Speak to any self-respecting business owner, marketing guru or SEO consultant and they will tell you the place to be for every company is the social media sphere. Whether it’s a Twitter account, Facebook page or Pinterest board, it seems as though almost every business in the world is engaged in at least one social media campaign, yet forgetting to ask themselves one simple question. What are they trying to achieve?

Understanding what you can expect to gain from your social media campaigns will help you to not only manage expectations (either your own or that of your clients), but also ensure that you get the most out of them. So let’s look at the three major social media players, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, and try to identify how exactly you should be utilising these invaluable resources.

Facebook – Best for… promotion and brand awareness

It makes sense to start with Mark Zuckerberg’s social networking behemoth; after all, it has nearly one billion users worldwide, which is one hell of a user base to gain access to. Yet working out the most effective way of exploiting this user base can be difficult, and many businesses squander the incredible opportunity that Facebook provides.

Where the most popular social community on the web can really help your business is with boosting brand awareness, which is a factor that cannot be underestimated. Even if you have the greatest product of all time, without significant brand recognition you are destined to fail as a company, and Facebook is fantastic at helping your name to stand out in an increasingly competitive environment.

As it allows you to speak directly with your customers it is also a great way of managing your reputation; taking on board customer feedback and using that information to make business or service improvements. It is this engagement with your customer base that is the primary draw of Facebook, while you can also make your customers feel special by running exclusive competitions and promotions through your business page.

Twitter – Best for… engagement

Although still some way behind the user base of Facebook, Twitter has developed into one of the most active social networks on the web. There are literally millions of conversations going on at any one time, and with Twitter search you can listen in to find out what your customers are saying about your brand. You can also find out what questions your target audience are asking within your industry, and try to identify the best ways to fulfil those needs.

One of the clear benefits of using Twitter for your social marketing campaign is that you can drive traffic to your website and content by linking to your home page, blog, YouTube channel etc. High quality content is at the very heart of your SEO campaign, and through facilitating your customer’s engagement with your awesome content it has a major part to play in your content marketing strategy.

Pinterest – Best for… Sales

It may be the new kid on the block, but Pinterest is emerging as an incredibly useful tool to businesses in all industries, and unlike Facebook and Twitter, it is the perfect forum for promoting your products.

By sharing your ‘pins’ (for example images of your latest product range), your followers can then re-pin them and share them with their friends – including the option to click through to your site and buy the product there and then! This is especially effective for businesses that sell products that are particularly visual for example shoes, clothes or paintings, but any business can share their content with their fans to boost brand awareness and encourage engagement with your customers.

When it comes to SEO and your social marketing strategy the combined power of Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest really does produce a formidable ‘Triple-threat’ strategy. However, to really enjoy the benefits of these vast resources make sure you focus your campaign correctly, and open your business up to a whole world of opportunities.

This guest blog was written by John Rooney on behalf of Creare, an SEO and web design company offering social marketing campaigns to boost your brand.