How To Choose The Best Social Media Platforms For Your Business
Some of the best social media platforms for business, like Facebook and Instagram, have become essential tools in the modern marketer’s toolbox.
More and more consumers are using these channels to find new companies and engage with their favorite brands.
However, most companies can’t be everywhere at once, especially small businesses with tight marketing budgets.
That’s why it’s vital for businesses to be strategic about which social media platforms they work to build a presence on.
The key to successful social media marketing will be choosing the best social media platform for your business.
This is based on a number of factors, including the type of business you have, what audience you are trying to reach, your specific goals, and much more.
Below, we as Digital Adverty have put together a quick and simple guide to choosing the best social media for business in the new year.
- YouTube
Before we start listing the best social media platforms, it is important that you understand how the criteria for choosing the best platforms for your business.
Here are the 3 biggest things you need to keep in mind.
#1 Choose Social Media Platforms Where Your Audience is Located
In order to choose the best social media platforms for your business, you need to understand your customers.
Specifically, you need to understand who they are and how they spend their time online.
Ask yourself:
- What social media platforms are they using?
- Why are they using those social media platforms?
- How do they prefer to receive information about your type of products and services?
If you do not already know this, then we recommend mapping out a customer avatar first.
A customer avatar is simply an outline of your customer demographics, goals, preferences, challenges, and other psychographics.
The more you understand your customer, the better you can select the best social media platforms to reach and engage them.
#2 Choose Social Media Platforms That are Specific to Your Content Type
There are two types of content – macro content and micro-content.
Macro-content is BIG-picture, long-form content.
The 3 different types of macro content consist of video, audio, and written content.
Therefore, if you have macro content, the best social media platforms to publish that content would be:
- YouTube for video content,
- Apple Podcasts for audio, and
- WordPress/Blogger for long-form blog content
Micro-content, on the other hand, is short-form, easy-to-digest content.
Think of micro-content like the pictures you find on your Instagram feeds while you’re scrolling, or short witty tweets on Twitter.
Now, there are several different types of micro-content social media channels, like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and so on.
So, in order to choose the best social media platforms for your business, you need to pick the ones where your audience is located.
Also, when it comes to macro vs micro-content, you should keep in mind that macro content has a much longer shelf-life than micro-content.
If people continued to search for that all year, a single blog post would drive over 100,000 views in 1-year’s time.
Whereas a single Instagram post would be here today and gone and forgotten tomorrow.
But at the same time, this content is much easier to create and push-out on a consistent basis.
So keep this in mind as your choose which social media platforms you want to specialize in.
#3 Limit the Number of Social Media Platforms You Choose to be On
Don’t spread yourself too thin by trying to be on every single social media platform that exists.
Each social media platform is like an art.
You should master the art of 1-2 social media platforms before you consider adding more to your strategy.
It’s not necessary to be on every platform in the world.
Facebook has 2 billion users.
Instagram has 1 billion users.
If you can do just one of these platforms very well, then you can have astronomical business results.
It takes a lot of work and money to develop a successful presence on these social media platforms.
It’s not as simple as setting up a profile and pressing “publish” on a post.
No, in most cases, you will need to set aside some money to promote your content.
In addition, you’ll need to review the analytics to determine if your content is effective or not.
So in short, as a small business with a limited budget, put all of your eggs in 1 or 2 baskets max to start.
Then, consider expanding into other channels.
Alright, so that’s the criteria you need to keep in mind as you select the best social media platforms for your business.
Now, let’s go over some specific platforms to help you choose the best platforms for your business.
Platform #1: Facebook
Facebook is not the newest and coolest social media platform.
But the fact is that it is still the largest social media platform by far in terms of users.
It has over 2 billion monthly active users!
3/4 of Facebook users visit the site on a daily basis. Half of Facebook users visit the site several times per day.
Oh and if you think teenagers aren’t using Facebook, think again.
Over half of teenagers use Facebook. And nearly half of people above the age of 46 use Facebook!
A better question would be, who doesn’t use Facebook?
Here’s a counterargument we hear a lot from our clients.
“I am targeting a high-income, highly educated, professional affluent audience. I don’t want to advertise on Facebook. How about LinkedIn?”
Well here’s the truth:
According to Pew Research, 74% of people who have college degrees and are making above $75,000 per year have Facebook accounts.
Only 49% of people making over $75,000 per year have LinkedIn accounts.
It doesn’t matter what you’re selling, Facebook is a worthwhile investment for your business.
Best Features for Your Business
In addition to providing you the ability to connect with a great number of people from diverse backgrounds, there are a few unique features that Facebook can offer your business.
What makes Facebook one of the best social media platforms for business is its targeted digital advertising platform.
With Facebook ads, you are able to target those who are most likely willing and ready to purchase your products or services.
This ensures that your business gets your ad content in front of the right users at the right time.
Another reason why Facebook is one of the best social media platforms for business is their social media e-commerce integrations.
Facebook makes it easy for users to purchase from your company through the social media platform.
Making a purchase is as easy as clicking one button.
Facebook has now allowed brands to interact with customers through Facebook messenger.
Through this, you can also provide shipping updates and other order notifications through the Facebook platform as well.
Image courtesy of Adweek
Here you can see just how easy it is for users to shop on Facebook, save items they are interested in, and head straight to the company’s website to make a final purchase.
Platform #2: Instagram
Instagram is another platform that feels like it’s non-negotiable.
Maybe it’s because it’s owned by Facebook, or maybe it’s because it also has another 1 billion users.
To determine if Instagram will be one of the best social media platforms for your business, let’s look at the demographics.
If you’re targeting a younger demographic, Instagram will be great for you.
72% of all teenagers use Instagram and 67% of all young adults under the age of 30 use Instagram.
You will also find about half of the people under the age of 50 years old on Instagram, and even a quarter of people between the ages of 50-65 on Instagram.
Because of the younger demographic of Instagram users, there are fewer users with a college education and high income compared to Facebook.
Only 43% of people with college degrees use Instagram, and only 42% of high-income earners use Instagram on a daily basis.
Because of the younger demographic of Instagram users, there are fewer users with a college education and high income compared to Facebook.
Only 43% of people with college degrees use Instagram, and only 42% of high-income earners use Instagram on a daily basis.
Because of this, some professionals believe that while Instagram is an exciting platform, you will often find yourself competing for “cheap attention”.
Basically, people are mindlessly scrolling on Instagram, and in order to be successful, you’re going to have to be very engaging to capture people’s attention.
Ultimately, Instagram is a great platform to reach consumers at large.
But, it may not contain the most sophisticated audience for specific industries, like engineering or information technology, for example.
Best Features for Your Business
Instagram’s unique social media platform can provide some powerful benefits for your business.
One of the best benefits of Instagram is that it allows you to tell your brand’s story with unique and engaging visual content.
Unlike other social media platforms, Instagram is heavily focused on visuals, both images, and video.
No matter what industry your company is in, you can use Instagram to showcase your products and tell your brand story in a way that’s visually appealing.
One interesting feature that can be useful is Instagram stories.
With Instagram stories, you can take live videos and share them with all of your followers.
With this feature, you can easily provide behind-the-scenes footage of your business and share important news and updates with your followers.
Like Facebook, Instagram also allows you to message users directly. This can be a great tool for customer service.
For instance, if a consumer finds you on Instagram and has a question about your products or services, they no longer have to navigate to your website or pick up the phone to ask.
Instead, they can direct message you through Instagram, which allows you to answer questions and address concerns instantly.
If this excites you, Instagram may be your best social media platform for business.
Platform #3: LinkedIn
LinkedIn got its start as a business and employment-based social media platform.
It’s full of professionals across a wide spectrum of industries, especially B2B companies.
LinkedIn currently boasts just over 300 million users are active on a monthly basis.
So, in terms of audience size, it’s 4x smaller than Facebook and 2x smaller than Instagram.
However, this fact is actually correlated with a major strength behind LinkedIn – it’s the news feed.
LinkedIn’s newsfeed is not as competitive as other giants like Facebook and Instagram.
That’s why businesses are able to reach more of their connections and followers without paying for advertisements, especially when doing B2B social media marketing.
For context here, because Facebook and Instagram news feeds are so crowded, they rely on specific algorithms and rules to determine if they will actually show your content to your followers.
We know, crazy right?
We mean, you’d think that people who chose to follow you would automatically see your content.
But no, it simply increases their chances of seeing your content on those platforms.
Anyway, the cool thing about LinkedIn is that it is not as stingy with its news feed.
Not yet anyway. Which provides businesses and professionals an opportunity to build massive awareness and engagement on their platform.
Now regarding LinkedIn’s demographics, here are some noteworthy things.
LinkedIn is mostly used by professionals between the ages of 30-49 years of age.
However, about a quarter of professionals above the age of 18-29, which we’d really say 22-29 use LinkedIn.
As well as another quarter of people between the ages of 50-64 that use LinkedIn on a daily basis.
As mentioned earlier, LinkedIn does have a high-income audience. About half of people making over $75,000/year use LinkedIn on a regular basis.
In addition, about half of people with college degrees use LinkedIn on a regular basis, probably searching for their next job opportunity or seeking to consume professional content.
Best Features for Your Business
One of the best qualities of LinkedIn is that audiences on this social media platform are business-minded.
This means that they are often open to networking opportunities and hearing about ways to improve the way they work or make their job easier.
This provides an excellent opportunity for B2B brands that would like to connect with business decision-makers across different industries.
Another feature that makes LinkedIn one of the best social media platforms are their digital advertising opportunities.
Though digital ads on LinkedIn may be more expensive than ads on Facebook, this ad opportunity allows B2B brands to reach individuals from the specific industries that they are targeting.
Similarly, LinkedIn allows you to deliver ad content to those with the job roles that are involved with making purchasing decisions related to a company’s B2B offering.
LinkedIn also has groups that users can join and participate in based on their industry, job function, or career interests.
This provides an excellent opportunity for brands to drive real engagement with influencers and decision-makers across different industries.
Ultimately, if you serve businesses or professionals, then LinkedIn is for you.
It should definitely be in the running as a top-contender for social media platforms to choose from your business.
Platform #4: Twitter
With an average of about 330 million active Twitter users worldwide, this channel is yet another one of the best social media platforms.
Twitter is a real-time social media platform. It’s like sending text messages to the whole world.
And it’s one of the only social media platforms where you don’t necessarily have a bunch of videos or photos to stand-out.
Tweets can be up to 280 characters, which allows you the ability to craft a short, sharp, and concise message.
And because it’s limited in characters, it forces you to be creative with what you have to actually say.
So what are the hard stats on Twitter? Here they are:
Twitter has over 330 million active users, so about the same as LinkedIn and once again nowhere near Facebook and Instagram.
In terms of age, Twitter’s biggest demographic consists of people between the ages of 18-29.
38% of people in their category actively use Twitter, and surprisingly 32% of all teenagers use Twitter as well.
You can also find about 26% of its users between the ages of 30-49.
In terms of income and education, Twitter is not the highest on our list here.
Only 32% of high-earners use Twitter regularly, and likewise, only 32% of people with college degrees use Twitter regularly.
Best Features for Your Business
When it comes to Twitter, there are a few valuable features that may help it qualify to be one of the best social media platforms for business.
Brands can use Twitter to reach and engage their audience.
Hashtags allow you to follow and participate in conversations about trending topics in your industry.
You can use hashtags to reach more Twitter followers who might be interested in your content. Your brand can also take advantage of topics that are trending to expand your reach.
Twitter also offers advertising opportunities for companies that want to deliver digital ads to their target customers on the social media platform.
They have multiple options for ad formats, depending on your unique digital advertising goals.
You can promote your account, which will show up in the left column, or promote a tweet from your brand, which will appear in the user’s Twitter feed.
There is also the option to promote a certain trend that your company may be using to start a conversation among target users.
It’s also worth noting that Twitter is well-known for its search engine.
Twitter’s search engine gets over 2 billion search queries per day, which may also help your demographic find your business while it’s searching for specific keywords and content.
Platform #5: Pinterest
Pinterest is a great social media platform with major search engine capabilities.
Most people use Pinterest to find inspiration or helpful content.
For example, if you wanted to try a new cooking recipe, you could jump use Pinterest to find a food you’re interested in cooking.
While this is just an example, it’s really how most people use Pinterest. Pinterest is full of home décor, fashion, food, and most importantly, shopping.
Now, here are the stats.
Pinterest has over 322 million monthly active users.
And here’s a new stat we haven’t talked about on gender. Pinterest is mostly used by women. In fact, there are 3x more women on Pinterest than men.
This shouldn’t concern you if your business fits.
When it comes to purchasing decisions around fashion, home décor, and so on, women are normally the predominant decision-makers.
This is backed by the high-income profile that Pinterest has. 41% of people with high incomes use Pinterest on a regular basis.
And 38% of people with college degrees use Pinterest as well.
So if your business primarily targets consumers, especially women, then Pinterest is a hard platform to avoid.
Best Features for Your Business
One of the greatest aspects of Pinterest is that it has a significant reach among women across different demographics, including age, income, education level, and location.
Advertising on Pinterest is perfect for any brand with products or services that are targeting women.
The image-focus of the platform also makes it ideal for brands in the fashion, home décor, art, food, or fitness industries.
The Pinterest Buy Button makes it easier than ever to sell products directly from your Pinterest page.
Users can now conveniently search and pin products on Pinterest, and then, with the click of a button, they can add their favorite items to their shopping bag.
This feature makes Pinterest another way for brands to gain visibility and increase sales.
Platform #6: YouTube
Last but not least, YouTube.
YouTube is arguably the best social media platform that exists.
For one, over 1.9 billion people use YouTube on a regular basis.
This puts YouTube above Instagram and almost eye-to-eye with Facebook in terms of usage.
But not only is YouTube widely used, but it is also the 2nd largest search engine behind no other than Google.
So not only do you have the ability to reach a broad audience, but you are also able to reach people searching for you.
If we add all of this to the simple fact that video is the most preferred type of media amongst consumers, then YouTube becomes even harder to avoid.
So we have…
- Roughly 2 billion people use YouTube
- You can reach people searching for your content
- Video is the most preferred media format today
Then, what could possibly be wrong with YouTube?
Well, nothing is fundamentally wrong with it. But it takes a ton of work to get it to work.
Not only do you need content, but you need an entire video setup with a camera, lighting, microphones, and video editing.
YouTube is very effective, but production can be quite expensive if you want to stand out.
With that said, let’s look at some YouTube stats.
In terms of age, people of all ages use YouTube. 85% of teenagers and even 38% of people over the age of 65.
In terms of income, YouTube is heavily used by high-income individuals. 83% of people earning over $75K a year use YouTube regularly.
The same is true for education. 80% of people with college degrees use YouTube.
So in terms of the benefits of YouTube, is arguably the best social media platform for businesses.
However, again, there is an astronomical amount of work involved to produce video after to video in order to be successful.
Best Features for Your Business
Perhaps the greatest perk of YouTube is that it allows brands to access an unlimited amount of video hosting.
This makes it an affordable way for businesses to publish video content that can drive more engagement and influence conversions.
YouTube content can also be easily integrated onto your website or shared on other social media platforms for greater reach.
Not only does YouTube allow you to reach a wide audience of viewers across the globe, but it can also help with your search engine optimization (SEO).
The content that you post on your brand’s YouTube channel is searchable on both YouTube and Google.
That means that Google may just serve your YouTube video content in its search engine results page for keywords that you are trying to target.
Remember, if you want to promote YouTube videos on Google, it’s important to make sure that they are optimized for search.
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