Social media is everywhere. From scanning codes and accessing sites on the go to being able to keep in touch with anyone nearly every second of the day, social media is here to stay in both personal and business forms. Entrepreneurs can create profiles on an endless array of social media sites and use their perks to help fuel their businesses by connecting with clients and sharing information. That being said, which site do entrepreneurs love and use most for their business?
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My favorite is Facebook
We prefer to work with Facebook. This is the medium we are most familiar with, however we understand that blogs are becoming increasingly influential in people's buying decisions. Compared with Facebook and Twitter maintenance, blogging can be quite time consuming. We don't always have the staff or resources to be creating original, relevant and interesting blogs, therefore we invest most time and money into Facebook.
Thanks to Milane Hughes, Macaw Marketing & Communications
Related Post: 10 Biggest Entrepreneurs Under 30
My favorite is Twitter
My favorite social media site for business is without a doubt Twitter. Twitter is more than a social media site, it is a constant, ongoing conversation. You can connect with major industry influencers in seconds and (as long as you don't say something absurd) they will reply! It is a great way for startups to build a community around their business and a network through which to share valuable information. Twitter also provides (depending on who/what you follow) fantastic blog posts, articles, studies, and more that is industry specific. I could not imagine trying to network and connect with such a great number of people without Twitter. It makes my job, along with millions of others much easier.
Thanks to Shane Gamble, Sweet Tooth
My favorite is Facebook
Facebook is my favorite social media site for business by far. It has millions of users who are actively engaged. (All one has to do is look at people on smart phones or iPads on a commuter train; more often than not, they are checking their Facebook posts). Further, Facebook incorporates other social media, such as Twitter and YouTube very well. You can auto-post your Twitter updates. Posting YouTube videos on Facebook is easy and creates a preview that is more likely to be clicked than a text-based post. I find it quite handy for my clients who want to interact with customers.
Thanks to John Mooney, Over The Moon PR
My favorite is Google
When I hear the words “social media” I immediately think of; LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and G+. Although I use these and more, the hidden tool I help my clients use is Google. Google offers a tremendous amount of tools if you know where to look. For example, I use Google tools like *alerts* to let me know when a trigger event has occurred to give me an early heads up ( before my competitors) that a potential buyer is experiencing a trigger event that I have seen in the past to result in sales opportunities. It is very simple to set up Google Alerts and with a little time and patience you can refine the alert. In addition, since up to 80% of the sales process today is over before a buyer calls you, we need to know what words they are using ( key words and phrases) and not using to insure our web sites are found early. Web sites are a critical sales tool and not just a pretty virtual brochure taking up cyber space. With Google ad words you can quickly see what words buyers are using to search for solutions you provide.You can rank them by frequency and ideally find words people are using to do searches that not many people are using on their sites. These become golden and quickly drive revenue once integrated properly into web page content, blogs and any other tools you are using. Back in the day I would have to pay an ad firm $2,500 to tell me what I can now find relatively easily myself. To me, for business, social media is really about social marketing. Google helps you establish a foundation based on what your buyers are looking for today and what words they are using. This in turn fuels all your other efforts with tools like Facebook, Twitter, You-tube, linked in and others.
Thanks to Mark Allen Roberts, OTB Solutions
Related Post: The Benefits of Google+
My favorite is LinkedIn
My favorite social media site for business is LinkedIn. When it comes to networking, keeping track of my contacts and understanding who's connected to who, LinkedIn can't be beat. When you meet dozens of people every week at networking meetings, and receive referrals for business regularly, it can be a mess to keep up with it all. LinkedIn allows me to see who the movers and shakers are in my network and who I should strategically connect with to further grow my business. I can find an individual's resume or a brief list of experiences easily without making a request. In addition, my LinkedIn profile has mostly replaced a more traditional resume allowing me to highlight my skills in a way that has an impact. Lastly, with the many possibilities for updating your profile with status updates, profile updates and connections, I can always find a reason to reach out to someone in my network to stay top of mind for referrals.
Thanks to Charity Kountz, Kountz Marketing Group
My favorite is Twitter
While we do maintain a presence on a variety of social networks, Twitter has become my favorite one when it comes to our business. Yes, it allows us to reach a wide audience; but more importantly, it allows us to engage in one-to-one marketing. Twitter certainly has played a tremendous role in creating awareness for our company and in driving traffic to our website. But it goes much deeper than that — Twitter allows our company and our employees to engage with, learn from, and build relationships with professionals that are in our target audience. Yes, we do sell B-to-B.. but at the end of the day, you’re still selling to people. Twitter has allowed us to build trust and gain credibility with the people we meet there because we share freely, engage in conversations, and demonstrate a true interest in them. Everyone talks about the importance of one-to-one, personalized marketing. And we’ve found that when it comes to social networks, Twitter truly enables us to do that.
Thanks to Chris Costello, CBG Benefits
My favorite is Pinterest
We use a lot of different social media platforms to get our message out. But my hands-down favourite is Pinterest. Not only is it the social media platform that generates the most traffic to our site, but it's a great platform to develop our business persona, to show people that we're a lot more than just what they see on our website. We can connect with our customers over shared interests, show our taste, and share what's important to us. It's a great platform to humanize your brand. Not to mention the recently unveiled Pinterest analytics make it much easier to track ROI. I suggest any brand get involved in Pinterest.
Thanks to Julia Gifford, Behappy.me
My favorite is Twitter
Hands down Twitter. It's the cleanest, allows for the most customization and is lightening-fast. Unlike Facebook or Pinterest, Twitter's platform isn't crowded with a bunch of apps, ads and otherwise aggravating add-ons. From the home screen, you can see your own stream of all those you are following, and are able to relay (retweet) or converse with (@ reply) any post that catches your eye to all of your own followers. Twitter is the Mecca for information at the pinnacle of the information age. For the first time in history individuals worldwide are able to disseminate information faster than they can find it. News doesn't break over TV or radio any more because in the seven seconds it takes that data to bounce off a satellite and show up on your screen seven new headlines will already be posted on Twitter. You can use it for anything from customer service to data-aggregation or just as your own fully-customizable news channel. These concise, 140-character microblogs keep you fully informed, fully engaged and effortlessly proactive.
Thanks to Clayton Cohn, Marketaction
Related Post: Top 9 Social Networks for Business
My favorite is Google
Hands down – Google Communities (and Google +). When Google rolled out their communities, we were the first to start a community for our business niche and it has grown steadily. There is a steady give and take within the community and questions, comments and information flows freely between business owners, customers and industry professionals. It's awesome to see someone reference one of our videos from two months ago which was in turn related to a blog. When you see the interconnectedness working, you realize this is what a community is about: participation, relevance, an exchange of information. It doesn't get any better than that as a business owner.
Thanks to Victor Hayes Popovics, UltimateWasher.com
My favorite is Linkedin
Favourite social media site for business is without doubt, LinkedIn. Whilst it may not have the pure number of users as Facebook, it is much better quality for business. Back to that point in a sec. It wasn’t that long ago that LinkedIn announced that they had exceeded 100 million users. Now LinkedIn boasts a community of over 175 million business professionals and soon it will exceed 200 million! This means LinkedIn is absolutely the best place to get in front of your prospects, establish yourself as the expert in your space, generate more leads, and increase revenue. As mentioned, whilst LinkedIn doesn't have the quantity of users as Facebook, it clearly wins in quality. LinkedIn is the best because with average household income well over $100,000 and the average user over age 25, it’s THE place for serious professionals that have real business in mind. It’s the place to reach key decision makers with real decision-making authority.
Thanks to Samuel Seeto, Reach for Freedom Pty Ltd
My favorite is Facebook
My favorite social network for business is Facebook. The reason why this is my preferred network is because it is the most widely used and accepted. With Facebook I can reach the most amount of people. I am also excited about the new Timeline updates coming soon and the new and increased size of photo display. Facebook also offers great crowd metrics/insights and the ability to create and manage private groups. This feature is wonderful if you are looking to create a small community with specific needs or as a focus group. At the agency we use Facebook for any client that it makes sense for and have found it to be a hugely beneficial way to access and communicate with our customers and potential clients. I also love how Facebook allows us to show our personality, and offer our community a look behind the agency door.
Thanks to Meredith Strang Burgess, Burgess Advertising and Marketing