There is not a simple answer to this question. The best platform depends on the goals and products and services your business provides. You also need to look at what audience group you want to promote your business in front and how the platform functions and how it is best used.
Social media marketing can require a lot of time of effort depending on the platform and the extent of your engagement. Different social media platform can be geared toward good content, functions, events, or groups of people. Deciding which one or more are right for you requires understanding these platforms.
We are going to talk about the top social media sites for businesses to help you decide which is going to fit your business needs.
Top social media platforms for your business.
Facebook
When someone says social media, Facebook is typically the first thought that is because with almost 2.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most widely used social platform. With Facebook’s wide user base and demographics of users almost anyone can find their target audience on this platform. Whether your business goal is brand awareness, lead generation, online conversions or website traffic, Facebook, when used properly will likely make a notable difference in reaching your goals.
You will have to promote your business page using Facebook advertising and great content. Facebook’s advertising platform is one of the easiest to use and most businesses see great ROI after investing in Facebook ads.
On Facebook, you can target by many demographics, age, gender, employment, interests and much more. You can target your exact audience and put your ads with a call to action in their newsfeed where they are already scrolling.
You can build awareness of your Facebook page without buying ads, but it will be a long process and require a lot of effort and time that may be better used elsewhere. There are promotions that can fit almost any budget, depending on your goals and the reach you want, you can advertise for as little as $1 per day for how ever many days you want. Word of caution, having a low budget and trying to reach a large audience will not see the same results as having a moderate budget reaching a reasonable size audience.
Instagram
Instagram has over 1 billion monthly active users, half of those younger than 34 years of age. It is also important to note that Instagram is owned by Facebook and has access to the same extensive user base and advertising platform. You can place advertising to run on both Facebook and Instagram for a wider reach.
Instagram has its own set of organic benefits; functions you can perform or results you can achieve without have to pay for it. You can grow your followers and organically, this will grow the reach of your posts and profile as well making Instagram a great option for businesses with or without an advertising budget.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words and with Instagram being a visual platform, your message in photos or videos will leave a lasting impression. You still add copy, but not without including a photo or video. This is a great advantage!
If your business is a creative industry (i.e. jewelry, home design, clothing, etc.) or caters more to women, Pinterest is a great social media platform to be on. With a visual-first focus, this platform is ideal for highlighting products or creative content.
Pinterest has over 300 million monthly active users with 41% having an income of $75K+. 87% of users said they have purchased something because of Pinterest.
Kitchen and bath designs, recipes, event inspiration and lifestyle how-to articles are some of the top searches on Pinterest. If your business falls in any of those industries, you should be using Pinterest as of your social media sites.
Pinterest has some organic capabilities that other platform does not. Keywords are the strategy for marketing on Pinterest. Organic reach is determined by the number of keywords in a post that align with what a user has searched on in Pinterest. You can plan your content to contain words that are searched a lot without having to use your marketing budget.
Snapchat
Snapchat is one of the fastest growing social media platforms whose app allows users to send a photo or video (called a snapchat) either to another user or to their Snapchat Story.
A Snapchat sent to another user can only be viewed once, but a Snapchat on a story is visible for up to 24 hours.
There are over 210 million DAILY active users and 71% of those are under 34 years old. 69% of 13-17 year old and 62% of 18-29 year old are using Snapchat. If your target is a younger audience, Snapchat would be a great platform for your business.
YouTube
Most people have heard of YouTube and have probably watched many videos using this platform. YouTube has widespread use among all US adults, ranking it higher than Facebook. In the US, 73% of adults use the video streaming platform, as video content continues to grow, establishing your YouTube presence is a priority just like any other social channel.
YouTube like other social media platforms is based on visual content, but Google owns YouTube which will give you access to Google’s advertising platform. You can use this to your advantage when running YouTube ads.
Just like Google you want to have your videos using the proper keywords. Optimize your search rankings by including searched keywords in your title, video description and a list of keywords in the keyword tool.
Twitter
Usage of Twitter among US adults is lower compared to other networks Twitter is used for breaking news, timely content, and customer service.
You can post photos and videos with character-limited copy, but it is most known for its feed of real-time updates or live-tweeting. Live-tweeting is where someone posts a series of tweets as an event or other activity is happening.
Twitter like Instagram uses hashtags and you can search a hashtag and find posts from potential customers and other businesses that have used the hashtag. You can find consumers that are talking and searching about something your company offers and vice versa.
For example, if you are a restaurant that specializes in BBQ ribs, you can find people tweeting about how they have a craving for ribs depending on how they have used hashtags in their tweet. You can tweet them with a discount or special offer for a rib dinner and you will most likely get a new customer.
LinkedIn
For businesses that target potential customers based on job titles or focuses on a B2B model LinkedIn is a platform you should consider. It is a powerful tool for this niche audience, LinkedIn demographics favor those with professional careers.
LinkedIn is considered a social media platform for businesses and has over 303 million monthly active users with 49% have an income of over $75K. LinkedIn gives you a lot more job positions to target than other social media platforms, which is important if your business is dependent upon targeting a specific industry or job title.
TikTok
TikTok is new to the social media arena that was launched in 2018 and is quickly gaining users. TikTok has over a billion users with 500 million monthly active users. It has surpassed older platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Snapchat.
TikTok is an app that users create their own 15 second video clip and share it. There have been clips that have received millions of views. Like the video of blue spaghetti, the clip showed spaghetti noodles boiling in blue colored water and then the final product – blue spaghetti noodles. This video received over 1 million views in less than 24 hours.
TikTok does not have a way to advertise yet, the only way is using influencers, those with large followings. But with your own creative video clips you have the potential to have your business in front of the hard to reach Gen Z.
Yelp
Most people do not think of Yelp as social media, but it does have an important role in managing your brand and image.
Yelp has over 175 million monthly visitors, these are people that are looking for reviews about companies they are thinking of doing business with. They are looking for the positive reviews and if there is a negative review how did the business respond to it.
You want to use Yelp to keep up your reputation by encouraging strong reviews and responding professionally to the negative reviews. You want to build trust with potential customers and one of the best ways is by testimonials. If you get a bad review, do not ignore it, address it professionally and quickly. If you feel the review is unjust, the best response is to acknowledge their experience, apologize for it and as for another chance to earn their trust. If the bad review was justified, very simply, make it right and respond to the review with an apology and a solution.
In Conclusion
Social media can help you engage with customers and grow your business. You can use it to find out what people are saying about your business, for advertising and promotional giveaways.
Social media can be used to develop your brand and increase your market reach when you have a clear marketing and social media strategy. It can also help you attract customers, get customer feedback, and build customer loyalty.
The disadvantages of social media are that you may need additional resources to manage your online presence and you are opening yourself to negative feedback that will need to be addressed.
Whatever the risks, having a social media strategy and preparing your policy and procedures beforehand can help you manage them and reap the rewards.
The best for your business depends on the products and services you offer and who you are trying to reach. If you have questions, call Pro Web Marketing at 877-577-6932.