Top 10 Social Media Sites to Promote Your Business

Advertising revenue for popular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are surging like never before, which is a clear indication of the fact that more and more businesses are using them to their advantage. Social media is the new big boon for businesses, apart from search engines. It is the best way to promote your businesses online and interact in real time with your customers and fans. Ever since the social signals made their way into Google’s search algorithm, people have also started using social media to boost their ranking in search engines.

If you have the right marketing tactics, you can work wonders with social media. Almost all businesses today have Facebook and Twitter pages, but that’s not the dead end of social media. There are more social media sites where you need to create a strong presence in order to strive in these changing times. We have compiled a list of some popular social media sites to leverage your business.

1. Facebook

From a simple social media site that merely connected people to a giant marketing tool with endless possibilities, Facebook for sure has come a long way. With a whopping 1.26 billion users, facebook is a goldmine for businesses regardless of the type and size of your business. The users of facebook are of varied interests and you can easily target your desired audience. Facebook lets you create a business page where you can promote events and share news with your network. Literally, your business is incomplete without having a facebook page.

2. Twitter

Twitter is not just a social media site, but a micro blogging platform too. The best part of Twitter is that you can connect easily with your industry leaders and learn from them. Users of Twitter can follow any business profile to stay tuned to the tweets. Your tweets are directly delivered to the people who follow you on Twitter. Users can retweet a message if they like it and this can go viral if done right. Twitter users tend to be more internet savvy and hence it is easier to make conversions.

3. Google+

The growth of social media was so evident that the king of search, Google itself jumped into the social media ring with its brand new offering called Google+. It was launched as a rival to Facebook with all the essential features of Facebook itself. Google+ is said to be the social network that will define Google Search in the future. Business owners can create a page that can be the platform for all their promotions. People can follow the pages they like and give +1s to the posts they recommend. The more +1s your post gets, the more authentic it becomes. The +1s of your friends can have an impact on your Google Search results page.

4. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social networking site for professionals in any field and it has over 65 million members. You can set up a profile for your company, build connections, and attract potential customers and clients. The best thing about LinkedIn is that a big chunk of its members have decision making capability on behalf of their company. Having a Linkedin network is sure to boost your conversions in the long run. It also offers various marketing solutions in the form of sponsored updates, display advertising, sponsored emails, etc. It is said that more than half of the Fortune 100 companies use its marketing solutions and some of the big names include HP, Dell, Chevron, Citi and GE, to name a few.

5. YouTube

Youtube is the ultimate video sharing network where users can upload, view and share videos. As people are easily moved by videos, you should use this strong marketing tool to create promotional videos and get your brand name noticed. You can create how to guides, commercials and testimonials to promote your product or brand. It is better to start with creating useful content at first, and once your YouTube channel gets a sizeable number of followers, you can then start making conversions. YouTube video marketing has come to become so popular nowadays that it has taken the form of a profession by itself; there are professionals who specialize in creating and ranking videos, making them go viral, etc.

6. Pinterest

Pinterest is a virtual pin board style social network where people can pin the stuff they find interesting across the web and leave comments for the pins. Launched in 2010 with a handful of users (just 5K to be specific), Pinterest came into popularity within a short span of time and it seems to be here to stay. People are visual creatures and that’s the secret behind Pinterest’s phenomenal success; it keeps users addicted to the interesting pictures. To make Pinterest an effective marketing tool for your business, all you have to do is create images that people love to pin; it’s that simple. You can sign up for Pinterset with your Facebook account or with an email, and start pinning to promote your business.

7. Instagram

Instagram is the social site where you can upload pictures and short videos for your followers to view. Creating a business profile is easy, just use the same name as your Twitter handle, add a brand logo and you’re good to go. Promoting your business is not that easy on instagram, you have to be really careful not to sound much of business minded. Create images and videos that people love to see and try to balance fun and business together. It is also a good idea to follow your followers back.

8. Digg

Digg is a community based social bookmarking site where people can share interesting stuff they found on the internet. It allows users to share images, links, podcasts, videos and more. To start promoting your business, you can easily sign up for an account and start sharing your content. Users of Digg can vote or ‘digg’ the posts they like and even vote down or ‘bury’ it. You have to make sure that your content is good enough to get voted up.

9. Stumbleupon

Stumbleupon is another social bookmarking site where people add their ‘likes’ and are presented with a random page that matches their ‘likes’ upon clicking the stumble button. It boasts of more than 30 million users and is a great place to grow your business. In order to get your website stumbled upon, you need to be really active on the site and get high ratings from other users. It does not work if you simply create a profile and leave it, but can yield great results when worked on.

10. Yelp

Yelp is a wonderful online tool that business owners should be taking advantage of. It is a business review site and social media platform combined. Yelp has evolved into a trusted resource for people who are looking for more information on specific businesses. You can use Yelp to generate positive feedback from your customers and improve your business authenticity. It indirectly helps in the promotion of your business since people have considerable trust on the reviews posted on this site. This can amplify word-of-mouth marketing and lead to more conversions.