10 Dec Which social media platform should my business use?
We get asked this question a lot and there is no correct answer, but you can, by doing a bit of research, narrow down which ones are more appropriate for your type of business.
To start with you need to decide:
1) Who are your target audience/market?
2) Where are they active/searching online?
3) Is there a niche social media site for my business?
With these 3 questions in mind, let’s look at the most popular social media sites and what they do.
Facebook
Facebook is without doubt the largest of all social media networks.
• Estimated 1.3 billion users
• Average age range of users 25-45 years old
• 60% female, 40% male
• Users spend an average of 18 minutes per visit
• Offers opportunity to create paid for ads to drive traffic to your website
• Ideal for building brand loyalty, presence and reputation
Twitter
Whether your business is a B2B or B2C, Twitter is perfect for sharing content, quick updates, promoting new products, brand contests, collecting instant feedback from your audience and it allows you to respond immediately to questions about products, events or even complaints!
• Estimated 215 million active users
• Average age range of users 18-29 years old
• 50% female, 50% male
• Users spend an average of 170 minutes on Twitter each day
• Ideal platform for brand awareness
LinkedIn
Want to know where millions of professionals connect and network? It’s on LinkedIn. This powerful social media platform seems to have been ignored by many companies (except for the savvy few). If you sign up for a premium account and are prepared to do a bit of leg work, you can find the correct people in the sectors, companies and job roles your business needs to engage with.
• Estimated 350 million users
• 56% female, 44% male
• 1 out of 3 professionals (in the world!) have a profile
• Users spend an average of 18 minutes per visit
• Offers opportunity to create ads that target individuals based on specific professional criteria
• Ideal for B2B companies
Google+
Google+ is created, owned and run by Google and that alone is why your business should have a company page. Plus, you will increase your website’s chances of getting highly targeted visitors from Google’s organic search results if you have a Google Plus account.
• Estimated 359 million users
• Average duration of a Google+ visit 3.46 seconds
• Users spend 7 minutes per month on Google+
• 90% of users will view but not interact with content
• Ideal platform as part of your SEO strategy
Pinterest
Very similar to Instagram, it allows you to create an online scrapbook, showcase your products and display your brand through pin boards.
• Estimated 100 million users
• Average age range of users 18-35 years old
• Was predominantly a female platform (80% female), but now averages 50% female, 50% male
• 67% of users are under 40 years of age
• 87% of users have purchased a product found on Pinterest
• Ideal for retail or companies with a visual business i.e. Photographers
Instagram
Instagram is a visual platform, very much like Pinterest. So if your business or brand lends itself to photos and video, then this could be the right social media network for your company.
• 400 million monthly active users
• 59% of users are connecting daily
• 90% of users are under 35 years of age
• 15.5 million of Instagram’s users are teens
• Ideal for visually promoting and highlighting products/services through images
YouTube
If your business lends itself to video then it’s a no brainer, your company or brand needs to be posting videos to YouTube. But, any company no matter the size can post them too. Posting informative ‘How to’ videos is a good way to connect and build your brand.
• 78% of people watch videos online every week
• 55% of people watch videos online every day
• Online video now accounts for half of all mobile traffic
• 75% of business executives watch work-related videos at least once a week
• 96% of B2B companies are planning to use video in the content marketing over the next year
• By 2018, video will take up 79% of consumer internet traffic
• YouTube is the second largest search engine ahead of Yahoo and Bing
Niche Social Media Platforms
The social media landscape is there to be explored, so put your social media boots on and get out there. Find your target audience and where it hangs out. Which brings us back to those 3 questions I posed at the top of the page:
1) Who are your target audience/market?
2) Where are they active/searching online?
3) Is there a niche social media site for my business?
Conclusion
Don’t be overwhelmed by the choices. The way people and businesses communicate and interact has changed and we must all change and adapt with it. Remember, not all social media is about financial gain, it may be just about getting your brand and your story out there.
So if you are still not sure where to start, we would recommend joining:
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Google+
After a while you will begin to understand which if any of them are correct for your business. With time, you will begin to connect and engage with like-minded businesses, generate leads and make sales.