10 Social Media Accounts You Can Learn From

Social media is by far one of the best ways that you can market your business. A large percentage of the population are now using social media in some capacity, around 73% of adults as of September 2013. It is for this reason that you need to be active on social media and using it to grow your business. 

But how do you choose which social media platform to use? This is a great question because every social media outlet is different. Some work differently than others because of the kind of audience they attract. For example, a popular Twitter account may not work so well on LinkedIn.

You need to spend a bit of time working out which social media platform is going to be the most beneficial for your business and what kind of audience it mostly attracts. A great way to help you work out which outlet to use is to analyze the following 10 social media accounts below and how they use these platforms to effectively promote and grow their businesses.

How To Market Your Horse Business (Facebook)
Facebook is the most popular social media platform in the world, in particular among teens. The problem is in making your message stand out amongst all of the noise on Facebook.

There is one shining example of this and that is an account called How To Market Your Horse Business. 

This account has won numerous awards since its inception such as 2012 Social Media Examiner’s Top 10 Facebook Business Page, and has been featured as “9 Businesses Doing Facebook Right”, “5 Facebook Pages We All Aspire To”, to name just a couple of their many accolades.

The reason that this is a page you should learn from is because it found its niche and offers advice from an industry leader. They also do a great job of user engagement and this is something that every Facebook page should be doing. It also does a great job visually of branding itself with the cover photo both horse and marketing related. If you want to learn how to market your business via Facebook then this is a great place to start.

Taco Bell (Twitter)
Twitter is another giant of the social media world being the second most popular platform globally. There are some 58 million tweets that are being sent everyday so it can seem difficult to make yourself stand out.

Taco Bell is one food giant that has earned their reputation on Twitter and this is because of the way they post tweets. They keep everything lighthearted and comical. It’s fun and entertaining, and gives people a great experience. Even when users criticize them they still respond with a witty comeback and don’t take it personally. 

This is not all they do well though. They also use hashtags properly, promote new products, and have fun with holidays and other events. They do everything well from engaging their users, connecting with influencers, understanding their niche, etc. This kind of interaction is great for the kind of younger audience Twitter attracts.

There is a very good reason they won Ad Age’s coveted Marketer of the Year Award for 2013 so learn from Taco Bell’s example. 

AppleOne (LinkedIn)
LinkedIn is by far the most popular professional network online with a registered user base of 300 million people in over 200 countries and territories. However, LinkedIn is different to Facebook and Twitter, generally attracts a different type of audience so your approach needs to be different.

AppleOne is an employment company that was founded in 1964 and they are a great example of using and managing a LinkedIn page. One thing they do particularly well is excluding images and rich media. This makes their page stand out when they do share an interesting article with a high quality image that grabs your attention. They also do a great job at explaining what they do on their profile.

They have done such a good job with their page that it was included in the Best LinkedIn Company Pages 2013.

Blue Bottle (Instagram)
Instagram is a great social media platform for your business especially if you rely on images. This is another hugely popular social media platform with 200 million active users who share 60 million pictures per day. 

One brand that you should take notice of on Instagram is Blue Bottle Cafe. The reason this works so well for them is because it allows them to showcase their pastries and lattes with great designs. They also upload photos of their employees in their cafe. This allows you to get a sense of what the cafe is like and helps to add some personalisation to their business.

Blue Bottle Cafe is a great example to follow if you are a business that could use images to promote your business.

Travel Channel (Pinterest)
Pinterest is another image based social media platform and this one has been growing rapidly in popularity. This is a great platform to be focusing on if you have a business that has anything to do with images so things like travel, food, DIY, etc. This outlet has 70 million registered users who check out pages 2.5 billion times per month.

One of the top brands you should learn from on here is Travel Channel. What they do great here is break up their boards. For example they have a board for Europe, castles, destinations, hotels, and they even have a board for foods around the world. They have found their niche within the travel industry and they have a specific audience that they market to. 

This is a great account that you can learn from if you want to create an account on Pinterest.

Dutch Photo Walk (Google Plus)
Everyone knows how popular Google is but not everyone knows how popular Plus is. Google Plus has over 540 million users who share and post content every month. 

Google Plus has amazing potential because of its ability to connect with YouTube, maps, and search. There is one account in particular that has realised this amazing potential and that is Dutch Photo Walk. 

This account is by a group of people who love to take scenic walks throughout the Netherlands. They then take pictures and share them on Google which is a great way to connect with users. They go one step further though and create a Hangout where people discuss the post-walk. 

They understand Google Plus well and are a great example of how you can use this platform to connect with other Google services and products. 

The White House (Tumblr)
Tumblr is growing in popularity especially in regards to mobile usage. It might come as a surprise to many people but one account that uses Tumblr well is the White House. 

Some people may not find the White House all that interesting but what they do well is post great content. One day you might see the Marine One taking off from the front lawn, the next you might see a picture of all the living Presidents chatting. 

Another thing they do well is tapping into the spirit of holidays and events. For example their image of eggs in front of the White House with the caption: GET EGGCITED: Today’s the White House Easter Egg Roll. This helps people get into the spirit of any events that may be presently occurring.

The reason why the White House account is so effective is because they share content in a way that is witty, fun, and effective. Not only that but it shows users a behind the scenes look at the White House which piques curiosity for many people.

Jethro Ames (Vine)
Vine is a new social media platform but one that has immense potential for future growth. Since Vine began in April 2013 it has become the most downloaded app in the App store. Video is going to be an important piece of content in the future with predictions that by 2016 55% of internet traffic will consist of video.

If you are looking for a great example of how to use Vine then take a look at Jethro Ames. This guy has perfected the stop-motion video clip and he’s become so good at it that many brands such as GE, The Coffee Bean, Comedy Central, etc, have hired him to work on their videos.

Ames has become such a well known figure on Vine because of his trademark style. He keeps things simple, engaging, and shareable. His trademark style that he has become so well known for is pretty simple to. He takes things like Pac-Man and uses them to play with food. Basically he’ll take something that is nostalgic and use it in his own style for creating his videos. It’s a simple but effective technique that he has made his own.

16 Handles (Snapchat)
Snapchat is another image based social media platform that is enjoying growing success. There are roughly 26 million users in the US who share 400 million snaps per day.

Whilst some brands are hesitant to embrace Snapchat, others are more keen to jump on board. For example, the account 16 Handles is one company that has jumped on board and they are having great success with Snapchat. They are a New York City yoghurt shop that have used Snapchat successfully for running promotions. In fact, they are the first company to run a Snapchat marketing campaign with its ‘Snappy New Year’ campaign.

This was a simple idea they used that got users engaged. What they did was ask users to take a picture of themselves eating yoghurt and send it to the 16 Handles Snapchat account. Their reward for participating was a coupon that gave them 16-100% off a purchase. The promotion was successful for the company as they had 1,400 interactions.

Snapchat is a platform that is new for marketers but 16 Handles were able to take a tried and trusted tactic- a competition, and apply it to a new format with success. They are a great example of how to use this platform to promote a business.

Absolut (Whatsapp)
Over 450 million people use this app every month with 70% active per day. In four years this app has outgrown Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Skype, and Twitter. This represents great opportunity for marketers especially when you consider how popular mobile usage is nowadays.

Absolut Vodka was the first brand to run a marketing campaign using this app. It promoted the launch of its new Limited Edition Absolut Unique in Argentina. Included as part of its promotion, the company offered two tickets for the public to its exclusive launch party. What they had to do was convince a fictional character called “Sven” through Whatsapp that they were worthy of entry. It was fun, it was engaging, and it worked. More than 1000 messages via audio, images, and video were sent. They also got around 600 new customers because of the buzz it generated.

This is great example of how to use Whatsapp for promotional purposes. 

In Conclusion
Social media is something you should absolutely be using to market and grow your business. If you don’t then you are putting yourself behind every other business in your industry that is. If you are unfamiliar with these social media platforms and how to use them to grow your business then you can use the examples above. They are all examples of social media done well and you can learn a lot from them.