With the rise of social media marketing, businesses use various social media platforms for their target audience as a part of their social media strategy.
But, which among the social media platforms is the best one for your business? Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are among the best social media platforms for many businesses. Tiktok, Snapchat, Twitter, and Pinterest also dominate as valuable social media sites used for social media marketing.
This article will guide you to each of these social media platforms and tackle which among them is the right social media platform for your small business. So, let’s get started!
8 Major Social Media Platforms
There are at least seven major media platforms that small business owners can use to reach their target audience. These social media networks are some of the best social media platforms out there for your business.
These marketing channels are a powerful tool that helps build brand awareness, lead generation, and gain more website traffic. To give you an overview of each social network as part of your marketing strategy, kindly see them all below.
Facebook is among the top-notch social media sites where you can make a Facebook page (your company page), allowing you to post creative content. During the third quarter of 2020, it was reported to have generated $21.4 billion and a sum of $78.9 billion from 12 months earlier through Facebook ads.
According to Statista, Facebook has over 1.93 billion daily active users during the 4th quarter of 2021. So, it’s no shock it has turned out to be one of the best methods to build an email list, find your target audience, and get more leads.
On top of that, it’s a great place to interact with existing and potential clients once you’ve grabbed their interest. Many businesses create private groups on this social platform where customers can join, interact, post questions, and have a more personalised experience with the brand.
Facebook is a tool that can help drive brand recognition for small businesses. Though paid advertising can become complicated and costly, they’re entirely optional.
If you’re not into paid ads, your best alternative is to regularly post visual content like uploading videos to help build brand awareness. Furthermore, always keep in touch and connect with the users.
Pros:
- Broad audience reach (estimated 1.93 billion daily active users according to Statista)
- Targeted advertising
- Ideal for interactions with customers
- Excellent analytics
Cons:
- No control over page suspension
- Ads may require a large budget (though not as expensive as traditional marketing)
Within two months of its launch in 2010, it had over a million Instagram users. This great social media platform currently has over 1 billion users per day, making it among the top social media platforms for business.
The platform started as a venue for sharing photos and still preserves that as its core service. Nevertheless, it has extended into videos in a feature dubbed as “stories.”
Thus, Instagram has become an incredible way for brands to show their products, voice, and values. This great platform is best for the younger audience, who typically shop from their mobile phones.
In addition, Instagram has created a “Checkout” feature, making it entirely set up for eCommerce. So now, customers can look at product images and buy what they want straight from their Instagram account.
Pros:
- Made for mobile
- High-quality visual aspect
- More favoured than Facebook by younger generations
Cons:
- Requires competitive posting schedule
- Metrics can be misleading
LinkedIn was among the first modern social media sites to take hold and stick around. It has become a good networking tool mainly for professionals and has transformed the way people seek, find, and get hired for jobs.
It’s also a pretty helpful resource for sharing content. However, one thing to bear in mind regarding LinkedIn is that you’re more likely to discover business partners than new customers unless your niche incorporates B2B.
People don’t usually go to LinkedIn for entertainment or online shopping, but learn more about their industry, see their contacts, and look for new hiring opportunities.
Pros:
- An excellent avenue for promoting business-related contents
- Has over 65 million active users
- Ideal for networking
- It makes recruitment an easy process
Cons:
- A better choice for freelancers and home businesses
- Not intended for eCommerce
Youtube
Youtube is the best social media platform that’s video-based. More than any of its rivals—Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, YouTube has become an effective platform for sharing information via video.
Currently, it has 2 billion monthly users. It has evolved into a visual platform where people visit not only for entertainment but also to learn new things, making it a powerful tool for business.
With YouTube, you can make your own video channel, connect with your users and even collaborate with industry leaders in a completely different way. Here, you can produce video tutorials to support your text-based content, like blogs and visually show product descriptions.
However, the primary key is to ensure you’re optimising all your videos for YouTube SEO so they can get views.
Pros:
- An excellent way to show off your brand
- It complements with another social strategy
- Drive more conversion to your business
Cons:
- It takes longer to produce
- Ranking your video can be challenging
- High-quality video resolution and content is a must
TikTok
TikTok is among the fastest-growing social media platforms that allow users to film and upload short videos from 15 seconds to one minute. This platform hasn’t stopped growing since it launched way back in 2016.
It became available on Google Play and the Apple store in 2017, and during 2018, the dramatic growth of million of users began. By creatively using the editing, filter, and music features, TikTok users can create or upload videos garnering millions of views and getting millions of followers.
TikTok currently has approximately 700 million active users each month, ranking it in the top 5 most popular social media platforms.
Pros:
- Help increase and widen your audience reach
- Allow the audience to engage in various ways
- Easy to track ad performance metrics
Cons:
- Advertising costs can be expensive
- Content format restrictions
Snapchat
Snapchat is one of the best social platforms to reach an audience with a personal approach. According to Snapchat’s SEC filing in 2017, there are 158 million people who use Snapchat every day and around 2.5 billion Snaps are created daily.
While this platform was initially intended to send photos to others, it has evolved into a well-known video content venue. Because of this, businesses are starting to use Snapchat for brands to promote products and services by creating original content for the platform.
However, before embarking on new social territory, weighing the pros and cons of Snapchat for Business is necessary.
Pros:
- Reach a much younger audience
- One on one engagement
Cons:
- Time limitations
- Limited user engagement
- Reshape option not available
Twitter is also among the best social media platforms with a brilliant marketing strategy. Thus, it’s no surprise that businesses, celebrities, journalists, and even Presidents use Twitter to share stories and news articles every day.
When it comes to business usage, you can also embed videos and market directly your products. But, make sure that what you’re doing stands out from your competition, be consistent in engaging with your audience, and add valuable content to all your posts.
This social network can be a powerful tool for building brand awareness and connecting directly with customers and influencers. For business, multiple tweets per day are recommended.
Pros:
- Easy followers and influencers engagement
- Free targeting using hashtags
- 1 to 3% ad success, which is higher than Facebook
Cons:
- Multiple tweets can be necessary
- Drives traffic but not necessarily sales
- A high of ‘noise’ competition
Pinterest is an excellent platform for reaching your social media goals and gaining more success, mainly if your niche is about travelling, cooking, photography, and other creative fields. According to Findstack, there are now 442 million active users on Pinterest, cementing its good reputation for driving traffic for businesses.
On average, Pinterest delivers a $4.3 return for every $1 spent on ads, making it a less expensive yet more profitable advertising platform than Facebook or Twitter.
Pros:
- Less expensive advertising
- Great traffic potential
- Affordable tools to boost pins, traffic and views
Cons:
- Not for every business
- Need consistent image creating or posting
Which is the Best Social Media Platform to Use for Digital Marketing?
This depends. As you can see, each platform has its own charm and beauty to attract potential customers to your business. Each serves different marketing purposes and can be the best platform based on your niche.
For instance, Pinterest is ideal and the right platform for travel posts, home cooking, photography, and other creative fields.
On the other hand, Facebook and Instagram are best used to gain more followers and sell your products and services directly to your audience.
To help you decide which among these social media platforms is best for your business, you can contact us today. We can assist in determining which social media platforms are suitable for your business and how to maximise their potential to benefit your business greatly.
FAQs:
1. How many people use social media?
As of 2022, over 4.48 billion people use social media worldwide.
2. Which social media platform is the most popular among social media users?
Facebook remains the world’s most popular among social media users, garnering 2.91 billion monthly active users as of 2022.
3. How often should I post something on the top social media platforms?
It’s recommended to publish a post at least once a day and see if posting daily makes a difference in your performance. Once you uncover a posting frequency that works best for you, make a publishing calendar, and follow it regularly.
4. When is the best period to post on social media platforms?
This depends on several factors, such as your choice of platform, your industry and your audience—being the audience playing the most significant role.
So, it’s best to look at your post-performance to get valuable data regarding the perfect post timing for your business.
5. Which among the social media sites should I use as an advertising platform for my business?
Although there’s an assumption that you should use all the popular platforms, this can be ineffective if not performed with the right strategy. Thus, it’s best to focus only on a couple of highly popular platforms with your target audience.
Social Media Platforms Takeaway
Determining the best platforms varies for each business. If you need assistance regarding social media platforms and want to maximise their potential, you may contact us today!
