Which Social Media Platform Should You Choose for Your Business?
Kepios Analysis shows that there are over 4.5 social media users globally. That said, one of the primary benefits of social media for business is increased exposure. However, there are over 200 social media platforms for companies to choose from, but only a few can impact your business. Finding the best channel for your business can be challenging. You can follow a few steps when choosing the channels and determining how to promote your business on social media.
Ideally, you want to determine what are your business priorities. Your aim could be brand awareness, increasing your social media presence, or getting quality leads. In this article, we will look at the best social media channels for your business and how to narrow down the search.
How to Pick a Social Media Channel for Your Business
Currently, there are social media channels available for anything and everyone. They include those connecting people with shared interests, hobbies, geographical regions, and many other aspects. Time is essential when building a business, and you can’t be active on all of them if you want to focus on growth. That said, there are various sites you can devote your time and energies to yield better results for your business. Below are a few points to follow when selecting the one that works for you.
Have Defined Social Media Goals
Each business has specific social media goals. As you embark on the social media journey for your business, you need to have particular goals. As a result, you can map out a successful social media campaign.
Additionally, these goals help you to select the best platform. It also determines the content you or your team can create, your target audience, and more. Some of the goals include:
- Introducing a channel to address customer complaints and questions, thus improving the customer care experience.
- Having new leads
- Growing your customer base and social media demographics
- Understand your clients in-depth: know their habits, wants, and needs, thus boosting traffic to your site and leading to more sales.
Examine Your Content
Each channel has a defined and specific type of content. When reviewing social media and business goals, you need to know the type of content you have created or aim to create. Your chosen platform should address the content working well for your brand. For example, Instagram’s content is more visual and not ideal for sharing long-form content. Some of the content you can create include:
- Blog posts: These are crucial for your site’s SEO, and you post the content to your site or guest websites.
- Testimonials: You can use feedback from your clients to promote your business on social media.
- User-generated content: User-generated content is becoming a leading part of growing your business. You can initiate the campaign to drive social media growth.
- Podcasts: Each field has thought leaders and influencers tap into their audience through podcasts and share the content using leading hashtags to generate growth.
- eBooks: It is long-form content that can improve business leads.
- Photographs: Customers want to see what you provide. Quality photographs show how your business works. You can also use humor to drive users to your site.
- Webinars and Live streams: Advancements in technologies allow users to log onto a video stream and engage with you. You can provide more information about your business during these sessions or answer any questions.
- Videos: Quality, informative and impactful videos are the ultimate content you can create to increase your brand presence online. Many of the videos can go viral, leading to more leads.
- Whitepapers: They show your knowledge in the industry, setting you apart as an authoritative source.
Identify Your Audience's Preferred Channel
You may have the best goals and social media content, but it cannot yield good results if your audience does not use your chosen channels. You need to use a channel where your audience will see and engage with it. The goal is to go to where your audience already is. You can define your clients’ persona through research. Understand what you are looking for to know your clients’ platform by demographics, gender, and interests.
A simple survey of some of your best customers can let you know their preferred sites. You can also find out where they mostly get their information to understand their habits better. Also, seek to know the influencers they listen to so that you can engage them at a later campaign.
Alternatively, you can get information from social media sites. Paid advertising tells business owners their ideal audiences. They evaluate your customer base and estimate the size for you. Additionally, you can use analytics when determining who your audience is and the sites they are accessing. There are many agencies that help with small business social media management to define the buyer persona.
Social Media Sites for Business
Once you understand your audience, you will know which sites they frequent the most. However, you also need to identify the best site for your brand. You could have a more visual and lifestyle brand meaning your focus will be on more visual sites. Other brands focus on deep studies, and they also have their audiences online. Below are some of the social media platforms for small businesses to use.
Social Media Platform | Number of Active Users (billions) | Women % | Men % | Media Type |
2.89 | 43.5 | 56.5 |
| |
YouTube | 2.3 | 44 | 56 |
|
1 | 48.4 | 51.6 |
| |
TikTok | 1 | 53.8 | 46.2 |
|
0.7 | 49 | 51 |
| |
0.4 | 29.6 | 70.4 |
| |
0.4 | 77 | 15 |
| |
0.4 | 37.2 | 62.8 |
|
Facebook is arguably the largest site that heavily appeals to all types of businesses. It can accommodate all types of content. It is one of the leading sites for engaging and communicating with your clients. With Facebook, you can post statistics, informational materials, light-hearted visuals, and videos. Additionally, you can provide external links with a preview of what users should expect. You can also add guest posts with texts and images.
Additionally, you can use Facebook as a way to communicate with your customers. It can also be a customer service channel where you receive feedback, comments, and complaints on how to improve your services. If you have an active business blog, you can use the site to update links with recent content. Moreover, Facebook allows you to share resources and guides with your clients.
Notably, you cannot go wrong with video content on Facebook. The algorithm loves such entertaining videos, and you can share them using your phone.
Do you want to deliver quick and to the point content? Twitter is the best option for you. However, tweets do not have a long lifespan. It caters to trending news and updates with 280 characters. The content is also sharable using the retweet button. Twitter allows you to upload images, posters, infographics, and more sharable content.
Additionally, businesses can use hashtags which allows users to follow specific topics. It will enable your brand to reach a wider audience after using a hashtag. It makes it ideal for promoting an event or a campaign.
Twitter for business now allows promotional tweets that appear whenever users click on trending topics. You can pin a tweet on your profile to increase its visibility. Additionally, you can use influencers in your region to help promote your business, page, or event.
You can also embed a click to tweet option to your blog or website. It allows users to share content quickly they find interesting, which also increases your reach.
YouTube is the site that many people use to share videos. It allows for long and short videos depending on the message and the content you want to deliver. Your target audience also determines the length and the type of content you want to share. For example, due to the attention span in younger people, you may need to keep the content short and to the point. Additionally, you can use YouTube for short video adverts before they can watch content.
Businesses can also benefit from having a heavy online presence on LinkedIn. The site allows you to share content about the changes you are making. You can also use the site to share detailed posts with unique industry ideas. SEO agencies provide helpful social media tips for businesses on how to use the platform.
Notably, it is a highly professional platform allowing you to share newsworthy content. You can also post work-related content. Does your business conduct case studies? LinkedIn is one of the best sites to share such content.
Additionally, you can show videos, photos, and stories that show your business culture. You can also post upcoming network events or awards that your team will attend.
Many businesses can create visual and engaging content to share with the audience. The images and videos need to be eye-catching, and you can use them as your online gallery. Instagram stories are another exciting feature allowing you to share short videos which can be more relatable. If you want to reach a larger audience, you can highlight these stories for future clients.
Furthermore, the stories have polls, stickers, and more to allow you to engage your audience. Just like Twitter, you can use hashtags to reach a wider target on Instagram as they boost your presence. Additionally, you can add location to your posts or add a geotag in your stories which helps with local visibility.
Though Instagram caters well to lifestyle-based industries, any business can leverage this audience by creating captivating content.
Many businesses can benefit from this new channel taking over the world. Users in the platform create and share short videos. Tiktok can be the best site for business when used correctly. It is very popular for Gen Z and makes it the best to reach out to this demographic.
However, you first need to understand your business and brand to ensure your content hits the correct tone. Also, you can study how other businesses are doing it before creating content on this platform.
According to data from Datareportal, Pinterest has over 400 million users globally. The platform seems to appeal to more women than men. The visual appeal of the channel seems to resonate more with what women are searching for. However, in the recent past, Pinterest is trying to woo more men to use the platform.
Considering that more than 3/4 of active users are ladies, this is a good channel if you are selling women products or services. But how does the platform work?
Pinterest allows users to view images of what they are searching. The photo can point the audience to a website through a link for further information. You can user Pinterest to attract potential clients to your website, especially if you run a more visual business like fashion store or restaurant.
Reddit makes the cut as one of the other social media platforms for business to use. It entails sharing and learning, which has less to do with connecting or engaging with people. The Reddit platform prevents posting for commercial reasons. If you use the platform for self-advertising, you can be removed from the group.
However, businesses still find success on Reddit. You will need to be a lot more creative, have increased interactions, and be willing to teach your audience. You can use the platform to ask questions and gain feedback on your products, campaigns, webs design, and others. Reddit allows you to get this information for free instead of paying companies for this information.
Benefits of Social Media for Business
There are various advantages of using social media for business. They include:
- Increasing Branch awareness: Millions of people use social media in the world. Having a social media presence increases the chances of your business reaching a wider audience.
- It helps to establish your business as a leader in the field. Writing blogs or posting content linked with fresh ideas curves a niche for your business.
- Improves the brand personality: As you continuously post online, your brand gains an identity and a voice allowing it to engage and interact with clients on a human level.
- Social media for business increases traffic to your website.
- An opportunity to manage your brand reputation: With social media, you communicate promptly with your clients, solving issues quickly.
- Access to insightful analytics and insights to monitor new audience and conversion rate. Many analytics tools also allow you to monitor your competition, allowing you to tweak your strategy.
Conclusion
Social media is here to stay, and many users rely on this site to interact with their favorite brands or find new products and services. It is why social media is important for your business. This indispensable tool helps you grow your business. Remember, first conduct a comprehensive research about the best platform, your audience, and your brand social media goals. You can choose your preferred channels and create appropriate content with this information. Notably, you do not have to choose one channel, but you can have several and tailor content to suit these platforms.