​Welcome back to part two of our blog on five things to think about when choosing a social media platform. In case you missed last month's blog post, be sure to check it out as we talked about the first three things on the list: Content type, Target Audience, and Visibility of content. This entry will focus on Advertising and Analytics but do not worry as we will keep it as simple as possible for those of you who may be new to analytics and advertising in the online world.

Paid advertising on Social Media Platforms is big business and the platforms themselves have made it easier than ever to run ads through Social Media. There is a lot involved in this but we have compiled some things to think about before diving into paid advertising on social media. The first thing is how selective you can be with your target audience. You don't want people outside your target market seeing your ad as it will cost you more money for no return. You also want to be able to target everyone that is within your target audience so platforms like Tik Tok may not suit international businesses targeting multiple countries, but may suit local businesses better, for example if you are a business in Kildare and want to target Irish Businesses. This leads us on to the next point about advertising which is how simple the platform ads manager is. Many business owners do not have a background in marketing or advertising and so it can be difficult to begin if the ads manager is confusing and difficult to use. If this applies to you make sure that you can either understand the ad manager or you can get help from someone who does.This means you will not waste the money you spend on social platforms. If you are stuck and need help why not contact us at COSMOS, where we can help you manage your entire social media without you having to worry about it..

Analytics will also be important for your business to see how you are performing on these social media platforms. This allows you to update your strategy to continue to reach your followers and get engagement. So what should we look for in social media analytics? 

The first thing to take note of is whether the in app analytics are filled with so called ‘vanity metrics’ that look great on the surface but do not show the business results you are looking for. The next thing is if they are easy to understand and correlate between your other social analytics or your websites analytics. The key is to streamline the analysis process so you can easily see what works and what does not, and change accordingly. Metrics to think about when looking into insights on a social media platform are:

• Times your audience is most active during the each day of the week in said platform
  
• Engagement metrics (either by individual post or weekly)
  
• Can you see how they found you? (Hashtags, Explore page/ For You Page)
  

These metrics among others will allow you to tailor your content and posting schedule to suit your audience. But what if you want to compare the platforms you use and potentially get better insights into your social media analytics? Maybe you could use a social media analysis tool such as Fanpage Karma. This Software allows you to link up your social media channels so you can compare each of them to each other over a certain period of time. Aside from showing which of your social media accounts are performing better, it will also allow you to add your competitors to the site so you can keep an eye on their progress too! Perfect for staying ahead of the competition.

And that concludes our two part blog for 5 things to think about when choosing a social media platform. If you have any further questions, have a look at some of our other blog posts such as

• 7 reasons to invest in social media
  
• How social media marketing helps small business
  

​​In 2021, Social media marketing is a fundamental part of any business’ marketing strategy. But how do you choose which social media platform is best for your business when there are so many? So far this year, Facebook has been the most widely used social media platform. While this might tell you Facebook is the best option, it is not always the best way to reach your target audience. As we work a lot with small businesses in Ireland, particularly in Kildare, we know what you might struggle with when choosing what platforms to use for your digital marketing strategy. We also know that along with posting content for customers, many of you also want to network with other small businesses. So let's take a look at five things to keep in mind when choosing which social media platform is right for you.

​The first thing you should think about is what content you are going to be posting.Visual content such as images and videos are often associated with Facebook and Instagram, but depending on the length of content it might perform better on Youtube. Maybe you are interested in posting typed content to encourage conversation or reflection, in which case you might choose a platform like Reddit or Twitter. Audio content like podcasts will naturally push you towards platforms like Clubhouse or Spotify. The main thing is to find out where your content will fit and has the potential to be received well by an audience. For example, here at COSMOS.ie, we post on LinkedIn as we want to network with small businesses in the Kildare area and this is where you are interacting with customers. We also post on Facebook as many of our clients are interested in Facebook advertising and so it is important we have a presence here.

It is then worth investigating if you should have more than one content type which allows you to diversify your content portfolio and will potentially allow cross platform posting. A popular example of this is if you record a podcast for spotify but also record video so you can then post the content on youtube. This means you can reach people on more than one platform and will get more eyes, or in this example ears!, on your content. More eyes potentially means more engagement which is what we want as businesses when it comes to posting on social media. However you choose to produce your content there is a platform that will allow you to reach your audience.

Another issue that can arise is trying to figure out who and where your target audience is. This can be more difficult for smaller companies as larger ones tend to have more followers and so the audience can be found on almost all social media platforms. So how do you decide where your audience is? This can take some adjusting until you find the right fit but you should think about your business area. If you work for a camera company, naturally your audience will be found on platforms like Instagram and Youtube, but what if it is not as simple as this example? If you are stuck take a look at groups or communities on social media that may relate to your area (A great example of this is the #marketingtwitter on twitter for marketing professionals). This will help you find the people who will be interested in your content and will be more likely to engage with it.

You also need to think about what content your audience like to see. Do they want to see a professional infographic explaining industry trends or maybe they are looking to network with other small businesses in Ireland? If so, LinkedIn may be the place for you. If they prefer more informal conversation we would recommend using Twitter. It is important you know your target audience before you start on a social media platform as choosing the wrong ones may provide little return on a huge amount of effort.

Let's assume that you have not started on any social media platforms and you want to let your audience find you without doing any social media advertising. There are a number of things you can do to help this but one often overlooked area to think about is the visibility of the content. Some social media platforms allow users to find content from new users much more easily than others. For example, Tik Toks ‘For You Page’ allows you to see not only posts from accounts you follow but also shows you new accounts, providing a system where posts can reach a lot of users in a very short amount of time. Instagram's ‘Explore page’ and ‘Reels’ also do this and so maybe these platforms would suit you better in finding your audience than others.

Shareability is also important in relation to visibility. How many times have you found a new account from a post someone sent you through a dm or a story share? A great example of shareability is Tik Tok. Rather than making the share a link to the platform, Tik Tok watermarks videos allowing them to be downloaded and shared on any platform.

With these things in mind you will be on your way to picking a social media platform that will suit your needs. Next month we will bring you part two focusing on advertising and analytics on these platforms and what to look for when choosing a platform for your business. Which area do you find the most difficult when choosing social media platforms? Be sure to comment and let us know!

​Universal Analytics refers to the previous generation of Google Analytics for measuring website traffic. If you set up Google Analytics for your website prior to October 14, 2020, you probably created a Universal Analytics property.

​GA4, now being the default Google Analytics installation. Google Analytics 4 is not an upgrade to Universal Analytics. It is a completely different new version of Google Analytics which works on event-driven based models and also comes with a different set of reports. 
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Even though Google is heavily pushing the new Google Analytics 4 (and when you try to create a new property, it's GA4 by default), it's still possible to create Universal Analytics properties.

​Google Analytics is the most comprehensive tracking tool available on the market. It gives you detailed data about your website visitors and the actions they take on your site. what they're looking for, and whether your business is addressing their needs. Overall it can be helpful in marketing strategies. business owners can set SMART objectives by increasing traffic to the website and to maintaining a high on-line presence in the industry.

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Data gets into Universal Analytics from “cookie-based” tracking. HTTP cookies, or internet cookies, are built specifically for Internet web browsers to track, personalize, and save information about each user's session. A “session” just refers to the time you spend on a site. Cookies are created to identify you when you visit a new website. The measurement approach Universal Analytics is a session-based data model.

In UA properties, Analytics groups data into sessions, and these sessions are the foundation of all reporting. During a session, Analytics collects and stores user interactions, such as pageviews, events, and eCommerce transactions, as hits. A single session can contain multiple hits, depending on how a user interacts with your website.

Instead of tracking sessions, GA4 has an event-based data model. In GA4 properties, you can still see session data, but Analytics collects and stores user interactions with your website or app as events. Events provide insight on what’s happening in your website or app, such as pageviews, button clicks, user actions, or system events.

GA4 reporting view provides a new set of metrics which can much more accurately track users engagement with your website/app than the pageviews and bounce rate metrics used before.
 
While Universal Analytics is not going away anytime soon, Google Analytics 4 is the future of analytics so the sooner you can start learning the functionality and features, the better. Data continuity and reporting are important to your firm's success.

We helped him in the process of analysing his business, his objectives and his target audience. We worked with him to have a clear vision of how to show his business and promote it to his target audience.
After a brief analysis of his business vision, we helped him get a new logo design and we built his website www.golfcoach.ie . We also offered a half-day training by giving him the information needed to take charge of the website, as well as good tips to perform well with his blog.

We would like to share with you his review of the process:

“Positive: Professionalism, Quality, Responsiveness, Value

Thank you Stephen and Lorena at the Cosmos team for building my website www.golfcoach.ie. After realizing that I really needed a more professional looking website with an e-commerce cart and great SEO, Stephen sent me a new website brief that got me thinking deeply about who my ideal customer was and refining my message to attract the best possible and most suitable clientele. There is a lot going on behind the scenes when a website is being built . The Cosmos team was very patient with me as I am a demanding customer and perfectionist. I highly recommend Cosmos for all their services . Thank you. Emmanuel Riblet Golf.”