What Social Platform Is Best For Your Industry

Marketing your business on social media is one of the best functions you can invest in to broaden your audience, but it will not work if you cannot reach your target audience.

To reach your audience, it is important to consider the entire context and purpose of your social media content. Different social platforms are better suited for different industries. Just as with any marketing function, social media marketing needs to be tailored to the industry your business is in. Below is a list of four industries and what platform would best suit each.

Real Estate

Platform: Facebook

Facebook has about 2 billion users and the most common age group is 25 to 34 years old (nearly 30% of its users). According to the National Association of Realtors, “Buyers 36 years old and younger (Millennials) are the largest share of home buyers at 34 percent”- making Facebook the perfect platform for a real estate business to reach its ideal audience. Additionally, there is still a large group of Facebook users over the age of 34 who have children or adult children and are looking for a new. Another perfect real estate audience.

Facebook is a great way to interact with clients and prospective clients. Let them know that they are not just commission, respond to them personally using their name and any other information you have about them. Reply to their comments or messages; if they leave you a review, acknowledge it.

Use Facebook to build your reputation. After making a sale, ask clients to leave a review on your Facebook page. Post photos of the sale: of the home or of the new homeowners. Photos tend to get the highest engagement on Facebook. People love to see shout-outs and your success, which helps boost your exposure on the social platform. Consistently post any listings you have. Provide details about the property, and if possible, post photos and videos of the property. Note: Be careful not to post the home address or other personal information.

Legal

Platform: Twitter

Twitter is a great place for short, insightful content. It is a great platform for those who practice law to comment and share their knowledge. Most importantly, it’s a powerful networking tool. With the help of hashtags, potential clients and other attorneys can find your profile and connect with you. Hashtags and the ‘Trending Page’ are a great way to stay up to date with the latest news relevant to the legal industry.

Before becoming an active Twitter user make sure you have a profile picture, a short biography of your firm, and contact information (the link to your website and/or an email address).

When starting to compose tweets, the simplest ways to aggregate content include using and promoting your firm’s latest blog posts, commenting on news relevant to your area of practice, and other relevant topics.

• 50% of your tweets should be links to others’ content
• 30% should be interactions with others – liking posts, retweeting/sharing others’ posts
• 20% should be promotional content about your firm

Engaging with others is a great strategy. Retweets are a great example; however, they are limiting for profile engagement rate. Try to comment on the tweet before retweeting or add a comment when retweeting. Note: make sure you follow the social media guidelines. If you are unaware of the guidelines, visit your state’s Bar Association.

Manufacturing

Platform: YouTube

YouTube is a great way to show your audience how projects are done. Create informative videos about your business and the manufacturing process. Informative videos about the timeline of the manufacturing process and best practices for manufacturing create valuable content. Be creative, use broader themes within the manufacturing industry to appeal to a wider audience.

Engage with your viewers and subscribers. Ask questions to start conversations, since there is a comment section. Be sure to respond as frequently as possible to people who comment on the video. YouTube also gives you the power to like and dislike comments, but you will have a higher engagement rate if you comment. Always remind your viewers to subscribe to your channel.

Pay close attention to your YouTube Analytics. The analytics can show how viewers come across the video, what kind of devices they’re using, and how long the audience is watching the video. Note: make sure all videos are optimized to be displayed on mobile devices.

Retail

Platform: Pinterest

Pinterest is a great social platform for online window shopping and to aggregate ideas. Out of the 175 million monthly users, 93% of “Pinners” use Pinterest to plan or make purchases. Pinterest is a great way to give your target audience visual context of your products. This allows the retail industry to promote products without the appearance of a blatant ad.

On product posts, be sure to include keywords, focused descriptions of the product and a link to your website. Also, be sure to add ‘alt text’ to the images that will link them to the post. Choose the appropriate category for your pins (or posts). A study by social media scientist, Dan Zarella, concluded that Pin descriptions of about 200 characters are the most repinnable. Don’t oversaturate the description with too many words or hashtags. Every product posting should be linked to your website to make it easy for your audience to find the product. Note: upload your pins from your website instead of your phone to ensure the pins are linked to the website.

Remember the entire context of social media posts matter. What you post on your business page matters just as much as where you post. Be open to using as many social media sites as you find valuable. The more content you can get out about your business the more exposure you’re likely to have in return. To learn about what to post, visit our recent blog: Business Etiquette on Social Media.