So you’ve decided it’s time to bring your brand to social media. Or, perhaps, you’ve already accumulated several accounts for your brand, and you’re finding it challenging to figure out which ones are successfully networking your business and which are wasting your time and energy.

We know that you’ve got an audience of potential clients out there who are eager to learn about your product or service. The tricky part can be finding which social network this audience are currently active on, and that’s where we come in.

Working with a myriad of clients ranging from tradesmen to pharmaceutical companies means Tailgunner can effectively assign brands to specific social networks – networks that will work for you.

Let’s take this topic on one social network at a time as we explain the ways in which each account could either help or hinder your brand:

Facebook

It’s hard to go wrong with this social platform, seeing as Facebook has undergone endless updates to transform itself into an extremely effective marketing tool. It’s very rare that we would ever advise a client against Facebook: it’s packed with extremely useful features designed to help companies connect with both potential customers and loyal customers alike.

Facebook boasts a broad range of marketing tools for businesses to use to their advantage:

• view your ‘post reach’ data and popularity on neatly-graphed analytics
• schedule posts into the past, present and future
• update and inform your clients regarding events and company happenings
• raise product or service awareness in an entertaining and informative manner

Facebook offers a built-in shopping feature, though we would recommend clients stick to a purpose-built ecommerce website to trade goods and services. Facebook’s shopping feature is neat, but it is still young and in need of time and polishing.

A professional ecommerce website can sell your products and services in a way tailored to suit your needs and the needs of your client. With online shopping becoming so wildly popular in this day and age it’s important to have an online shopping experience that stands out and encourages customers to return to your store.

If you’re looking to create a fresh, professional and user-friendly online shopping experience for your clients then we can help! Check out our website package page for more information on our web design services. You can also browse our gallery and view examples of online stores we created for previous clients.

Twitter

When used well, Twitter can be a powerful marketing tool for businesses large or small. Without the right social media strategy, however, Twitter can tend to be a tricky one when it comes to promoting a brand: be it person, product or service you wish to promote.

In our experience, Twitter – being an extremely popular and therefore crowded social network – requires its users to implement and stick to a strong personality; one consistently maintained in each post and social action.

A few features that make Twitter unique in the world of social media are:

• ‘Trending Topics’ – show that your brand is involved in the community and concerned about current events
• quickly communicate announcements to your audience (short posts appeal to people’s short attention spans)
• ‘Twitter Cards’ – use your Twitter Card posts to link users to your website (eg: ‘sale alert’ or ‘new blog post’) with eye-catching images

Unless you plan on being very active and involved with your audience on Twitter, we recommend Facebook for your brand. Alternatively, you could invest in professional social media management to efficiently and successfully maintain your brand’s Twitter account.

Linkedin

Whether you’re looking to stay connected with industry professionals, network with potential clients, attract talent to employ or simply empower your brand as an online influence then Linkedin is the right social network for you. While Facebook allows your brand to comfortably connect with an online audience of potential clients, Linkedin places heavy emphasis on connecting with other businesses and personalities that can help build your brand’s online presence.

Linkedin offers features such as the following to help you and your brand achieve helpful connections:

‘Who’s viewed your profile’ – which, as the name states, allows you to gather valuable data regarding the network of people interested in you or your brand
Helpful, well-informed suggestions for people and pages you should connect with (meaning other people and pages will start to see you and your brand pop up in their own ‘suggested connections’ section)
‘How you’re connected’ – a newer feature that highlights any ‘links’ you have with others (extremely useful if you’re looking for a strong point with which to initiate communication with another Linkedin user)
‘Mentions’ – similar to Facebook’s ‘tagging’ feature, you can stay updated on any mentions made on Linkedin regarding yourself or pages you are interested in (great for keeping you in the loop and opening conversation)
‘Groups’ – the ultimate network-expanding tool, ‘groups’ allows you to join similar profiles relevant to your industry (making it easier for newcomers to discover you, and easier for everyone else in your group to keep in touch)

Unlike its social media counterparts, Linkedin is the business-focussed network where companies and clients alike can come to connect and be informed or inspired.

Linkedin is the perfect place to be sharing business articles and advice, as well as any brand-related information and updates you’d like to share with your network. While Facebook and Instagram can lean toward the entertainment side of the social spectrum, Linkedin motivates its users with a sense of success-focussed networking.

Keep an eye out for Part Two of our Picking the right social networks for your business blog next week! We’ll be looking at Instagram and Pinterest: their key marketing features and whether or not they are the right social networks for you.