Which Social Platforms Are Right for Your Business?
With constant updates, algorithm changes, and new platforms, marketing your business on social media can feel like the wild west. If you own a small to medium sized business (SMB), having a strong social media presence can have a huge impact on your success. However, it’s important that managing your social media channels doesn’t consume so much time that it distracts you from other critical business functions.
So, how can you find balance? Simplify your strategy. Narrowing down the best social platforms for your business can help you minimize your time on social media and reach your customers more efficiently and effectively.
Things to Consider When Choosing a Social Platform
Each social platform comes with different features, target demographics, and advertising capabilities. It’s important to consider the opportunities and challenges of each platform before narrowing down which channels you will focus on.
With 2.45 billion active users, Facebook offers the largest audience of all social platforms. Furthermore, 75 percent of U.S. adults check their Facebook accounts every day. For most businesses, having a Facebook page is essential. Not only does it offer highly targeted advertising across Facebook and Instagram, it also comes with a wide range of unique marketing capabilities that are completely free, including events, products and services, reviews, job postings, and other app integrations.
Creating content for Facebook is easier than you might think. You can share links to podcasts, videos, blog posts, and more. Post a text-only status update, behind-the-scenes images of your team, or an easy-to-create native poll. There are so many options for Facebook content. While it’s important to be professional, users don’t mind slightly less polished content on this platform, which makes it less time consuming for you and your team.
Instagram is owned by Facebook, so you can easily link your accounts, share Story and Feed content between platforms, and advertise seamlessly across both platforms. However, these platforms have some key differences and should be treated as such. Instagram’s demographic is 52% female and the majority of users are ages 18-29. Even more noteworthy, 60% of people say they discover new products on Instagram.
If your company serves young women, Instagram offers incredible opportunities to reach your target buyer with influencer marketing, shoppable posts, and advertising. Keep in mind that Instagram is a visual platform. Make sure to consistently provide high-quality imagery and video on your feed, plus interesting behind-the-scenes content on your Stories.
With 675 million monthly users, LinkedIn is a great social platform for B2B companies. There are 30 million companies on LinkedIn, and one ad on LinkedIn can reach up to 12% of the world’s population. While LinkedIn has expanded significantly in the last few years, it is still primarily used for recruitment and B2B marketing.
If you typically write thought leadership pieces on behalf of your business, LinkedIn offers native articles that give you in-depth analytics into your readers. This can be beneficial in creating a niche audience or building a business development strategy. When creating content for your LinkedIn business page, make sure to include thought leadership, samples of your team’s work, and highlights of your company culture.
With 145 million monetizable daily users, Twitter is a hub for news, politics, thought leadership, and humor. Not every business is a good fit for Twitter. Users are more likely to engage with brands that are inclusive and transparent. Twitter users sway left and appreciate brands that offer a platform for political issues, activism, and funny, relatable content.
Content for Twitter can range from sharing a news article related to your industry, posting a poll asking your followers a question, or sharing a relevant meme. It’s important to utilize hashtags and monitor relevant Tweets to engage with on a daily basis. Fair warning that Twitter has a niche audience for sarcasm and wit. If that fits your brand, this might be a worthy platform for your business.
Pinterest is often overlooked as a platform for business, but for specific industries, Pinterest can be a powerhouse for driving traffic to your website. Pinterest boasts 335 million active monthly users and more than two thirds of its users are female.
Specific industries, such as weddings, fashion, photography, home design, renovation, recipe creation, graphic design, and gardening, are likely to resonate with Pinterest users. Keep in mind that 85% of Pinners emphasize visuals first. That means you must invest in high-quality imagery, graphics, or video in order to engage your customers on Pinterest. However, Pins are evergreen, meaning you can share something once on Pinterest and it can attract customers and drive traffic to your website long-term.
YouTube
YouTube is bigger than ever, with 2 billion active monthly users. As video production becomes more accessible, YouTube is rapidly growing as a platform for engaging and entertaining content. While 62% of businesses use YouTube, only 9% of small businesses use Youtube. If you have the capability and bandwidth to produce consistent, high-quality, and engaging video content, there could be a tremendous opportunity for you to market your small business on this platform.
The sky's the limit when it comes to video content, but make sure it’s engaging, relevant, and helpful to your customers. Show your audience a day in the life of your business, offer instructional videos relevant to your industry, interview thought leaders and employees, and so much more. Get creative with it and make sure the sound and video quality is good.
Using these demographics, you can narrow down the best social platforms for your business. If you feel overwhelmed at the thought of marketing your business on social media, we would love to help. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation with our social media strategists. We can help you narrow down your niche audience, build a strategy for social media promotion, and implement a cohesive plan to attract your customers and drive real business results.