It’s interesting that companies that never would advertise in a publication outside their target market will still jump feet first into every social media network they can find. This enthusiasm can leave them treading in water or being pulled under in quicksand – while no one notices.
But how do you know which network is right for your business or organization?
The answer is found in finding the outlets that reach your market and suit your content. And even if they all do that in some shape or form, it still my involve tailoring to suit specific audiences on the varied sites.
It can be complicated, but a recent article on the Ragan’s Health Communications News site recently provided some research tips, including:
• Facebook Insights – If you are the owner of a business page on Facebook, the Insights tool will give you data on age, gender, location, new “likes,” “like” sources (mobile, timeline, on-page) and more.
• LinkedIn Follower Insights – If you are the owner of your company’s LinkedIn page, you can get information on career levels, industries, job functions and locations of your connections.
• Followerwonk – Twitter doesn’t provide follower data, but this free tool can break down your Twitter followers by location, gender, social influence and language, and show the most frequently used terms in their profiles and tweets.
• Google Analytics – Among other features, this platform allows you to sort by social referrals with the Traffic tab, seeing which pieces of your content were shared and which drove visitors to your site.
The article also suggested a little competitive research, allowing you to learn from others’ social network savvy (or lack of same). And Pew Research recently released a report on more specific demographics (i.e. Pinterest users are mostly women; Facebook users generally under 50).
So there are a lot of things you can do on your own. Or you can ask us for help. We’ll be happy to assist you in making the most of social networking.
