Over the course of the semester my viewpoint on social media has changed. When I first started the class, the only experience I had with social media was posting on Facebook with my friends. I now have a better understanding of the enormity of social media and how businesses are using it.
Before taking this class I had never visited a business Facebook page. If I wanted information about a business, I only went to their website. Now I understand that, while the website is a "home base", social media is where to go if I want to find up-to-date information. For example, a month ago I built a chicken coop with my son. We wanted to find a feed store that sold chickens to populate our coop. I found several websites of feed stores that claimed that they sold chickens, but it wasn't until I visited the stores' Facebook pages that I found out what breeds of chickens the stores carried, and whether the chickens were in stock.
I now take Twitter more seriously. I now know that you can search Twitter to find out what people want. A few months ago, I searched Twitter in order to find horse riders who were looking for a certain kind of boots that I had for sale. I found that several people had posted that they were looking for boots. The ability to immediately find people who were looking for something so specific as a certain type of riding boot was pretty amazing!
After taking this class, I have a much better idea of how to use social media to develop a business. First, the business should identify their target market. After the target market is identified, the business should find out how their target market uses social media. A good clue to knowing how the target market uses social media is to find out how your competitors are using social media. Identifying how competitors successfully use, and more importantly finding where your competitors are NOT successfully using social media will guide your business strategy. I found that my target market uses Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. A business strategy could be to connect with the target market on these sites in order to establish communication. Finding some way to add value such as offering information or "how to" can be a way to establish your business as an informed source. A business blog is a great forum to provide this information. A business can also add comments on others' blogs to establish their credibility. If it makes sense for the business, pictures and video can be added to the blog. At this point, the business is trying to build "likes" and "followers".
After the business has engaged the target market, the business can initiate promotion and advertising. Facebook/Instagram or Twitter ads are a great way to reach your target market. These platforms gather a great deal of information from users! When I made a few ads on Facebook, I was able to target females age 16-45 who are interested in horses and, more specifically, who are interested in dressage, showjumping and eventing. I was pretty amazed that Facebook could target so specifically. Although, over the course of the semester, I began noticing how specifically Facebook has been targeting me! The great thing about running the ads is that you obtain analytics that can tell you how many people saw your ad, how many people clicked through to a website, how many people shared/liked etc. the post. Another method is choosing to "Boost" a post. This will get your post to your followers and their friends. The Facebook business page also runs analytics, so the business can see how their followers are interacting with their posts. This information will allow the business to better use social media to engage their customers.
Taking this class has changed the way that I interact with businesses on-line. Now when I google a business, I will often go to their Facebook page or Instagram page after I have viewed their website if I am looking for more information. I found the material in the class very worth while and its given me a better understanding and appreciation for social media.
No comments:
Post a Comment