Social media for business, for Quest Professional students

1. Social Media for business
A summary

2. What have we learnt so far?
● Facebook
● Twitter
● LinkedIn
● Pinterest
● Instagram
● Blogging and vlogging

3. How do businesses benefit from social media?
● Helps customers trust the brand
● Easy and (generally) free way to market the
business
● Enables small businesses and startups to
compete with the big guys
● Gives customers extra value e.g. behind the
scenes look

4. Facebook
Benefits of Facebook
● It’s the social network people tend to naturally spend
most of their time on
● No word/character limit (although shorter posts are
more successful)
● Brands on Facebook are seen as more trustworthy
● Easier to remove abusive comments
Challenges of Facebook
● Having to pay to reach your audience
● People don’t like being sold to on Facebook

5. Twitter
Benefits of Twitter
● Quick and simple to use
● You can send more than a couple of tweets a
day
● You don’t need to pay to be seen by your
current audience
Challenges of Twitter
● Tweets can be missed easily in a busy
timeline
● More problems with spam/trolls
● You can’t moderate what people are saying

6. Pinterest
Benefits of Pinterest
● Images are key in social media now, and
Pinterest is a great way to find them
● Great way to collect together groups of
content/images or look for inspiration
● Easy content
Challenges of Pinterest
● It can be a time suck (although you can now
schedule pins)
● It’s mainly aimed at women, so not ideal for
all markets

7. Instagram
Benefits of Instagram
● It’s where you guys are! More young people
follow brands on Instagram than any other
social network
● It’s an easy way to create quick content
● It gives customers a behind the scenes look
at your business
Challenges of Instagram
● Like all social networks, it needs to be
updated regularly to be effective

8. Blogging and Vlogging
Benefits of Blogging and Vlogging
● It’s a great way to create regular traffic to your
site (which is great for SEO - search engine
optimisation).
● It gives people an insight into your business
● It helps establish a reputation as a market
expert
Challenges of Blogging and Vlogging
● Time consuming
● It can be tricky to persuade someone to vlog
for your company

9. Challenges businesses face with social media
● Time
● Resources
● Skills
● Content ideas
● Making the wrong move - #susanalbumparty
● Not having a strategy

10. Creating a social media strategy
● Identify objectives
● Identify target customers
● Audit the competition
● Choose your social media accounts
● Create a content plan
● Get sharing!

11. Your task
In groups of 2-3, create a social media
strategy for Quest Professional for
June, using the document in the link
you’ll be sent.