Social media’s role has also grown, where it once was a place to see cute cat pictures and keep up to date with family and friends’ lives, it’s now a tool for politicians, it can make or break businesses, and more users are trying to figure out how to monetize their time on the apps and leave their regular jobs to be ‘influencers’.
In this blog we will go over some general tips to help keep up to date with social media trends and understand the non-social aspects of these corporate companies.
Meta (Facebook) vs. Google (YouTube)
One of our favorite examples of how these ‘social’ platforms interact with each other, or sometimes not interact, on a corporate level, is as easy as “Facebook’s algorithm does not like YouTube links.”
Most people don’t realize that as soon as Facebook added video functions into their platform, they were no longer embarking into YouTube’s territory and encouraging videos to be posted directly in Facebook and as a result most likely making YouTube links penalized in the algorithm. (NOTE: This information is from experience and not based on facts, as most social media is figured out since algorithms are proprietary.)
It should be noted that Facebook in general does not prefer to promote links and overall would prefer everything be done within the Facebook platform. Also, posts in general seem to need more often to be boosted to be seen by even a fraction of a page’s audience.
Meta (Instagram) vs. ByteDance (TikTok)
It’s probably no surprise if you are active on social media, but TikTok has been taking the internet by storm. So much so that Instagram had to batten down and develop Reels to stay relevant, which is just their version of TikToks.
These two apps are interesting because they both are prioritizing content made within the apps and the more functions you use (captions, filters, music, AI filters, and such) will increase the possibility of being shown to a wider audience and will penalize posts just downloaded from one app and posted to the other (more so TikTok penalizing IG posts on TikTok, once again, per personal experience.)
Although the format and content of these two social networks has a lot of overlaps, the demographics on each platform are what would really decide if these platforms are good for your business.
Google vs. Everyone
Google is a behemoth overall, but not just in the social media world (in fact, remember Google Plus?! … me neither) – over 80% of all searches are conducted in Google, with the remaining market share split between Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and many other search engines.
What some people don’t realize is that Google itself is turning into a social media platform and has been creating listings on the right of the search with business info like: Website, hours of operation, phone number, menus, reviews, photos, updates… all of which is a clever way to circumvent other social media platforms while also making it less necessary for a customer to even go to your website.
This platform is known as Google My Business and you can manage your own page’s listing, like your Facebook Page or Instagram Profile. Your interactions within this platform can directly help your listing show higher in search results, some say even more effectively than website SEO (although we wouldn’t suggest not doing SEO.)
Social Media vs. Your Time
Social media platforms are generally free tools available to individuals and businesses where you can showcase yourself in the way you want to be perceived and engage with your customers and friends. So why not utilize all of them if they are free?!
The short answer is your time. Social Media isn’t like tv, radio, or print media in the sense that people are expecting ads, they are expecting social media… crazy right?! Content needs to be creative and sometimes cleverly wrapped up as social content. The best plan of action is to assess your businesses client demographics and focus on the platform(s) that can get your information in front of the right people, although easier said than done for some businesses that anyone can utilize, in that
case, give them all a try.
Another important aspect of your time on social media is that if you don’t contribute on the platform, in the sense of engaging with followers, responding to comments and messages, or utilizing the multiple functions available, then the chance of your content being shown to more than your followers is less likely. Just engaging with followers, relevant hashtags, and responding to comments can help increase your views and doing that for 30 – 60 minutes a day will yield results and new followers. Or alternatively you hire American View Productions to create content and manage your social media accounts expertly.
