Moving your Small Business online - Part 2: Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram

Continuing with our tips for moving your business into the online space, let's look at what businesses should consider having a Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram account. 

Twitter

Twitter has been heavily adopted by users across the globe. It is a great tool to obtain global reach for your messages, so long as you know how to market your tweets successfully.

There are roughly 1.6 million Twitter accounts in Australian and 45-54 year olds are the biggest segment.

Twitter in a nutshell:

• Update posts frequently, of no more than 140 characters or 117 if you include a link. 
• Follow other users, other users follow you. 
• Tap into a live newsfeed of posts of those you follow, or search key words collated by #hashtags to find posts which have used that post. 
• Using #hashtags will give your tweets broader reach and therefore more visibility in the twittersphere which encourages a growth in followers. For more information on #hashtags see our post here.
• You can brand your Twitter page. 
• Largely used to get news, fast. 

Businesses who should use Twitter: News sources, tabloids, journalists or bloggers, businesses wanting global reach.

Pinterest

There are 630,000 activeAustralian Pinterest users at last count. The demographic skew is 57% female, 43% male who are affluent or have high disposable income. It is an aspirational social media platform.

Pinterest in a nutshell:

• An online pinboard collection, where users pin images to different pin boards they collate on different subjects. 
• Like, comment and repin others posts. 
• Visual medium, heavy in beautiful photography, retail items, aspirational quotes, links to blog articles and DIY tutorials. 

Businesses who should use Pinterest: Retailers, bloggers, visual businesses such as photography studios, event planners, any businesses who are able to generate great imagery, often.

Instagram

Instagram is fantastic for businesses that are on the go, travelling, at events or involve process. Use Instagram to unite employees with outcomes, to share insider information about new products, events, photography shoots etc.

Instagram in a nutshell:

• A smart phone application recently purchased by Facebook. 
• Integrates with Facebook in that you can auto-push posts to your Facebook page. 
• Take pictures with your smartphone, upload them to Instagram which allows you to sharpen or blur, adjust colours through various “filters”, tag other Instagram users or tie the photographs to keyword newsfeeds based on #hashtags. 
• Follow other users. 
• Other users can follow you. 

Businesses who should use Instagram: Retailers, businesses who travel a lot or are “onsite” a lot, any business who works in the community, who creates structures or visual outcomes. These businesses should always be able to take photographs which are meaningful to their business easily, and frequently.

Stay-tuned for Part 3 which covers Meet-up, LinkedIn, and Email Marketing.

Caitlin Davey

Director of Communications

Piggieback 

Moving your Small Business online - Part 1: Websites and Facebook

Over the next few blog posts we will be outlining the ways in which small businesses can move their businesses into the online space. 

Today let's look at what businesses should have a website or Facebook Page.

Should I create a website?
Do you need a website? A serious question! Firstly, put yourself into the mind of your customer… what would they want to find out about your business online? Is it contact details? Is it a product brochure? Is it more information about your business? Websites can be used for many different reasons in today's digital world.

Before you design your website, make sure you sit down and consider what the purpose of this site is for your business and what function you want your website to play in your marketing mix.

Businesses who should have a website Businesses who want to display an online brochure or collect lead information, any business who give quotes online, any online retailers, any B2B businesses for a corporate presence, businesses who can convert people browsing the web into a sale.

If you decide you need a website, make sure you read our article on website best practices, then on how to choose a web agency, and make sure you add an analytics and web traffic platform such as google analytics.

Should I create a Facebook Page?
Do you want to get your brand onto Facebook? There are almost 12 million Facebook users in Australia… that’s roughly 50% of our population. If Facebook was a country, it would be the worlds third largest. Facebook in Australia has a slight female skew (54%), the largest segment is 23-34 year olds but the fastest growing segment to adopt Facebook are 45-55 year olds. Facebook has been very successful for many Australian brands, both big and small, but before you jump on board, I urge you to again consider, what is the purpose of Facebook for your business? There are squillions of Facebook pages which lay idle and aren’t used effectively by the companies that own them. Facebook is fantastic for leveraging word of mouth referrals and boosting brand awareness. It can also be used as a customer service platform to engage with customers and prospects in relation to your products and services.

Facebook is most effectively used when it is both a push and pull medium. By that I mean, that it should be used to push messages out, but also pull or attract messages from customers to comment, message, engage with the page. Facebook should be a customer engagement platform first and foremost, an area to share information, and then secondly to promote your business. Don’t fall into the trap of constantly asking your fans for business, or you will lose your fans very quickly. 

Facebook is a very visual social media platform, which continues to evolve as more and more timeline composition designs are released, it does, however, require some custom work to make full use of Facebooks functionality. A note of caution – do be careful to read the rules and restrictions of using your Facebook brand page correctly, for example: you are allowed to use your Facebook page for competitions, so long as any data collected is collected by a third party application on your page and that competition entrants aren’t required to use any Facebook functionality for their submissions, or for any notifications of winners. See the latest terms and conditions here http://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php

Businesses who should use a Facebook Page: Any businesses who rely on word of mouth referral traffic, retailers, sole traders, online businesses, B2C businesses who run promotions or sales.

If you do decide your business needs a Facebook Page, make sure you set it up as a branded Facebook Page, and not a Personal Page. It is easy for some sole traders to use their personal pages, but to look professional and ensure you get the best functionality available to you, ensure you set your business up on a Company Page.

Stay tuned for Part 2 on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for Small Businesses.

Caitlin Davey
Director of Communications
Piggieback Pty Ltd.