Social media can enhance your marketing efforts when used correctly. When you align it with your overall objectives and vision, you can reap substantial benefits.
All social media platforms are best used to:
- Spark interaction and empower your audience to share your content
- Connect with potential customers and engage with likeminded people
- Add value to existing customers and communities
- Display your brand and authentically show off who you are and what you do
- Create a fan base who will follow you even if you leave the social media platform
It’s important, however, to understand the pros and cons of using social media. Let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, and Pinterest.
Pros
Size: Facebook has a monopoly on social audiences at the moment. Its size and scope make it a powerful tool.
Targeting: You can target a specific demographic, geographic location, age group, and more using Facebook’s targeted advertising. Analytics also help you see who’s engaging with your page.
Women: Women are often key decision makers at home, and Facebook has a large demographic of women users.
Conversation Hub: Content shared on Facebook has the potential to “go viral.” It’s a place where infectious conversation can occur if the right content is shared in smart and creative ways. Facebook is becoming more and more image and video centric; sharing property photos and virtual tours can have a positive impact.
Cons
High Cost: Facebook has recently moved to a pay-to-play model in which you have to promote or spend money advertising your content in order to have it seen by your audience. Once a business page reaches a modest following, it requires advertising spend in order to reach a large segment of your audience. The more you spend, the more fans you’ll reach. As your fans increase, you’ll likely spend more trying to reach them, and thus you risk a higher potential cost.
Loud: Facebook is large and because of this it’s struggling to decipher what users and advertisers want to see in their news feeds. This juggling often leads to a frustrating and confusing experience that doesn’t please either party.
Aging Users: Young people are turning to other social media sites to socialize because the average age of Facebook users is increasing. Now that their parents, grandparents, and teachers are all using it, it’s lost a bit of its thrill. In Australia, the average age of a Facebook user is 40+ and climbing.
Not Mobile: Most Facebook advertising products don’t function on mobile via the Facebook app. Competition apps, which are used to engage and interact with users, are also blocked from mobile. This is challenging considering that over 50% of Facebook users are coming from a mobile Facebook app.
Pros
Local Presence: In an effort to be more accessible to domestic advertisers, Twitter has opened up an office in Sidney, Australia.
Automation: You can automate your tweets efficiently through the use of a range of Twitter tools and dashboards (although human interaction is always the most valuable and beneficial).
Real Time Access: With Twitter trends and hashtags, you have real time access to the ‘conversations’ that are happening ‘now’. These hashtags showcase your content and allow you to immediately engage with your audience around hot topics.
Retweets and Interactive Culture: If you’re adding value and sharing great content, you’ll typically get retweets, and that value will travel. Twitter users love fun and helpful content.
Cons
Spam: Many businesses and individuals use the platform robotically, subjecting users to spam and unwanted content. If your content is viewed as unwelcome, you may get reported or blocked.
ROI: Twitter has created business advertising products such as Promoted Trends, Promoted Tweets, and Twitter Cards, but due to the newness of these products it’s difficult to measure the return on investment.
Too Much Info: Because everything on Twitter is happening in real time, there’s a ton of information. This information is often difficult to process and cut through, making it challenging for you to reach users with your content.
Brevity: Having to create a message that fits 140 characters or less can be challenging, although it encourages creativity.
Pros
Professional: Due to its professional nature, LinkedIn is considered a more mature space for interaction, therefore, the noise level and amount of information is kept to a minimum.
Networking Reach: A leading professional network, it spans the globe and has 5+ million Australian members (as of February 2014).
Community Groups: You can create or join interest groups to share your expertise, promote your skills or business, and engage with likeminded people.
Search Ranking: Frequent activity on LinkedIn increases your ranking in Google search. Because of this, make sure your profiles are updated, professional, and complete.
Cons
Too Professional at Times: The professional nature can limit interaction due to the high expectancy of very useful, expert-level content as opposed to fun and entertaining content.
Spam: Self-promotion can be high, especially in industry groups, resulting in frequent spam. Proper community management of the industry groups can mitigate this.
YouTube
Pros
Popular: In January 2013, 11 million Aussies watched online video. We watch a lot of video – everyday – across all of our devices.
Moving: Quality videos move us, making it more likely that we’ll share them with our friends and family. Whether they make us laugh, cry, purchase a product, or hire an individual, they’re uniquely positioned to elicit a response.
Reuse: Video content on YouTube can be embedded and shared across a number of sites and platforms, making it easy for people to share your message.
Cons
Troublemakers: YouTube commenters have a reputation for being some of the harshest. If you turn on your comments, be prepared to proactively and responsibly monitor them.
Not All Of Us Are Great On Camera: Interesting and engaging video takes a bit of creativity and planning. The videos don’t need to be Oscar-worthy, fancy, or expensive, but a little bit of originality goes a long way.
Google+
Pros
It’s Google & Discoverability: C’mon, it’s Google. It extends to search, ads, Chrome, Android, Maps, and YouTube. Essentially, it gives you a high ranking in Google search, which in turn allows potential customers to discover you.
Google+ Hangouts: This online conversation tool is excellent for seminars, Q & A’s, and events. Google+ Hangouts encourage interaction and build your online reputation. It’s great for holding online discussions.
Passionate Influencers: The individuals invested in the success of Google+ are often avid influencers and are committed to helping you succeed on the platform, too. Identify and build relationships with them.
Google+ Communities: Similar to LinkedIn interest groups, these communities are a great way for likeminded individuals to connect and share ideas. There is even an Australia real estate community. Create or join a community and start engaging. You can also use Google+ circles to engage with specific segments of your audience.
Cons
Complexity: People typically want a social media platform that is low effort. Google+ has its complexities and for that reason is a turnoff for users.
Fewer Users: As of March 2015, recent statistics place Google+ with 60,000 Australian users out of its 2.2 billion users.
Slow Growth: Google+ is predicted to outgrow Facebook, but that growth is slow. Considering the uptake in Australia, it’s a long game.
Limited Integration: Some social media products that allow clients to schedule and monitor their social media platforms from one central location don’t integrate with Google+, making it challenging for clients and a barrier to uptake.
Pros
Target Audience: The primary demographic of Pinterest users remains women. In fact, 71% of the 72.5 million Pinterest visitors in the U.S. are female. As women play a primary role in the decision making in the household, this provides an opportunity to reach a large target audience. Property images, especially of well-decorated or staged homes, are excellent for pinning. You can pin blog posts, content, and videos to help both home buyers and home sellers.
Value Add: When you pin the best of your listings, this can help attract customers for your vendors, making it a value add for them.
Insights and Measurement: Watch your pins and learn what works. Take note of the engagement surrounding your pin. If you discover particular shots are more popular, relay that information to your photographer.
High Conversion: Many retailers with inventory have discovered that Pinterest is a massive referral site and a source of conversions.
Cons
No Conversation Interaction: Pinterest sparks interest and generates some interaction through commenting and tagging, but you can’t hold a longer discussion.
Limited Reach Locally: Recent statistics place Australian Pinterest users at 350,000, although it has explosive use in the U.S.—to the tune of 47 million active monthly users, according to a February 2015 estimate.