When I think of social media, I consider Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter (honorable mention: Pinterest) to be the main platforms. Out of those platforms some seem to be catered more specifically to personal use and some more so to business.
When I think of a social media platform specifically for personal use, the first one that comes to mind would be Snapchat. Outside of purchasing adds on snapchat, the platform isn't set up very well for a business account. Im not personally familiar with twitter but from what I have learned about it, it does seem like it is catered mostly towards personal use.
Instagram has about 500 million users and is very popular for both business and personal use. Today, almost any business you can think of probably has a Instagram account. Instagram has an actual business account feature that provides cool features for businesses with the option to pay for promotion. Although Instagram is picture based, there isn't a limit to the amount of text you can add to your photos.
Facebook is still considered to the the social media platform leader with about 2.4 billion users. Facebook has many great features for business users that make it the ideal social media platform for both personal and business use. Facebook is text, photo and video based posts and also has an option to to instantly repost or share posts.
I use Facebook and Instagram but I am rarely on Facebook. My facebook is strictly for personal use and mainly to keep in touch with family. In the future, I do plan on starting a facebook page and investing money in Facebook ads for my barbershop. I use my Instagram strictly for my barber photos and plan on maintaining it and making it a business account in the future for my barbershop.
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI completely forgot about SnapChat entirely, as I hardly use it, but I'm so glad you brought it up. When I have used it, it's only ever been for personal use. I know there are tons of ads on it and influencers that get paid to promote products and companies, but I would agree with you that it's probably the platform that is most widely used for personal use as opposed to business.
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way about Facebook as a personal use app but I think you're right about designing a page for your business. I just finished reading another's post and it got me thinking of the inter-connectivity of social media. It's almost neglectful not to combine and become a powerhouse. Your mention of Snapchat,-Snapchat didn't cross my mind. That was thought provoking for me. Pin-pointing your demographics is obvious but when selling a product or service that is multi-generational your SM game for advertising is all over the place!
Hi Chris! So from one Barbershop owner to another, or almost another, USE FACEBOOK! It is incredibly cheap to run ads and you can focus on targeting the exact clientele you want. And, when you run an ad on Facebook, it also gives you the option to run that same ad on Instagram, free of charge. I have ran ads on Yelp also and it is so darn expensive. I paid $127 for 7 days of Yelp versus $18 of Facebook for a 9 day ad. I highly suggest you start getting familiar with Facebook because it will be your best friend once you open your shop. Good luck to you!
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