Which social media channel is right for your organisation?
In this digital age, it would be ill considered to overlook a presence on social media for your business. Social media marketing matters for businesses, but how can organisations in the built environment harness its power?
The first step would be to choose a social media channel that’s the right fit for your organisation. You could easily fail your social media strategy from the get-go by prioritising the wrong social media platforms.
Your business’s pick of social media channels should work together as an extension of its brand identity and website- a key part of any digital marketing strategy. So, handpick your social media channels carefully. Let’s investigate the factors to consider to choose the right social media channels in this blog.
A boost in online visibility for your organisation
The use of social media for brands can increase website traffic, strengthen target audience outreach and augment SEO authority. To illustrate this, type your favourite brand on Google’s search engine and it’s more than likely that the first page of search results will contain pages from its social media accounts. Social channels can feel more personable and engaging than web pages and therefore matter to Google’s rankings but most importantly to your target audiences.
In this way, the social media channels you pick shouldn’t be an afterthought. They should instead regularly offer up informative, educative and inspirational posts in a thoughtful way; all the while revealing the ‘real’ stories behind your project and practice endeavours.
But does your business truly need a Facebook page to do this? Should it make use of LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter too? How about TikTok?
Go where your audience is
And it might not be on the newest and fastest-growing short video-sharing social channel TikTok, whose typical audience is teenagers and overzealous under 25s. So, where is your audience? This is a crucial question to address, involving research on your part to determine the type of channel you should invest in building, for your business.
As mentioned above, the age of your audience might play a significant role in the type of social platform you choose. The most straightforward way to track your visitor’s demographics on your website is to use Google Analytics or to use social listening tools such as Sprout Social . These tools will help you discover more about your target audiences and decide which social channels are worth maintaining and which aren’t. Be sure to check your traffic reports regularly as indicators evolve over time.
Breaking down the social networks
Fully understanding your target audience helps you better position your business digitally by enabling real conversation and engagement with your users on the best social media channels for your business. Let’s give you an overview on which channels these may be, by focusing on the four most popular social media channels that you should know about (sorry in advance TikTok!).
LinkedIn – the professional one
The largest social network for businesses and professionals, the LinkedIn platform thrives on content surrounding business and industry.
Content posted on this platform tends to be issue-led with a focus on knowledge-sharing of industry-related articles and whitepapers made easy by LinkedIn’s publishing platform. This is a great social media channel to use to position yourself as an industry thought leader, it has a low-volume post format featuring content of high value.
Instagram – the visual one
Originally launched as a photo-sharing social app back in 2010, Instagram remains the go-to visual platform that utilises the power of strong images to communicate ideas. Does your business have a bank of compelling imagery and stories to tell? Instagram may be the platform for you.
As a highly visual platform, Instagram requires a creative approach and a feed of visually striking content. You can only publish posts that include photos and videos, however, don't forget the power of a strong caption. Use captions to amplify your message and creatively tell your story.
Twitter – the fast-paced one
On the business-front, Twitter is a social network best used for company announcements, newsworthy insights, appreciative shout-outs and tags, trending topics or live-stream events, all in 280-characters or less.
You can include links and hashtags in Twitter’s character-limited copy to start a conversation. Tweets with images are reported to perform much better than tweets with just text. As Twitter is a high-volume and low-value platform, jumping on industry-specific hashtags such as #RetroFirst will help your content to be indexed and found.
Facebook – the popular one
Facebook is currently the biggest social media channel boasting a total of 2.234 billion active users. A number too large to ignore, but if your organisation is in the built environment, is Facebook the right channel for you?
Creating a business page on Facebook is important. Here you can populate your page with content similar to LinkedIn but adopting the fast-paced nature of Twitter. Short videos and linked posts perform well on Facebook. Add a relevant image or video with every Facebook post to stand-out on a feed and capture your audience’s attention.
Other social media channels
To conclude, which social media channel is right for your practice?
Will it be a Facebook feed or a Twitter feed? Whichever you decide, choose your channels wisely. As a summary, we believe that there are platforms better-suited to showcasing work within the built environment; Instagram, for example, lends itself well to the architecture and design industries as it is a highly visual platform whilst Twitter allows industry practitioners to comment on trending issues, giving an important voice to organisations.
A good strategy will look at your organisation’s social media marketing goals and decide which social channels will best help you attain those goals. Time invested on social networks your audience does not use is time wasted. Keeping a close eye on your metrics will also ensure the social media channels chosen continue to work well for your business.
Interested in a social media audit for your practice or organisation?
Get in touch with us for a personalised brand consultation and follow Concept Culture on our socials on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram. We would love to hear your thoughts on our insights.