapid pace, and anything is possible.
Use: everyone posting common everyday private issues and life events.
Business: Business advertising, engaging for likes, following people and shares, and private groups.
2.Instagram
This platform is more image-based and short video clips have developed a reputation for being superficial and full of selfies as well as great photography and incredible artwork.
Use: common everyday selfies, comment, save and share.
Business: advertise, grow a following of followers
3.LinkedIn
LinkedIn provides professionals with a platform to network, it’s become one of the most used SM sites to find new jobs and meet peers in your own professional circle.
Use: professionals and business organisational purposes.
Business: follow and engage with professional peers
4.Twitter
Generally, Twitter is a network for news and short-chain messages or thread messages. With a limitation of fewer than 300 characters, it is challenging to promote reasoned debate. Its advantage is far superior to News Flash.
Use: breaking news and instant reactions.
Business: instant reaction to a business post
5.Pinterest
Pinterest is another of the best social media apps. It is best described as an image bookmarking site (though it also supports GIFs and videos). You can add images to your public or private boards, follow other users and boards, and comment on pins.
The site is excellent if you’re looking for inspiration for a DIY project or you need something to spark a creative idea
use: for finding ideas like recipes, home and style inspiration and more
Business: When someone pins an image from your blog or website, every time another Pinterest user clicks it, you get free traffic as Pinterest creates a clickable link to your website.
6.Reddit
Billed as the front page of the internet, Reddit is part discussion forum, part content submission site. Users can upvote and downvote posts to help influence what is popular at any given moment.
The site is divided into subreddits. They cover almost every subject matter you can think of. If you have a niche hobby, Reddit is a great place to find like-minded people.
Use: content is socially curated and promoted by site members through voting.
Business: Pay for Reddit ads.
Promote deals in the right subreddits.
Post something interesting (that happens to do with your business).
Curate viral content.
7. Tik Tok
Compared to oldies like Twitter and Facebook, TikTok is a fresh-faced social media app. It was created to fill the space that Vine left behind after its shutdown, but it’s long superseded it.
There’s clearly significant demand for short-form video; TikTok was the world’s most downloaded app in the first half of 2018 and has been on an unrelenting rise ever since.
Use: creating, sharing and discovering short videos
Business: use Tik Tok ads to help build an audience on the platform.
There are many new upcoming social media sites these days, explore them;
- Odyssey
- rumble
- local
- Patreon
- Gettr
- Bichute
- WarriorPlus
- Gab
- Quora
- BeReal
- MeWe
- Telegram
- Vk
Set a goal to research according to your vision and goal where two or three social media platforms you might need to sign up with.
If you already have a business idea it will make it easier to start your research and make a decision to sign up. If not, one can still choose something of interest for now and adjust how one would use those platforms. It takes years to build a social media following and connection, so starting sooner rather than later is advisable.
Starting out
Signing up on social media is the start and is not enough, it will not grow an audience by itself. You have to do a lot of work to build an audience. Do not underestimate the effort of pounds per weight that is required on your part mixed with dedication and loyalty to your own page first before expecting others to take you seriously.
Summary
- It is essential to sign unto social media, each site serves a different purpose to its audience.
- The benefits of social media vary, and one would have to search and help themselves to benefit.
- Explore the most so famous social media sites.
- Start using a few that you like and are relevant to your business or would be to your future business idea.
Activity 1.09
Please do your own research on more SM platforms that may be of preference and benefit to you.
- Which other platforms do you feel is of great benefit to you apart from those listed in this lesson?
- How Many other SM profile do you have?
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5+
Please grade yourself on this section.
Please provide your feedback on the section.