Schindler Parent > Press > Social-Media-communication.
In the dense app jungle with filters, emojis, hashtags and the like, it's not so easy to find your way around. Social media is a complex phenomenon, far more than just a technology on a square inch of screen that entertains and inspires users and offers them the opportunity to exchange ideas with others. For the most part, social media is business. A money-making tool for influencers and brands. On these platforms, companies invest in a form of online marketing that couldn't be more modern, creative, and targeted.
The choice is great, the potential even greater. That's why it's so important to choose the right format before communicating: Which social media channel best supports your branding efforts? Is it LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook or TikTok? It all depends on your goals - and who you want to reach: How do you want to showcase your brand on social media and what do you hope to achieve? Do you want to create higher brand awareness? Engage in employer branding? Or simply generate more leads?
No matter how you ultimately answer these questions. For each specific intention, at least one platform is particularly well suited among all applications. That's because social media channels are so different. For example, they differ in their target groups, content, focus topics, types of communication and interaction, and advanced features. Regardless of which and how many social media channels you use to communicate, an integrated marketing strategy is key. This means that the posts on one platform but also across platforms fit well together and present a coherent picture overall. This applies above all to the visuals, but also to tonality, content and intention.
Provided you follow a clear line, this generates brand recognition. A good way to publish content that is not only regular but also logically coherent is to create and maintain a content plan. In other words, an overview in which individual posts are defined, scheduled and analyzed in the follow-up. But to ensure that your communications not only appear at the right time, but also in the right place, here's an overview of the relevant social media channels for effective online marketing:
LinkedIn is currently the largest social professional and career network. Around 690 million users worldwide use the platform to make business contacts - "network" - position themselves on the job market and share professional successes. That's why companies like to use LinkedIn for recruiting, placing articles about corporate values, mission statements, and attractive benefits for employees. Strong employer branding campaigns usually achieve the greatest effects here. At the same time, companies cultivate their image and work on their brand development, e.g., by attracting new corporate partners and investors.
The image network Instagram is extremely successful, with over 1 billion active users worldwide. In Germany alone, almost 15 million people have their own profile. The focus is on self-portrayal and entertainment. In short, interesting, inspiring content is in demand. The platform offers various posting formats for this purpose, including "normal" feed posts, stories, and reels. The interaction rates on images and moving images are extraordinarily high here: No other social media channel sees as many likes, shares, comments and clicks. So-called branded hashtags support organic growth, i.e. the unpaid increase in reach. The target group is younger and more tech-savvy than on Facebook, for example.
Companies also place targeted employer branding measures here, but these are then primarily aimed at potential trainees and dual students or graduates. The platform is also ideal for sharing insights from day-to-day business. B2C brands also strive to increase sales effectively and regularly present products and their added value. B2B brands, on the other hand, are more concerned with image and the search for partners and new collaborations.
Currently, algorithms tend to limit paid ads, but that can change all the time. Algorithms evaluate the behavior of users in the background and suggest new, potentially suitable content on this basis. That is, similar content from other brands and accounts. As a result, Instagram basically enables very target-group-specific targeting.
Facebook, the world's largest social network, has 2.4 billion monthly active users. The posts are often image-text combinations - but compared to Instagram, the text parts are longer and more factual. The average age of users is 40. Many companies do have a company account (and that is certainly advisable), but no longer maintain it regularly. Organic advertising for one's own company is difficult to get off the ground, if at all - a disadvantage for online marketing. However, if you put some money into it, promising targeting with ads is possible - just like on Instagram.
TikTok is the youngest social media application in the round. The target group is also young, with over 30 percent of users between the ages of 14 and 25. In short, self-filmed videos, users around the world share their personal stories, interests, hobbies, daily routines, and overall anything that might inspire and entertain others. The most important rule here is that the video formats and livestreams must be honest, authentic and accessible.
Current studies show that almost 60 percent of users regularly interact with brand content. Accordingly, organic growth is also high - unlike on Facebook. TikTok is a very good choice for creatively providing insights into the day-to-day work of various departments and occupational fields and thus presenting itself as a top training company, especially to future trainees and students. This is one of the best ways of attracting new recruits. TikTok is also the platform for making people aware of trends.
KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) in the analysis make it possible to measure how the brand communication is received: these include, for example, engagement, reach, impressions and, of course, reactions such as likes, clicks (i.e. link forwarding), comments and shares.
Well, now we've talked about basics and possible formats. But that still doesn't help with the question: what to post? We will be happy to provide you with individual support in this regard. We have already shared our contact below, you just need to respond to it.
More information is available from:
Hanna Miller
Social Media Management
hanna.miller@schindlerparent.de
