Is your social media strategy 2018 proof?
The Pew Research Center reports social media traffic increased from 5% in 2005 to 69% by 2011 — and that number has likely increased since then.
If you own a business, the stat might not impress you much. But it should.
Use the following information to help you decide where and how to spend your time on social media.
Bye, Yellow Pages
Technically, the Yellow Pages still live. But few people remember the last time they cracked one open to find a professional service, restaurant, store, or emergency clinic.
No, they — and possibly you — went to a desktop computer, tablet, or smartphone to search the internet and then either placed a call or drove to the location.
You might be raising a hand, wondering how social media offers better benefits than a simple Google search can.
While having your information on Google can make your business easy for customers to find, social media produces backlinks, which can contribute to search engine rankings (and should be an essential part of your social media strategy).
In addition, Twitter posts often feature as the top results on search engine result pages (SERPs).
And the higher your business ranks on a SERP, the more visible you are online to your customers who need your specific products and services.
Hello, Audience
A solid social media strategy also helps build your target audience, though it won’t define the target for you. That work remains your responsibility.
Social media augments it, helping you locate and then research target audiences you’ve set.
Brooke B. Sellas, B Squared Media’s CEO, calls the entire process “audience development,” which she says starts with buyer personas. You base these personas either on existing customers or ideal customers, describing them in minute detail.
For example, you could define your…
