In today’s world, social media is important.  One of the many questions I am asked by clients is “How many social media account should I have?” This article will go over what I believe to be the best social media options for you.

Being Connected is Important

The day of phone calls and emails are quickly becoming a thing of the past.   If you want to reach new clientele whether you’re a business, church, or nonprofit social media is the fasted growing option available. For example, I had a friend who joined his wife real estate company and wondered why he wasn’t getting clients.  His wife told him that no one does email anymore most of the time you have to message them on Facebook. He joined the Facebook community just for his job.  Society loves feeling connected to each other and in today’s busy world social media provides the avenue to do so, though there is a dark side to it which I will explain a little later.

How many are there?

There are tons of social media outlets available and more being created each day. Here is the list of what I believe is the  most effective:

Facebook– the most popular social media, Facebook is what most businesses and churches use to get their messages out using blog style posts, images and now it has introduced live streaming. If you have to choose only one presence Facebook would be it.

 

Twitter- A publishing platform. It thrives on live messages called “tweets” and has a max limit of 140 characters. Remember the use of hash tags are a must. Twitter is great for engaging with people.

 

Instagram- is a photography social media site in which you use on your phone only to take a picture of whatever you want the allowing you to save with followers or share to another outlet such as Facebook.   Whether a business meeting or a concert at your church, the uses are endless. I use it as a second gallery for all the things my church does.

 

Skype- is an application that provides video chat and voice call services;  Skype is often used for business meetings if someone is in another town or time zone.  There are varied opinions on the effectiveness of Skype. As with any platform, it depends on upon your target demographic.

 

LinkedIn- It’s great for if you are a business or a person looking for a job. You can showcase your professionalism with a nice picture and a history of your work, and qualifications.  Your profile acts similar to an online version of a resume.  It is a great way to network with businesses in your area.

 

There are many more outlets out there like Google +, Hangouts, Snapchat and others, but I find these to be the most popular.  You don’t need all of them and it is possible you may not use them daily or even weekly.  But I would suggest that you review them and pick which one you feel the best fits your needs.

The Danger of social media

As a business owner, you must be careful as the lines of personal and business may become blurred on social media outlets.   Typically, businesses tend to stay out of politics or very divisive issues.  If this is your choice, realize that even speaking from a “personal” page in the world of social media may reflect on your business.

Another issue with social media is that rather than pushing traffic to your website, it may take people away from your website.  The danger in this is that social media is about “immediate” information with limited content.  As someone who works in the website field I understand how much work it takes to make a quality website, it is troubling that people tend to use their Facebook page as a replacement for a website.  No social media outlet can provide the quality of content in which you find on an organizations or businesses website.

 

Final Thought

Social media is an important avenue and a great addition to a quality website, but keep in mind that the world of “quick information” is always changing, so keep up with the next social media trend and never use it as a replacement for a web presence such as a quality website.