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Strengths and Weaknesses of

These are a few of the strengths and weaknesses that I have found on five popular social media sites.

Facebook has over 1.6 billion users.
24/7 exposure to ever growing potential consumers.
Is interactive, businesses can demonstrate their goods/services using video conten.
Can promote products through contests, giveaways and newsletters.
It doesn’t cost anything to start a Facebook page, and Facebook ads are relatively inexpensive.
Companies can segment ads to reach targeted demographic almost guaranteeing ‘Likes’.

Facebook is less popular with the younger generation who may perfer Instagram and Snapchat.
It is not possible to know what the product is actually like, many consumers prefer to see, feel or smell a product.
Setting up and running a Facebook page requires a time investment. Meaning businesses would need a dedicated member of staff to manage the page, create engaging content and respond to enquiries and complaints.
As well as ‘Likes’ consumers can also leave negative feedback.

Twitter allows two-way communication, 77% of consumers have a more positive attitude towards businesses who reply to tweets.
54% of Twitter users search for a brand, or retweet content, after seeing a favourable tweet
Twitter has automating tools, tweets can be posted at allocated times.
As tweets only have 240 characters, they are quick to produce.

Followers receive tweets though they may not necessarily read them.
It is time consuming; Larger companies need full-time staff to create engaging content and respond quickly.
Followers may not necessarily like what a company has to say, and can tweet a negative response.
With over 330 million users, it can be very hard for Companies to grow a following.

Consumers can swipe through quite quickly, posts are seen in less time than reading blogs.
Instagram can be used as a form of segmentation, as Instagram is the e-tool of choice for the younger consumer. Hashtags can be used on associated ads, to enable companies to aim at a targeted audience.
Instagram is the fastest growing e-tool and has a huge audience reach.
Instagram is specifically designed for smartphones and has a high consumer engagement rate.

If images are not engaging, consumers will skip the post in their feed and not read the company’s message.
Instagram limits the images to a square shape, posting images outside of this shape may not look professional.
As Instagram is based on smartphones, consumers will expect quick responses.
Instagram has its limitation for advertising, bullet points have to be used in the form of hashtags.

Has a huge 500 million professional audience.
Generally does not have negative feedback associated with other social medium platforms.
Offers businesses the opportunity of segmentation in their audience,
LinkedIn offer a service called Sponsored InMail, enabling personalised messages.

LinkedIn is a very expensive site to advertise on compared to other social media, it can cost over €7.00 per click.
Most people use LinkedIn for employment opportunities and not for advertising campaigns.
Messages can be dismissed as spam.
Audiences on other social media sites are more receptive to marketing than LinkedIn.

Strengths

Creating a YouTube channel is free, businesses can upload as many videos as they wish.
It has a global audience. Interesting and captivating videos can create new customers.
Can track how many views their videos receive, so they can measure if a product or service is a success.
Companies can engage with the consumer and create brand loyalty. Consumers can comment, ‘like’ and share content.

There is a lot of competition for views. Videos must be engaging, informative and posted on a regular basis.
High quality videos need professional lighting and equipment, and this can cost money.
As videos are played, YouTube displays a feed of related videos, therefore companies need to upload interesting content regularly to be shown in that feed.
Ads shown at the beginning or during a video can be a nuisance to the viewer.