What will work for your business?

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, & Pinterest:

4
Network Profiles
an eBook by

FACEBOOK, TWITTER, LINKEDIN, & PINTEREST

WHAT WILL WORK FOR YOUR BUSINESS?
Intro With the proliferation of users across social media platforms, business owners are struggling to cover their ground across a variety of networks with only a few results to show for their time and effort. The four giants of social media, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Pinterest, all offer a myriad of benefits unique to each platform, but not all are the right fit for your business. To tap into the full potential that social media has to offer, its important to understand the strengths and limitations of each platform as well as their user demographics. Using your time to engage across multiple platforms wont necessarily drive results for your business. However, figuring out which platforms your target market is on as well as which platforms complement your resources and skills will help you market your business more successfully. This guide will provide you with the key facts you need to make an informed and strategic decision about which of the four social media platforms you should be on, as well as giving you tips for getting started on each platform.

The profiles of the Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Pinterest platforms include: Demographics of users on each platform Characteristics of users The strengths of each platform The limitations of each platform The skills necessary to optimize usage of each platform The types of businesses that are compatible with each of the platforms Key tips to get your business page started for each platform
Once you have read through the profiles, use the information you have gleaned as a guideline for figuring out which social media platform is the best starting point for your business. If you need help, give us a call or sign up for a free consult to help you find the right social media network for your business. Were always happy to help! Click the button below to schedule your consult and to get help from a HivePro on building your social media marketing plan!

Facebook
Use it for: Sharing Getting Feedback Engaging

Urbanity

Gender

17%

50%

33% 55% 45%

Rural

Suburban

Urban

67% of

1.06 Billion Total Users

Women Men

in the U.S. are on Facebook

internet users

Characteristics of Users
Facebook users cover a wider range of demographics than any other social media network 30-49 year olds make up 36% of Facebook users 56% of Facebook users say theyre more likely to recommend a business to their friend after becoming a fan

Age
60% 45% 30% 15% 18 - 20 21 - 49 50 - 64 65+

What is it good for?

Most popular social network equals huge potential audience for your business Wide range of ways to engage with fans (i.e. receiving feedback, events, giveaways) Sharing online content from other sites or social networks Easy to update with fresh content

What to watch out for?

Low business page visibility (only 16% of your fans actually see your status updates) Constantly changing algorithm and features make it difcult to keep up with the platform Time consuming to create quality content to post Makes it easy to overlook updating your website Difcult to measure how engagment on Facebook converts to ofine sales

Facebook
Who should use it?
Who should use it? If you
...have time to create quality content to post ...like to be social ...like to share content ...have an established personal network on Facebook to grow from y

What type of business is it best for?

If your business
...has a broad or niche target audience ...sells to consumers
*Facebook is a platform that complements many businesss social marketing needs because of all the variety of ways you can engage with your audience (i.e. start discussions, get feedback, or inform/educate your Fans).

Facebook
Tips to Get Started
your page ranks for search results. Also, with a business page, Facebook automatically tracks the success of your page with Facebook Insights, a free tool that tracks metrics of your account.

Create a business page, not a personal one so that

Fill out the About section complete with a description

of your business, your business address, your contact information, and your business hours. Be sure to include your website address in the About section as well. Its important to use your Facebook page to drive trafc to your website.

off by experimenting with a couple of posts that vary in the type of content. Post content even before you invite users so that when fans land on your page. They will have content to look at and engage with.

Create content rst before you start inviting fans. Start

Invite your personal network to like your business

page and ask them to share your page with their network. The easiest way to grow your fanbase is to start with your personal connections. After your page gains traction, consider promoting your page with a contest to gain more followers.

Twitter
Use it for: Informing Real-Time Communication Research

Urbanity

Gender

14%

45%

40% 50%

50%

Rural

Suburban

Urban

16% of

500 Million Total Users

Women Men

in the U.S. are on Twitter

internet users

Characteristics of Users
Urban residents are more likely to use Twitter routinely than their rural couterparts One in ve smartphone users are on Twitter 18-24 year olds are the fastest growing group of users on Twitter

Age
60% 45% 30% 15% 18 - 20 21 - 49 50 - 64 65+

What is it good for?

Instant, brief conversations in real-time Keeping your audience up to date with time sensitive news about your business Monitoring conversations and trends Joining conversations with inuencers (i.e. celebrities, industry experts) Learning what users are saying about your business and your competitors

What to watch out for?

Brief message size can be limiting (140 character limit) Fleeting nature of conversation Gauging out the right frequency of tweets to reach your audience Involves daily, often constant and immediate usage to be effective

Twitter
Who should use it?
Who should use it? If you
...can communicate succinctly ...are always connected to your phone ...like to know about the latest news and stay on top of trends ...are spontaneous and like to generate buzz

What type of business is it best for?

If your business
...is selling to a young audience ...can create buzz around a new product ...has a product or service that is trending

Twitter
Tips to Get Started
Create a username that is recognizable to your
business. If the username you wanted has already been taken, use a shorter form of your name thats memorable. Your username should be easy for your audience to remember to make it easier for them to tweet at you.

business but also looks clear even when skrunken in size. Each time you tweet, a small thumbnail image of your prole picture shows up right next to your message. Despite its size, the image should look recognizable and unique to your business.

Pick an image for your prole that represents your

Join conversations by nding Twitter accounts you like,

following industry thought leaders, and browsing hashtages that are relevant to your business. Participating in discussions, rather than just tweeting will help you grow your network.

Promote your Twitter account by asking your customers to follow you on your website, on your blog, and in emails, and newsletters so that your Twitter account gains followers. This is an easy step that many business owners overlook.

LinkedIn
Use it for: Educating Networking Industry Insight

Income
60% 45% 30% 15%
0 -1 0K
10 50 K

Gender

34%

66%

50

1 0-

20% of

200 Million Total Users

Women Men

<5

15

0K

0K

in the U.S. are on LinkedIn

internet users

Characteristics of Users
Users include professionals, job seekers, and recuriters Majority of users have joined 10 or more professional groups on LinkedIn People on LinkedIn use the platform mainly to join groups (to increase visibility) and to search for other people

Age
60% 45% 30% 15% <24 25 - 44 45 - 64

65+

What is it good for?

Professional networking Demonstrating industry expertise and thought leadership through posts and Q&A forums Buildling your credibility through endorsements Engaging in conversations with people looking for solutions or answers High conversion rate: trafc from LinkedIn has a high likiehood of converting into leads

What to watch out for?

Free version is limiting to the types of interactions you can have with users outside your network Not as effective for promoting events or for hard sells as it is for informational discourse More effective for engaging with other business or professional than it is for selling to consumers Users can take a long time to respond to link requests

LinkedIn
Who should use it?
Who should use it? If you
...are a prolic writer and like to write about your industry ...like to educate and inform ...can demonstrate your expertise ...like to network and grow your business contacts

What type of business is it best for?

If your business
...sells services or products to other businesses ...targets a professional audience ...has a content rich website with a blog or ebooks so you can convert LinkedIn engagement to leads

LinkedIn
Tips to Get Started
Create and complete your prole. You can create both
a personal prole as well as a business page. Be sure to put aside enough time. Many users on LinkedIn are guilty of starting their prole but leaving it incomplete. A prole with missing information is like leaving parts of your resume blank.

connect to former classmates by adding your education information to your resume. This step should come AFTER your prole has been completely (especially the Skills section) so that your connections can endorse you.

Add connections from your email directory but also

Add your businesss website and link your

businesss Facebook or Twitter account to your LinkedIn prole. This will give your business an SEO boost and allows for better clickthrough rates.

industry, as well as groups your target market might be in. If you already have content to post, start a discussion in those groups. If you dont have content, browse through trending discussions and comment in them.

Search for and join groups that are relevant to your

Pinterest
Use it for: Inspiring Website Referral Trafc eCommerce

Urbanity

Gender

22%

52%

26% 85% 15%

Rural

Suburban

Urban

15% of

48.7 Million Users

Women

Men

in the U.S. are on Pinterest

internet users

Characteristics of Users
The ratio of women to men on Pinterest is 5:1 The top interests of Pinners are cooking, fashion, entertainment, crafting, gardening, and home decorating Pinterest users spend more money, and buy more items than users on any of the other social media platforms

Age
60% 45% 30% 15% 18 - 20 21 - 49 50 - 64 65+

What is it good for?

eCommerce: Users buying power is second to Linkedin, but they spend more and buy more Building a fun and creative image for your business Generating referral trafc to your businesss website by creating healthy backlinks

What to watch out for?

Challenging for non-visual businesses to create inspiring content Time consuming to create quality and visually appealing content Content copyright concerns Difcult to gain an initial audience

Pinterest
Who should use it?
Who should use it? If you
...love photography and can create visually appealing; quality images ...are good at telling a story through visuals ...are good at creating content around themes (i.e. colors, holidays, trends)

What type of business is it best for?

If your business
...sells to consumers, not other businesses ...is an eCommerce business ...has a content rich website to link to ...is visually oriented ...sells to women

Pinterest
Tips to Get Started
your account so that visitors can easily see your domain name and click through to your website. Pinterest is a platform that gives you good clickthrough rates.

Link to and verify your website when you set up

your web broswers toolbar so that you can easily pin images from across the web to gather content and add to your inspiration board.

Download the Pin it boomarklet and add it to

Create boards and start pinning before you start

sharing your Pinterest account with your network. Creating a couple of boards even before you start sharing your content will give your fans something to look at and pin instead of sending them to an empty board.

scribe each board with keywords that your customers will use. Keep in mind that although you can use up to 100 chracters, theres a visual cap at 26 characters.

Optimize your board names with keywords. De-

RESOURCES
Facebook Profile
1. http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Social-media-users/Social-NetworkingSite-Users.aspx?view=all 2.http://investor.fb.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=736911 3. https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-marketing/sponsor-your-pageposts/10150675727637217 4. http://www.socialquickstarter.com/content/10310_facts_about_consumer_behavior_on_facebook 5. http://visual.ly/how-much-time-money-do-smbs-spend-social-media

Twitter Profile
1. http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Social-media-users/Social-NetworkingSite-Users.aspx?view=all 2. http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/30/analyst-twitter-passed-500m-users-in-june2012-140m-of-them-in-us-jakarta-biggest-tweeting-city/ 3. http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Twitter-Use-2012/Findings/Twitter-use.aspx

LinkedIn Profile
1. http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Social-media-users/Social-NetworkingSite-Users.aspx?view=all 2. http://blog.linkedin.com/2013/01/09/linkedin-200-million/ 3. http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/infographic-linkedin-user-statistics-networkprofiles-groups-applications/ 4. http://www.globalrecruitingroundtable.com/2013/01/22/linkedin-facts-figures2013/#.UXhRW6sjqp1

Pinterest Profile
1. http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Social-media-users/Social-NetworkingSite-Users.aspx?view=all 2. http://www.stellarmediamarketing.com/social-media/the-purchasing-power-frompinterest/

Let us help you: ThriveHive is an all-in-one marketing platform that gives every small business a custom marketing plan and provides the tools and expertise to do it all in one place.
We can help you with your marketing. Our HivePros will get you started with your custom marketing plan and our powerful platform will empower you to execute all of the items in your plan in just a few clicks. The best part is that everything is in one place and it all gets tracked and measured automatically! ThriveHive provides everything you need to run your marketing and start getting more buzz and customers. Get started now: click the button below to schedule a free consultation with one of our HivePros. We will help you build the perfect marketing plan for your business and get started with ThriveHive!