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Business Communication Skills for Managers

Module 10: Social Media

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Common Social Media Platforms

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Learning Outcomes: Common Social Media Platforms

10.1 Identify common social media platforms used by businesses

10.1.1 Describe the primary use of Facebook

10.1.2 Describe the primary use of Instagram

10.1.3 Describe the primary use of Twitter

10.1.4 Describe the primary use of YouTube

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Facebook

Facebook primarily serves to connect people, which makes social media ideal places for companies to connect with their customers in a way that feels personal

How can I start a Facebook Marketing campaign?

Watch video by Amy Landino to see how!

Benefits of Facebook:

ability to share posts from other social media sites: you can share YouTube videos, you can set up your Instagram account so your posts are automatically cross-posted to Facebook, and you can link to any other site on the internet

Disadvantages of Facebook:

younger individuals tend to skew away from Facebook
many people have liked so many pages and have so many friends that your brand’s posts may get lost in their News Feed
there have been recent concerns over Facebook’s misuse of data

For a captioned version of this video, visit our page “Common Social Media Platforms”:https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-businesscommunicationmgrs/chapter/common-social-media-platforms/

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Instagram

The top users of Instagram tend to be individuals interested in creating a personal brand.
This interest in a personal brand has grown as celebrities have become increasingly popular in advertising
Endorsements from a celebrity’s Instagram account seem more genuine than a TV ad or in the newspaper

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Twitter

What is the appeal of Twitter?

quickly and concisely reach an audience
includes images and videos in your tweets
Hashtags help you to reach a larger audience
Twitter was originally created as a business tool!�

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YouTube

Pros:

Ease of use
Integration with other social media and websites
Massive audience

Cons:

Data capturing and privacy concerns
Sheer size and volume of content requires careful placement
Creating videos requires unique skills and tools when compared to business writing

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Discussion

What are the positive and negative sides of using social media for your business?

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Additional Social Media Platforms

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Learning Outcomes: Additional Social Media Platforms

10.2 Identify social media platforms that are typically less frequently used by businesses

10.2.1 Describe the primary use of LinkedIn

10.2.2 Describe the primary use of Pinterest

10.2.3 Describe the primary use of SnapChat

10.2.4 Describe the primary use of Google Plus

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LinkedIn focuses on recruiting and finding talent

Individual users build profiles similarly to a personal resume, and are able to search for new jobs and work

Quick and easy strategies for recruiting on LinkedIn:

If you find a candidate that looks perfect, you can send them a request to connect alongside a message, explaining the position that you think they would be interested in
If you have a 2nd or 3rd level connection, you can ask the person you’re connected to if they can make an introduction, and move from there
If you’re doing a lot of recruiting , it might be worth it to get a premium account

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Pinterest is an excellent platform for viewing and disseminating content organized visually by theme
Users can search for things, as well as “pin” things to their own boards (the boards are essentially folders of content)

What are the drawbacks of using Pinterest?

Limited gendered audience
Perceived usage is based around DIY projects, not products
The interface is comparatively confusing and difficult to navigate

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Snapchat

Snapchat is largely oriented to Millennials and Generation Z

it is most useful for businesses targeting this demographic!

Snapchat ads are short and to the point

Filters placed on Snapchat pictures can overlay a brand message or promotion

Interestingly, Snapchat marketing appears to be more effective than other common platforms.

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Google Plus

Pros of Google Plus:

Potential for a large audience
Local SEO

Cons of Google Plus:

Relatively low usage
More manual work to integrate with other social media platforms

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Discussion Question

What are some positive and negative consequences of using Snapchat to reach your customers?

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Selling Your Products

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Learning Outcomes: Selling Your Products

10.3 Use various types of social media to increase your sales

10.3.1 Use social media to announce a product launch

10.3.2 Use social media to spotlight products

10.3.3 Use social media to announce a sale or event

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Product Launch

Number one reason to use social media is to bring attention to a new product or service

Various tactics when announcing a product or service launch

Design a hashtag, organize a countdown, develop consistency across platforms, have clear call to action

When choosing which social media platform to use, consider target audience and type of message

Design a hashtag. By using a hashtag, you can create a central “hub” for all posts about your new product. People posting about the product can also use this hashtag, which increases the reach of the product.�Organize a countdown. Countdowns can increase interest over a period of time. As you release messages on a schedule, it gives more people the opportunity to get excited and ready for the product by the time it is released.�Develop consistency across platforms. The look and feel of a Facebook post should be roughly similar to something on Pinterest or Snapchat, etc. While this is important across all social media messaging, it’s particularly important when launching something new. If your messaging is inconsistent, people might get confused about what exactly is being released.�Have a clear call to action. Similarly to good web design, a social media message should be easy to interpret. You want your audience to have all the information they need to either further interact with your social media campaign or to have the information they need to get your product.

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Spotlight Products

We work to use real, compelling, and authentic narratives to promote interest in our organization, given product, or to increase interaction between customers

Key questions:

Is the message or post authentic?
How easy have they made it to interact?

Netflix and Kohls do a good job of

Using humor
Highlighting possible outfits

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Sales and Events

Advertising a Sale:

Creates interest and excitement by spotlighting size of sale or highlighting reason for sale

Features to Increase Sales:

Unique features to promote sales, such as embedding a “buy” button or link in social media message
Pinterest has different tutorials, reaches to Millennial or Generation Z, Snapchat uses similar features

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Building Your Brand

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Learning Outcomes: Building Your Brand

10.4 Use various types of social media to build affinity with your customers and make your brand stand out

10.4.1 Use social media to cultivate community

10.4.2 Use social media to create a sense of affinity

10.4.3 Use social media to announce company news

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Cultivate Community

Loyal customers blur line between internal and external

Issue of authenticity with social media is challenging, as some exchanges may be hollow or misunderstood

It’s important to be transparent with messaging

Have a goal of having more meaningful exchanges on social media

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Create a Sense of Affinity

Affinity is “a liking to something, often naturally or spontaneously”

Creation of narrative or story is related to affinity and authenticity

Difference between the three words

Affinity: spontaneous liking to something
Authenticity: natural realness
Story or narrative: compelling description about person

Storytelling organizations describe a great story, and attempt to use that story to energize customers

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Activity

With a small group, make a list of products that have succeeded with creating a community or brand affinity with you.

In your list, write a short description of the product and detail what the company has done well to include you as part of their community. List which social media platforms they’ve used, and what they’ve done to cultivate brand affinity.

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Company News

Change in senior leadership, ownership, or other large non-product or service oriented announcement

Organizations cross a divide between external and internal customers and integrate everyone into an audience

Customers themselves drive company interaction, and in doing so they integrate into company business

Loyal customers may talk about company items on their own social media

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Practice Question

Liam is in charge of communications at the large company where he works. The current CEO is retiring, and the company is ready to announce her replacement. Why might Liam choose to make this announcement over social media?

If Liam has successfully created a community among his customers, and affinity for the the brand, those customers may talk about company items their own social media
Seeing social media posts about internal company changes may help drive sales at the company.
Announcing a change like this over social media reminds consumers that your company is working hard to their serve their needs.

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Quick Review

What are common social media platforms used by businesses?

What are social media platforms that typically less frequently used by businesses? And why?

What are various types of social media that you can use to increase your sales?

What are various types of social media that can be used to build affinity with your customers and make your brand stand out?