Do you find yourself aimlessly posting content across social media platforms? Are you looking to better manage your presence on social media? Social Media is a mostly free tool that gives businesses an opportunity to connect with a wider audience. 

A Quick Guide For Everything You Need to Know in One Glance
	Facebook	Instagram	Twitter	LinkedIn
Active Users	2.60 billion MAU	1 billion MAU	300 million MAU	310 million MAU
Average Time Spent	2 Hours & 24 Minutes Daily	28 Minutes Daily	1-minute per day	17 minutes Per Month
Purpose	Building Relationships	Building Relationships; Conversation	News & Articles; Conversations	News & Articles; Conversations
Best For	Building Brand Loyalty	Lead Generation; Retail, art, food & Beauty Entertainment Businesses	Public Relations	Business Development; B2B Businesses
Downside	Fake Profiles & Phishing Bots, Lower Organic Reach.	Images & Videos only.	280 Characters or Less & Short Lifespan.	Limited Interactivity & Premium Charges.
Full Forms:MAU: Monthly Active Users

Social media marketing has become a must for every business but more often than not, marketers do not follow the correct practices to get optimized results from each platform.

Facebook

If you can only utilize one platform, the one that you definitely need is Facebook. This application provides exposure to more than 2.7 Billion users. The potential that this platform has is monumental! 

The outstanding feature of Facebook is the ‘marketer-friendly’ user face. It’s designed for you and here’s how to optimize this platform:

• Features like Facebook Business Manager make the whole process of research, planning, and execution of strategy so much easier!  While the constant algorithm change, policies, and various features might seem daunting, the process of having a high engaging following is not unattainable. 
• Having the basics set.
  We start with the ABCs. Your cover image, your display image, and your name are essential. Moving on, your contact number, business hours, and website are some things that your Facebook page must have! The business manager tool allows you to easily add and update the information to the page. 
• Higher engagement is better than a large follower base.
  While having a fancy number displaying your followers might seem interesting and exciting, the real power of social media is shown when we calculate the engagement rate. Your engagement gives an idea about whether you’re heading in the right direction or not. 
• Content is king! Include content that is relatable, shareable, or funny. These tend to do better than your average product/service post. Followers list can prove to be a vanity feature, but the algorithm God’s love when people interact with our content through likes, shares, and comments!
• Adapt constantly. The analytics are a blessing! They open doors for feedback and using the data we can very easily fine-tune our strategy. The ‘Insights’ section is where you should be clicking ever so often to check in on your customers and keep up to date with their buying habits.
  
  Having a well-researched strategy, consistency in posting schedule, and highly engaging content can reveal how powerful this tool can be!
  

LinkedIn

The social media account most famous for networking and marketing yourself professionally. 

LinkedIn is a social media platform that can be used to build brand awareness and relationships with consumers. Around 51% of companies are known to have acquired B2C customers using LinkedIn. There is untapped potential in this platform. Often brands run low for content ideas on LinkedIn.

Here are a few ways to correctly use LinkedIn for Marketing your brand:

• Participating in an industry-based discussion. Do you see opinionated professionals share ideas and their views on posts? Chime in! Chances are, people resonating with your viewpoint will be drawn to your profile and might end up clicking the follow button. 
• Posting engaging content around your industry. This platform gives you the opportunity to gain authority in your field. Be it any product or service, building an association can assure future leads. 
• Add value to someone’s feed. This one is where a lot of brands fail. LinkedIn feed is in some ways the digital newspaper for its 740 Million active users. Start by asking if your content is adding value to someone’s feed. 
• Email Marketing is redefined with LinkedIn. This platform gives you an opportunity to grow your email marketing list using your connections.
• Using Network for Lead generation. Social media might not be the answer to lead generation, but this platform leads in this department. 80% of social leads are generated through LinkedIn when we compare it with other platforms.
• Join relevant groups by industry leaders and share your opinions and engage with other members. Groups can be a great segway to connect with high-ranking profiles and make better connections.

Twitter

This micro-blogging site is where the party is! This News and information-heavy platform masquerades as a social media platform. Many business owners fail to understand and appreciate the value that Twitter can add to someone’s account. Twitter is the place to break the ice and make new connections, while other platforms are great for keeping and building the relationship.
Here is how you can start capitalizing on twitter’s various features.

• Before we even start with the list of tips, as always, your profile should be set up to attract the eye and provide all necessary information within seconds.
• Listen to people talk. Third-party apps like sprout social, Hootsuite can provide you with a comprehensive list of mentions that your brand might have. It’s important to stay on top and watch what the public wants.
• Reply as soon as possible. This platform is fast-paced, unlike Facebook and Instagram, the feed is never the center of attention. Keeping up with the pace might sound daunting but the result can be surprising (and quick)
• Consistent posting. This is an application that prefers quantity over quality. A tweet per day can be a great way to boost your account, but you should find a balance that works the best for you.
• Retweeting, simple and attention-grabbing. Mentioning someone can be an easy way to draw attention to your account. Find and follow relevant accounts and occasionally retweet something that fits your brand perfectly.
  To take this to the next level, you can also mention the brands in your tweet and start conversations!
• Use 3-rd party apps like Twitalyzer to manage your account
• Plan your content in advance. Your topics can include behind the scene, special promotions, tips, and trending industry topics. There is a variety of content and a well-organized approach is sure to garner eyeballs.
• Hashtags. They were all the rage back in the early 2000s. Now they are strictly used to boost presence. The reach one can achieve with correctly placed hashtags is insurmountable. Basic research on Ritetag can help you understand what is being discussed right now and what can be skipped.
• An influencer can prove beneficial. Reach out to relevant accounts by following, mentioning, and retweeting. Networking with them can boost your profile as well! 
• Analyze the previous content. Data can help separate the good from the bad. In-build insights are a good indication of how well your content is doing. Use the information to push what works and hold back on what isn’t being engaged with.

Instagram

This is an app heavily focusing on aesthetics. Your feed design is almost as important as your content. Instagram again offers a plethora of ways to reach your followers and convert them to customers. 

Here’s how to do it:

• Consistent design
  You want to have viewers stay on your profile and interact. This pushes the algorithm and nudges our reach higher. To achieve this, it’s vital to have a design language set that you should strictly follow. All content should be pleasing to the eye.
• 36% of accounts turn to Instagram to research new products. This data proves that Instagram has dramatic potential for B2C business! How does one do that? Well, first of all, have an account that is worth following. With content discussing various trending topics, educating about your product/ service and the occasional promotional deals is a good healthy mix. 
• If you are a business using Instagram for better reach, switch your account type to Business to get a new set of tools and better insights.
• Keep an eye on insights! See what seems to be working and keep providing that! There is always a bit of a learning curve so do try and tweak your strategy as you deem fit!
• Complete profile set up. This is something that can easily be skipped by most brands. Instagram offers you an opportunity to link your website, add a CTA to the bio and select a relevant category. Providing this info in addition to the profile picture can help anyone visiting your bio know how you are at a single glance! 
• Capitalize on the reach you can get with Reels! The new feature that Instagram recently rolled out is still in the early phase, making content there can boost your presence into double what you might have. Although it’s important to acknowledge that creating content for reels might be time-consuming, the results will be worth the effort, I assure you!

One thing that seems to work every single time is the preliminary research that should go into your product or service and the audience. Knowing them and what they are looking for can streamline the whole process of channeling social media for your business. 

There are a lot of potentials and there is a lot of fun to be had! At the end of the day, social media is just a way to connect with your audience. So add value to their feed, and they will happily be your loyal followers!