Nowadays, people spend a lot of time using social media. There are almost 3.8 billion social network users worldwide as of September 2021, and the number is projected to increase to almost 4.41 billion in 2025. With such a high number of users, social media can be a great tool to earn money online and market your business.
According to Oberlo, 73% of marketers believe that social media marketing has been “somewhat effective” or “very effective” for their business. However, finding the best social media platform for your business can be confusing since there are numerous options to choose from.
In this article, we will look at some of the most popular social media platforms you might want to consider and how to choose the best one for your business.
Facebook is the biggest social media platform worldwide, with roughly 2.89 billion monthly active users as of the second quarter of 2021. It is also the first social media platform that offered dedicated functions for business accounts.
When you create a business page on Facebook, you gain access to several useful features, such as enabling a call-to-action (CTA) on your cover photo, scheduled posts, page moderation, and insights to track your business account’s performance.
Facebook also has its own digital advertising platform called Facebook Ads. This service allows you to create advertising campaigns in various formats, including banner ads and sponsored posts.
Due to its massive user base and reach marketing feature, Facebook is the favored social media platform for 93% of marketers worldwide.
YouTube
If your business uses video content marketing as one of its promotion methods, using YouTube should be one of your top considerations. It is the largest video-sharing platform on the internet, with roughly one billion hours of total daily watch time.
YouTube is also the second-most visited website in the world, right behind its parent company, Google. The best way to market your business on YouTube is by creating relevant and useful content to gain attention from your target audience.
Walmart is an excellent example of a large brand that creates content on this platform. They post various videos about food recipes, fashion ideas, or business inspiration and relate them to the brand.
YouTube also offers a way to create advertisements by using Google Ads. Several types of ads are commonly displayed on YouTube, including skippable in-stream video ads, bumper ads, and non-video ads like pop-ups and banners.
Instagram is owned by Facebook. It focuses on pictures and short video content, and like its parent company, it started catering to business owners in recent years. Users can turn their regular accounts into business accounts and even sell their products.
This gives them additional features like a contact button on the profile, analytics, and advertising. Since May 2020, Instagram also includes a dedicated online shopping section on the app. In the section, people can browse products, explore collections, and purchase products seamlessly.
Instagram Ads is also the second most popular social media advertising platform right after Facebook Ads. The platform allows you to target particular user demographics to potentially increase click rates.
Twitter is a great platform for brands to engage in conversations related to their target audience and the industry in general. It is a fast-paced social media channel that allows you to quickly provide real-time updates and respond to customers’ questions and feedback.
Maintaining an active and responsive presence is the key to thriving on Twitter. According to Sproutsocial, 47% of customers will buy from brands that respond to customer questions promptly over a competitor.
Twitter also focuses on trending topics which can be useful for brands to follow trends or issues. Showing care for a specific social issue can help a brand improve its reputation. This is considering that 55% of consumers said they are much more likely to purchase from a company that shares their values.
Aside from marketing your products or services, employer branding is also an important aspect of your business’s growth. LinkedIn is the best platform to market your company as a good workplace since it focuses on job opportunities and professional development.
LinkedIn claims that there are 81 job applications submitted every second on their platform, with around four people hired every minute. Judging from these statistics, we can see that many job seekers and companies use LinkedIn as a platform to engage with each other.
Make sure to provide as much information as possible on your business page since pages with complete information get 30% more views. By creating unique content and responding to questions and feedback, you can also boost your reputation in the eyes of customers and investors.
Pinterest relies heavily on picture-based content. Users typically utilize this platform to look for inspiration and create an idea board using the pin function. Around 85% of Pinterest users use it as a tool to brainstorm concepts for projects, and 80% have discovered a new brand or product on the platform.
It is also a good place to promote your eCommerce website. Users can upload individual photos with short descriptions and link them to their respective product pages. Even without a dedicated eCommerce functionality, this is still a good way to drive traffic to your website.
One of the brands that successfully uses Pinterest as their marketing platform is Etsy. They created DIY ideas for various purposes, such as home decoration and fashion accessories, which garnered more than 10 million monthly views.
TikTok
TikTok is the fastest-growing social media platform as of 2021. Since its launch in 2016, this platform has gained an estimated 1.1 billion active users. If your target customers consist mainly of people from Generation Z, then this is your best social media option.
TikTok consists of short video content about various topics ranging from dances and funny clips to tutorials and product promotions. TikTok is also known as the source of many viral trends due to its high engagement rates.
TikTok also offers a business solution that provides marketing features such as creating tiktok ads for ecommerce, advertisements, branded hashtags, and campaign analytics.
How to Choose the Best Social Media Platform for Your Business
Since there are many social media platforms to choose from, it is crucial to know which ones suit your business the most. Here are three methods to picking the best social media platform for your venture.
1. Understand Your Business
If you want your brand to be perceived as serious and mature, creating content on TikTok might not be the best option. Consider your business’s characteristics when choosing a social media platform and the content you’ll make.
Your product or service is also an important factor that affects which platform to choose. Businesses that rely heavily on visual content like interior design, graphic design, or fashion brands may have more chances to thrive on Instagram or Pinterest.
2. Identify Your Target Audience
Make sure to identify your target audience before deciding on which social media to focus on. Your top priority should be to find out where your audience spends their time. Using a platform with the biggest active user base can be meaningless if your customers aren’t part of it.
Research your audience, then compare the result with the social media key statistics. Other factors such as interest, average income, and education level are also worth considering.
3. Define Your Goals
There are various ways to utilize social media other than promoting products or services. Each of the platforms listed above works for different marketing purposes. For example, you should consider Twitter over TikTok if your main goal is to improve customer support.
Spend some time learning about the channels you’re considering, and make sure you know their strengths and weaknesses. This can help you determine which platforms to focus on for a certain marketing task.
Conclusion
Using social media as a marketing tool should be one of your top considerations if you want your business to thrive in the online market. Since most companies use social media, building your online presence on these platforms can help you gain an edge over your competitors.
In this article, we have looked at some of the most popular social media platforms and discussed why many brands use them as a marketing tool. We also learned about three fundamental ways to choose the best social media for your business, including:
- Understanding your business
- Identifying your target audience
- Defining your goals
Since each platform has its strengths and weaknesses, it is best to build your presence on multiple social media sites. Hopefully this article has helped you understand the characteristics of each platform in order to see which ones fit your brand best.
Also Read: 15 Best Marketing Strategies To Boost Your Social Media Presence
