Social media has quickly become an indispensable tool for businesses to connect with their target audience, build brand awareness and drive conversions. With a variety of platforms available, it can be difficult to choose the one that aligns with your business goals and of course, your target audience. In this blog, we will explore six of the most popular social media platforms and discuss their suitability for different businesses.
WHICH SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM(S) ARE BEST FOR MY BUSINESS?
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FACEBOOK
With its massive user base of almost 2.8 billion monthly users, Facebook offers exceptional reach for businesses. It provides numerous, business-specific tools to help drive business growth, making it a versatile platform for all industries.
Some features of the platform include business pages, targeted advertising, and an analytical tool to track metrics and utilise as a guiding light for the direction of your marketing efforts. The advanced targeting options on this platform allow you to reach specific demographics, interests and behaviours. It also then offers ways for businesses to grow a community and directly interact with consumers via features such as Facebook Groups.
Should my business use Facebook?
If your business targets a broad audience and aims to build an engaging online presence, Facebook is an effective social media platform to effectively reach your target audience and is highly interactive.
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INSTAGRAM
Instagram is a visual-centric platform with more than 1 billion active users. The platform works well for businesses that are promoting visually appealing products or services. It provides a highly engaging environment and places a strong
emphasis on aesthetics and visual storytelling – making it particularly ideal for businesses in the fashion, beauty, lifestyle and food industries.
Instagram, like Facebook, offers a number of highly engaging features such as Stories, Reels and IGTV. These features, when used effectively, can become a powerful tool for driving business growth and conversions due to their immersive and interactive nature.Another perk of the platform is that influencer marketing thrives there. This style of marketing is ever-growing in popularity and allows businesses to collaborate with popular influencers to promote their products and services.
Should my business use Instagram?
Instagram is a marketing platform that is highly visual which makes it ideal for businesses that want to showcase innovative, aesthetic and interesting products and services and expand their online presence. However, even if your business doesn’t necessarily offer something visually appealing, with strategic planning and creativity, Instagram can be a powerful tool for online growth.
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LINKEDIN
This is the go-to platform for businesses that are targeting professionals and B2B networking. It has over 740 million users and provides businesses with an excellent opportunity to establish industry authority, share
industry news and insights, as well as connect with potential clients or partners. The platform offers business-focused features such as sponsored content, company pages, targeted advertising and the ability to reach professionals based on their job titles, industries or skills. Its robust networking capabilities and focus on professional development make the platform an advantageous choice for businesses in the corporate sector.
Should my business use LinkedIn?
A business LinkedIn account can be an advantageous lead generation tool as well as a professional network that markets your business effectively among other industry professionals whilst making all-important professional connections and building your credibility. Particularly useful for B2B businesses, if you’re looking to build continuous professional relationships then LinkedIn is perfect.
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TWITTER
Twitter is known for its real-time updates and concise posts; it can be an effective platform for businesses looking to drive conversations with a wide audience. Its fast-paced nature allows for industry trend monitoring, news sharing and quick responses. The character limit on this platform encourages businesses to publish attention-grabbing content which makes it suitable for businesses affiliated with the news, media, technology and entertainment sectors. Businesses are also able to use hashtags and trending topics to increase their visibility and reach.
Should my business use Twitter?
If you are wanting to communicate your brand’s ethos and personality, Twitter is an ideal platform. Its real-time updates are ideal for businesses that strive for consistent communication with their consumers in a quick and accessible way. This being said, with the new acquisition from Elon Musk, the future of the app and the advantages to businesses are still unknown and could change at any point…
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TIKTOK
TikTok is a rapidly growing video-sharing platform that offers a unique and innovative opportunity for businesses to share their products and services through highly engaging content. With an perceptive algorithm, captivating content as well as its community-driven nature, TikTok is an ideal place for businesses to share authentic content with an audience of over 1 billion worldwide users. In recent years, TikTok’s advertising options have also evolved, providing businesses with the opportunity to utilise targeted advertising and collaborate with influencers on the platform. Monitoring the analytics and feedback from this
kind of content will help businesses to maximise the benefits of utilising TikTok as a social media platform.
Should my business use TikTok?
TikTok is a platform where businesses can show the humanity behind their brand and reap the benefits of sharing more informal content with their consumers. The ethos of ‘people buy from people’ really comes into play on this platform and as long as you’re willing to be fun, creative and real, it is the up-and-coming platform for your business.
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YOUTUBE
YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet, and it provides an extremely useful platform for businesses to showcase their products, share tutorials and engage with their audience through video content. With over 2 billion monthly users, the platform offers extensive reach and visibility as well as high engagement levels. Not only this, but businesses can also leverage the use of YouTube ads, influencer marketing and brand collaborations to work towards their business goals. YouTube is especially valuable for
businesses in the entertainment, fitness, gaming and educational sectors but is also a versatile platform that can drive business growth for numerous industries.
Should my business use YouTube?
YouTube is the second largest search engine and creating a YouTube account can help your business to access a global audience. Content is not pushed to the bottom of a newsfeed in favour of new content, it remains discoverable and therefore it remains relevant along with your business. If you want to create video content that is engaging, creative and will always remain discoverable, YouTube may be your ideal next move.
Selecting the right social media platform for your business depends on your business goals, your target audience and your industry. Facebook’s wide reach, Instagram’s visual appeal, LinkedIn’s professional approach, Twitter’s real-time content, TikTok’s engagement and YouTube’s showcasing capabilities all offer unique benefits to a business.
It is advantageous to conduct research on your industry, analyse your goals and experiment with the different platforms to find the platform that best aligns with your business needs and objectives. It is important to remember that an effective social media presence can massively contribute to the success and growth of your business.
Most importantly, your marketing message needs to be where your audience is otherwise, they won’t see it. It is extremely beneficial to research your target audience and find out which platforms they are most active on to ensure that your marketing message is put on the optimal platforms for exposure.
Finally, many businesses make the mistake of pigeon-holing platforms rather than exploring the use of all of them and in doing so, discovering the unique advantages each one has for their business. For example, don’t be dissuaded from TikTok because it seems like a platform that is only for teenagers as research shows that 75% of TikTok users are actually aged 20-49. And don’t forget, the social media world moves fast and the more prevalent you can make your business on a variety of platforms (including new ones), the more relevant your business will remain…
If you have any questions or would like some professional advice in relation to this blog, please don’t hesitate to contact us and one of our friendly team members would be happy to help.