Each of the numerous social media available online has advantages and disadvantages, and it’s important to use each to their full potential. Depending on you, your target audience and your product or service, some social media may work better for you than others. To better help you decide which social media to use and how to use them, this guide will outline the ways each can best work for you, making your decision easy.

Google Adwords and Analytics

To use Adwords to its fullest potential, it’s important to understand its basic nature. On Google, people actively search for a product. If you are accurate about matching your keywords to your ads, and about matching your ads to your product, you can find an audience that already wants your product without having to create interest in your product. So, when using Google Adwords, remember to accurately represent yourself–you are not doing yourself a favor in buying popular keywords that don’t match your offer. This will help you use Google’s advanced search algorithm to your advantage.

While a sophisticated and accurate search engine is Google’s greatest asset, Adwords’ biggest disadvantage is its lack of targeting capabilities. While you can specify geographic locations in which your ad is shown, you cannot specify demographics such as gender, age, income, or interests. Through mastering the use of keywords and accurate ad text, however, you can find the perfect target audience without using the targeting metrics that Google lacks.

In addition to its accurate search capabilities, Google’s extensive Analytics are a major advantages. With Adwords and Analytics together, you can receive detailed information about the successes and problems in your ads through metrics such as:

• Click through rate (CTR): the number of clicks each of your ads gets divided by the number of times it appears to a user searching your keywords on Google
• Bounce rate: the percentage of visitors to your site that immediately leave
• Pages per visit: the average number of pages are viewed per visit on your site
• Time spent on site: the average amount of time each visitor spends on your site
• New visits: the percentage of visitors to your site who are ‘new’–who have never been to your website before

In review, Google Adwords’ advantages are:

• accurate search results, which benefit you as an advertiser by delivering you an audience which closely matches the keywords you choose.
• excellent and diverse analytical metrics for feedback on ads.

Google’s main disadvantage is:

• the lack of control you as an advertiser has over the demographics of your audience.

Facebook

For some businesses, niche marketing is extremely important, and this is where Facebook excels. Where Google lacks in demographic information on your audience, Facebook is extremely abundant. As we already know, it’s far easier to find an audience already interested in your product than to try to create interest out of nothing. Facebook’s ultra-keen targeting capabilities are perfectly suited to this task.

Facebook’s advantage lies in the fact that Facebook users make available information like age, gender, marital status, location, education, and interests. Facebook can then turn around and offer you as an advertiser this information, so that when you create an ad, you can control exactly what kind of people see your ad. For example, if you run sports camps, you can make sure your ad is shown to students between the ages of 13 and 18 who live in a certain region of your camp, and who are interested in the sports for which you offer camps.

Just as Facebook excels where Google lacks–in demographic targeting–it falls extremely short where Google excels–in analytical feedback. Facebook will tell you only how many times your ad was clicked on versus shown (CTR), where, geographically, the clicks came from, and, roughly, what age the clickers were.

In review, Facebook’s advantage is:

• the massive amounts of personal information its users make available and its ability to make this information available to you.

Its biggest disadvantage is:

• lack of feedback available to you as you manage your Facebook ads.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is not directly comparable to Google or Facebook. While the latter are about advertising, LinkedIn is about creating an online presence in a business community. It will not help you market your products or identify potential customers, but it will help you manage your brand identity in the online business community. If you are at all interested in collaboration, finding new employees, or even creating basic and essential networking connections, LinkedIn is the strongest tool to use.

LinkedIn’s capabilities include:

• networking that goes beyond direct connections to let you view 2nd and 3rd degree connections.
• the ability to make your resume, skills, and experience available to those who might be interested in you.
• the ability for you, as an employer, to connect with potential employees and view their resume, skills, and experiences.

Twitter

While LinkedIn is about creating an online presence, Twitter (and Youtube, which will be discussed shortly) is a way to maintain this presence and to continue managing your brand identity. Twitter can help you stay in touch with customers and those interested in your business. As a business owner, you understand the importance of having a good identity with your customers, partners, suppliers, and supporters—often, those in your network will want to stay connected with you and your business’ news, and Twitter is an excellent way to do this.

Twitter allows your customers and fans to follow your business and receive updates about what is happening with your business instantaneously. With Twitter, however, you are limited to 140 characters and one attached image per post.

Youtube

While some argue that 140 characters can encourage creativity, Youtube is another way to connect with those interested in your business. Youtube can take your customers or partners along with you on an exciting trip as you provide a video tour of a new location, or if you simply reach out with a weekly or monthly video blog. Youtube’s versatility allows for an endless variety of creative ways to connect with your audience and to promote your business.

In closing,

There is importance in understanding social media’s strengths and weaknesses, but there is perhaps even more importance in knowing how to utilize those strengths, and how to work around those weaknesses. To continue on your journey of mastering social media for your business, stay in touch with 9 Clouds and check out other 9 Clouds and Sandbox materials and blog posts to see best practices and important tips on using social media.

Are you a small business owner looking to market yourself online? Download our free guide to online advertising.

Kelsey Engbrecht is an intern for 9 Clouds and has been working with Google and Facebook advertising for over a year, teaching herself and learning through experience how best to use online tools for marketing. We’re excited to share her tips on marketing online in our unending quest to improve digital literacy.