THE social media has revolutionized the way people connect or reach out to other people. Nowadays many businesses are taking advantage of this to present their new products, promos, or simply advertise themselves.
However, there are still those who still struggle in using the social media. I sat down with Google Business Group (GBG) Davao’s Angel Abella to know how can businesses and organizations utilize the social media to their advantage.
Web Traveler (WT): What are the advantages of the social media?
Angel Abella (AA): The advantage of the social media is it is very visual, it gives you that venue to post pictures of your products, services, and even quotes related to your establishment.
The best thing about it is technically free unlike the traditional media, where when you want to put up an ad, you have to pay a certain amount. With social media, you can go crazy and creative there is no limit and you can fully describe your establishment, products, and services. That is why it is a really good avenue for you to promote your business.
WT: What social media platform is best used for businesses who are getting into social media?
AA: That depends, you always have to check your target market. For example, in Davao many are Facebook users. We also use Instagram every now and then but the masses most of them use Facebook. As compared to Manila, wherein the market uses a mix of Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. At the end of the day, it is really about your target market.
WB: Should businesses or organizations stick to only one social media platform or is it much better that they are diversified?
AA: I recommend that they diversify their platforms. But for convenient purposes Facebook is straight forward, you can post a picture and caption it. But at the end of the day, what I can reiterate is you choose your platform and tweak your promotions according to your market. For now, in Davao, if we put a case study on the social media platform that can be used here, we can always point out that Davao uses Facebook heavily.
WT: What are some tips you can give to the businesses who will be using the social media for their promotions?
AA: What is always missed out here is that posting promotions is that sometimes when they post a picture or link they do not include a description. They do not tell a story as to how that post relate to their business or establishment. Sometimes you should treat your posts like a mini press release, you have to say the what, who, where, when, and the basic details of your post. Always use captions, photos, and descriptions that are fitting to your brand and service. As much as possible try to be visual because if it is just all text not many will notice you. You can also watch your competition’s Facebook page and see how they are doing and ranking.
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Hopefully, you learned something from the first part of our series. Next week Angel will share more tips on maximizing the benefits of social media for your business or organization
Making use of the social media (1st of two parts) was published on Sun.Star Davao on September 17, 2015. Web Traveller is my weekly column on Sun.Star Davao wherein I feature stuff on and about the internet