The Role of Social Media in Business: My Favorite Platforms
The platforms I consider to be most effective in promoting one’s products and services are:
- Pinterest;
- Instagram;
- Facebook.
In my opinion, these three social media platforms have the greatest potential for sharing the information about products or services suggested by a person or an organization. The use of social networking apps for promoting products has several major advantages. The greatest benefit is saving money on advertising. The only resources required are access to the Internet and digital photographs of the things one wants to introduce to the audience. The next advantage is the possibility to increase the circle of customers through inviting more and more people to join, like, or share one’s page or group. One more asset of using social websites in business is that creators can communicate with their customers directly through exchanging messages or reading comments. Overall, using social media for promotion is a highly time-saving and cost-efficient idea.
Facebook’s Potential for Product Promotion
- A large number of worldwide visitors;
- Through open graph to social graph: more opportunities;
- Young generation – the Facebook generation;
- Fan page: the essential element of social media campaigns.
Facebook presents its users with many opportunities to promote their products and communicate with customers. One of the greatest advantages of choosing this platform for introducing one’s products is that the number of its visitors is very large (Shrivastava, 2013). Therefore, a seller has more possibilities of finding prospective buyers. Also, it is easy to find out about users’ interests through their social graphs and open graphs – options introduced by Facebook (Turban, Strauss, & Lai, 2016). Next, since potential customers are mostly young people, Facebook has a privilege since it is considered as a platform preferred by young generation (Shrivastava, 2013). Finally, creators benefit from arranging fan pages where they can promote their products and ask users to share the page with their friends.
Pinterest: Possibilities for Small Businesses
- Great organizational options;
- A chance to discover new content and great ideas;
- Being unique and exciting increases one’s chances for success.
Although Pinterest is a relatively new social media platform, its popularity speaks for itself. With the help of this app, people can not only share ideas but also save them to take a more thorough look later. With the help of a board, users can easily arrange the objects they like (Miles & Lacey, 2013). The opportunity for business owners is that they can appeal to visitors with unique and unusual content. Moreover, Pinterest may also be employed for searching innovative ideas and thus expanding one’s product line. Through enhancing brand awareness, it becomes easier to increase sales.
Pinterest: Fewer Efforts, More Opportunities
- A higher level of content;
- News leads: learn faster than others;
- Multiple generations use Pinterest.
The audience of Pinterest is diverse, which allows gaining attention of several generations of users (Turban et al., 2016). Needless to say, this fact promotes the number of possible customers and helps business owners to increase profits. With the help of news leads, users obtain information as soon as possible, which enhances their awareness of products and services available. At the same time, producers of products learn about the increased need for some goods and may start working on their development straight away. Finally, a high level of content suggested by Pinterest is an asset for businesses. By promoting their products in the most exclusive and efficient way, they can achieve the highest results.
Instagram: Viral Marketing Medium
- Opportunities for brand promotion;
- A constantly growing number of users;
- A possibility to boost sales.
Out of a large number of applications, Instagram is showing steady success that is developing all the time (Agam, 2017). As well as Pinterest, this application uses photographs as the main means of sharing information. With the help of such an approach, users can promote their brands through inviting others to follow their page and view notifications about products. Due to the fact that Instagram is becoming more and more popular, the opportunity for advertizing one’s business constantly increases. Consequently, the more followers one’s page has, the more chances for sales he or she receives.
Instagram: My Personal Experience
- A possibility to communicate with customers;
- Great benefits from feedback;
- A chance to promote my work and learn how it is perceived by others.
For me, Instagram is an outstanding opportunity to share what I do, love, and love doing. First of all, it allows me to communicate with clients and see how they accept my work. There is nothing more valuable for an artist than the acceptance of the people. Also, I like the idea of sharing a variety of products and receiving feedback on their popularity with customers. Further, every user who has bought something from me tags my Instagram page on their photos, thus inviting others to visit my page and order something. I enjoy being an artist, and I am grateful to Instagram for letting me share my works with people from different parts of the world.
References
Agam, D. N. L. A. (2017). The impact of viral marketing through Instagram. Australasian Journal of Business, Social Science and Information Technology, 4(1), 40-45.
Miles, J., & Lacey, K. (2013). Pinterest power: Market your business, sell your product, and build your brand on the worlds’ hottest social network. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Shrivastava, K. M. (2013). Social media in business and governance. New Delhi, India: Sterling.
Turban, E., Strauss, J., & Lai, L. (2016). Social commerce: Marketing, technology and management. New York, NY: Springer.