For many start-up businesses, one of the first things they would consider is having an account on each major social media platform. However, how to pick the right one and implement it effectively is really important.

In the TV show “The future of social media marketing w/ Gary Vaynerchuk”, Gary Vaynerchuk, author of “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook”,  provided a few strategies to promote the show on different platforms. For example, taking some direct quotes from him and put them together with his picture on Facebook, making infographic for Pinterest, and making a gif of his funny moment on Tumblr for younger users. Why he suggests like that? Because he knows characteristic of each platform.

“Because on Tumblr, animated gif is the slang,” he said.

Professor Amy Haimerl introduced similar things in her teaching video. She taught us different usages for different social media platforms. Facebook is the broadest reach. Twitter is good for discussion, customer service and a dialog. I think a book’s author, like Gary Vaynerchuk, could start a conversation to communicate with his fans. Instagram is a visually rich media. If you don’t have a strong visual communication skill, don’t waste your time.

The lecture inspires me developing the Instagram page for Michigan Supreme Court. Because we were planning on starting our Instagram page this year and I just submitted my social media strategy a while ago. What visuals could I try? How can I make the visual diversified?

The reading “Which platform should my company be on?” helps me to formalize my ideas by listing three questions that I should consider: Are you B2C, B2B, or both? What’s your target audience? What’s your overall goal? In my case, Michigan Supreme Court could be b2b and b2c, our target audiences are Michigan residents, overall goal is to increase the transparency of courts and strength the interactivity between courts and the residents, to help residents learn more about us.

The fact that the court wants to join Instagram makes sense in the reading “Why Marketers Love Instagram And Pinterest”.

“The future of marketing is visual,” said in the article.

I do think visual is more interesting and is the trending, but I didn’t realize it could be that impactful that “the more time marketers invest in social media, the more they are turning to visual platforms”. Maybe that because those who really put efforts on the social media, build a better and stronger relationship with customers.

No wonder “Instagram is a premium place to market your business and reach consumers,” according to an article named “Comparing Social Media”, “Instagram users are 58 times more likely to share an Instagram post than one from Facebook and 120 times more likely than a Twitter post.”

However, Instagram is a more personal space, I am not sure if a serious topic like “court” would find itself a suitable position. Also, it’s made up of 15-35 years old and doesn’t support clickable link. How many people are interested in court cases or programs under that age? If the access to explain a program is harder on Instagram, then should we even try?