Which Social Networks Work for Which Businesses?

Let’s face it; there are a mind-bogglingly huge amount of social networks out there. It’s kinda (well, more than kinda) overwhelming.

If you’re someone who only has  a certain amount of time to commit to social media each day, you want to invest your time in the networks that are going to generate for you the highest return.

That’s where today’s infographic comes in.

Here are some tips to help you to get the highest ROI from your social media marketing efforts.

1. Devote a certain amount of time each day to your social media. Maybe it’s 15, 20, or 30 minutes, but block off the time each day. There will always be something to steal you away, guard the time.
2. Start with the social network you feel will benefit you the most. Devote your 20 or 30 minutes a day for a month to really learning that network as best you can. Read blog posts about it, how people are using it, and experiment on your own with the kinds of posts you put up there.
3. Go to the data and mine the analytics to see if your efforts are working. Most people have a goal in mind for social media; awareness, building their brand, or sales. Did your efforts pay off? And out of what you did, which kinds of posts had the highest payoff? You’ll want to do more of those. If you feel like you really put quite a bit of effort in, but you didn’t get the response you wanted, you can either choose to continue for a while more, or let it go.
4.  Once you have one social network up and running, you can add a second one, and repeat the process.

Some quick notes about the top social networks:

Facebook is the #1 Social network in the world. I think the majority of businesses would benefit from having a presence there. It is skewing to an older demographic: 40+ is its highest growing segment.

Twitter is the #2 social network. It also skews to a higher, more professional demographic, but many people find it hard to get into, because the etiquette can take some time to pick up.

Instagram is growing very rapidly. It’s entirely image-based, and its demographic is quite young. If your business is quite visual, and  you want to reach a younger demographic, this is the place to be.

Pinterest attracts women between the ages of 25-45, primarily. So if you product or service caters to that demographic, you should be there. One thing many people feel about with Pinterest is they can’t get involved if they don’t have a highly visual business, and that’s just not true. In fact, getting involved in Pinterest if you don’t have a highly visual business could be the best thing you’ve ever done, because there will be less competition.

Google +: Rumours have been swirling over the last few days that G+ is going to close. Many people don’t understand it or see its value. I think it’s important to be on there for SEO reasons.

LinkedIn: If you have ever had to look for a job, or you might need to look for one in the future, you need to be on LinkedIn (this means everyone!).

Here’s today’s Infographic: 

Infographic courtesy of Leverage