How to Choose the Right Social Media Platform

Using social media to connect with customers, increase your online exposure, and boost your SEO are all great reasons to include social media in your internet marketing strategies. But, having too many social media profiles can dilute your brand and make it difficult to keep up with your marketing efforts.

While major corporations can get away with paying a marketing team to stay up to date with every social media platform available, this may not be an option for your business. Instead of spreading yourself too thin, you should focus on two, three max, social media platforms.

So, how do you choose the platform that’s right for your business? By evaluating your target audience and the pros and cons of each major social media platform. Here are a few useful tips to help you make the right decision.

Facebook Remains at the Top

As mentioned, at most, you should have a presence on three different social media platforms. You’ll need to consider the benefits of each platform, except for one. Facebook remains the largest social media platform. Right off the bat, you should include Facebook in your social media strategy.

Facebook has over 1 billion users across the globe. That’s a figure that the other social media platforms can’t come close to beating. For this reason, you’ll need to include Facebook as one of your social media platforms.

Everyone and their grandmother has a Facebook account. Even if you don’t use your Facebook account, you probably have one. You can’t ignore a site that receives over a billion unique visits every month. Though, there are other sites to add to your marketing strategy.

The Top Social Networking Sites

In addition to Facebook, you should choose one or two other platforms to focus your social media marketing efforts on. You’ll need to look at your target audience and the demographics of each to determine which ones to choose. Here are the top social networking sites, other than Facebook:

• Twitter – 310 million visitors per month
• LinkedIn – 255 million
• Pinterest – 250 million
• Google Plus – 120 million
• Tumblr – 110 million
• Instagram – 100 million

As you can see, none of these sites come close to matching the Facebook’s traffic. But, they can still be an effective part of your social media strategy.

Consider Your Core Target Audience

Who do you want to target? What are the demographics of your core target audience? The answer is key to choosing your social media policies. Here’s some valuable insight into the demographics of the top social networking sites. Use this information to decide which platforms you want to focus on.

Pinterest is used by 44% of all female internet users. The majority of these women are between the ages of 18 and 49. Yet, only about 16% of men have a Pinterest account. If your products or services are geared towards women, Pinterest is a good choice.

If you’re targeting the younger crowd, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram are all suitable options. Roughly one-third of internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 use these sites. Twitter is more effective for regular updates and links while Tumblr and Instagram are beneficial if the majority of the content that you share is visual in nature.

For those targeting fans of technology, you should include Google Plus in your marketing strategy. It may not receive as much traffic as Twitter. But, Google Plus remains a popular source for those interested in the latest gadgets and technology.

Despite all of the talk about LinkedIn’s declining appeal, it’s still the third most visited social networking site. It remains an effective solution for those focusing on B2B lead generation and actual business networking.

Every entrepreneur and business owner should be using social media to expand their brand and reach more customers. The trick is choosing the right social networking sites for your business. Keep these tips in mind as you develop your social media strategies.

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Learn How to Write an Effective Press Release in 4 Steps

Press releases provide an additional solution for building backlinks, increasing online exposure, and gaining web traffic.

Though, if your press release doesn’t deliver the right message, it won’t be effective. A press release isn’t the same as a blog post or sales page. You need to pay attention to a few important details.

Here’s some advice on how to write a killer press release in just 4 steps.

Choose the right topic for your press release

You need to choose the topic before you start writing. The topic needs to have a newsworthy angle. This means that the topic should be relevant and current.

Examples of common press release topics include:

• New store opening
• New business launch
• New product or software release
• Major update or development

Always ask yourself if the topic is something that you’d read about in a newspaper or in a blog. Searching for press releases will provide examples to give you a better sense of common topics and writing style.

Introduce the newsworthy information

Write two to three paragraphs discussing the topic of your press release. Don’t worry about an introduction. Just jump right in and start writing about the details of the news release.

Remember to write in the third-person (he, she, her, him, they, and them).

These paragraphs are the main body of your press release. This discusses the newsworthy topic in a straightforward manner.

Don’t use any hype. Stick to the facts.

You need to address the following details with your press release:

• Who will be interested in this topic or who is it about?
• What is the subject of the press release?
• Where can people find more information?
• When will this event or product release occur?
• How does this benefit the reader?

Answering these questions will help you stay on track. You have limited space.

The press release will typically be between 300 and 700 words. This doesn’t provide an endless word count to go into great detail.

Write the Introduction and Conclusion

After you’ve written the main body of the press release, you can write the introduction and conclusion. The intro paragraph should summarize the body in several lines. It introduces the topic and your business or personal brand.

The conclusion offers a short bio for your business or brand. You can discuss your area of expertise and provide some background information.

At the end of the conclusion, you’ll typically have a spot to provide contact information, such as your email address, web URL, and phone number.

Create an attention-grabbing headline

The headline should be the last thing that you write. You’ve already written the body of your press release, so you already know the exact message or story that you’re promoting.

Summarise the main message of your press release in a single sentence. Press release headlines are often longer than a typical blog headline. Make sure that it fully explains the topic.

You may also have the option to include a sub-headline. The sub-headline should provide further information about the topic of your press release.

It’s an extension of the headline. Don’t repeat what you’ve already stated in the headline.

Before submitting your press release for publication, make sure that you check it for spelling and grammar errors.

You should proof read it by reading each line aloud. This is the best way to catch errors and also to find ways to improve your content.

Writing an effective press release isn’t difficult. Take it one step at a time. If you’d like more internet marketing tips and suggestions, and a method for generating conversion-ready internet traffic, click here to learn about my done-for-you system.