So often, we think that the only way to get through to our audience is through paid advertising.. local radio, television, paid social advertising, billboards, etc. But with the time we live in now, there are many more FREE options for businesses to genuinely connect with their audiences. Here is a breakdown of a few platforms you can utilize and how each one can benefit your business.

YouTube:
This platform can be helpful for any business that might be information-heavy. For example, if your product or service can be complicated YouTube is a great place to showcase how-to videos for your audience. This platform requires longer format videos. These can be a great way to connect with your audience and educate them about your business or even the industry that you are in. Real Estate for example is changing constantly and has a lot of moving parts for both sellers and buyers. Creating YouTube videos for your local Albuquerque followers to watch that outline these processes into easily understandable ideas will not only help your industry but will make you the go-to person when someone in your audience wants to buy a home.

Instagram:
This social platform is great for almost any business and can be utilized by almost anyone. It is easy to navigate and is very user-friendly. This platform is image-based primarily although they recently added more video functions to the platform and now allow longer-format videos as well, with some restrictions. This platform is follower based so any content you create will be shared with your followers only. This is common for most platforms. Instagram is a space where sharing local high-quality photos and visually engaging content will take you far with your audience. This platform is beneficial to almost any business type.

Facebook:
Very similar to Instagram, Facebook is follower-based. Facebook is a bit more friendly for posting that does not include visuals. Any social media platform these days will have a preference for video content but Facebook is still a better place for regular posts that are relaying updated information or includes links in the posting. On this platform, you can also create groups that can be a game-changer for some businesses. These are separate pages that house users that can interact with one another over a certain topic, event, or product, service, or local environment. Creating a page local to Albuquerque for your customers solely based in ABQ would connect you to your audience but also connect your audience to each other! This is a feature that hasn’t been perfected by Instagram or YouTube. This platform is beneficial for any business.

LinkedIn:
Mostly used for business professionals LinkedIn is a lot like Facebook. This platform is follower-based as well but is more of a business networking site than a social platform. Still, LinkedIn allows paid social ads just like Facebook and Instagram and can be very beneficial when you or your business is looking to hire. This platform is beneficial for businesses looking not only to connect with their customer audience but grow their internal business as well.

We hope that this basic breakdown of social media platforms will help you navigate your business and your audience better! When just jumping into the online world of business it is difficult to know which platform might be best to start with. These are the few that will get your feet wet and help you connect with your audience.