Expanding Your Social Media Reach (Part 2)
As a business, utilizing social media is not only crucial, but imperative in today’s world. In my previous blog, I discussed a few ways you can enhance the strength and engagement among your Facebook and Twitter profiles. For those of you whose businesses may flourish more on YouTube or LinkedIn, this blog is for you.
YouTube
Social media users today want quick, easy-to-access information, and what better way to oblige them than with a video? Video marketing is a great way to showcase what you do, as long it fits your brand identity. As of 2015, 93% of those in marketing used video for sales or communication. Predictions say that in 2017, 74% of all internet traffic will be video.
It’s important to note that, compared to Facebook’s 50 million business pages, YouTube is almost an untapped market for those looking to advertise their goods or services. With a less fierce competition compared to other social media sites, growing the strength of your business’s YouTube account can help greatly in giving you a leg up.
The most obvious tactic for improving your YouTube account is to upload videos regularly. Having your target audience come to expect a new video daily or weekly will earn you their trust as consumers. However, be sure to keep these videos around 2-3 minutes. Many users tend to be turned off by those of 4 minutes or more. Creating an introduction video is another great way to add professionalism to your channel.
Organize your videos by playlist. A well laid out YouTube channel is not only visually appealing, but provides the simplicity of having to do little navigating for customers looking for specific videos.
Be sure to post any videos or links to these videos to any preexisting social media profiles. If you have a large following on Facebook or Twitter, sharing your YouTube videos on these platforms could greatly increase your followers. Add a ‘subscribe’ button to blogs or posts for even more convenience.
A social media profile that was once thought of as simply a networking tool, LinkedIn is now a networking requirement in order to expand your name or business. Adding connections not only grows your audience, but gives you more and more opportunities to meet potential clients or business partners.
An amazingly simple way to increase your number of connections is by utilizing the address book tool. Importing contacts from your email can instantly send invitations to hundreds of people you know. However, be sure not to send a mass invite. In order to make meaningful connections, choose those who you truly wish to connect with on LinkedIn, and send a personal message rather than a generic “Hi! Connect with me on LinkedIn!”
Add the URL to your LinkedIn profile to other social media profiles. Much like adding YouTube videos to Facebook as mentioned above, this increased visibility can only help. Add a link to your email signature as well to show other professionals that your profile is worthy of being viewed.
With that said, it’s extremely important to have a well written, thorough profile page. List all job history that is relevant and meaningful, your education history along with degree earned and courses taken, and any volunteer work completed or awards received. A detailed LinkedIn page shows others that you take the site seriously, and wish to expand your professional reach.
Join groups dealing with your business or interests, and connect with other members. Again, making meaningful connections is much more likely to generate more engagement than adding strangers.
