Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube…the list of social media platforms is ever-growing. One of the strongest elements of your digital marketing strategy is your social media presence, but with that long list of platforms, how are you supposed to keep up?
I’m going to break this down so you know what platforms will help you reach your brand’s goals, and how you should be implementing social media into your overall digital marketing strategy. But first, let’s talk about the basics:
Why You Should Use Social Media for Your Business
- Build your brand awareness. Utilizing social media platforms consistently keeps your brand in front of the consumer and increases exposure. These platforms are a great way to promote your business to the community and attract a new audience.
- Connect with the community and your customers. You have the ability to increase relatability and communication with your customer base and community on social media platforms. This allows them to stay connected with your brand and increases brand loyalty.
- Generate more sales or leads. Of course, we want to get down to business and do everything we can to increase our revenue. Though there’s the obvious “social” aspect at play, the content you share on social media will absolutely help generate sales or lead customers down the purchasing funnel!
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO). You didn’t think we would go without mentioning SEO did you? Social media platforms are great places to share your brand’s content. By doing so, you have the opportunity to generate more engagement with this content and drive more traffic to your website. This quality website traffic and increased page views are all looked at positively by search engines such as Google and help you get their stamp of approval when it comes to analyzing the quality of your pages, ultimately improving your SEO.
With all of this in mind, it is up to you to decide where to establish a presence. You will want to capitalize on the platforms that are going to help you reach your target audience in the most efficient and effective way. This may differ from business to business, but one thing remains the same: you need to have a social presence!
To help determine which platforms will benefit your brand the most, let’s dive into some of the leading platforms and talk about ways to utilize them.
1. Facebook
Facebook has been a consistent frontrunner of social media platforms since December 2009 when it hit the milestone of 350 million registered users and 132 million unique monthly users. Currently, Facebook sees an average of 2.85 billion active users every month – now that’s an audience!
Although Facebook has seen a demographic shift over the years, you can bet there’s still space for your brand on the platform. Some of the most popular industries on Facebook include financial services, e-commerce, retail, gaming, entertainment, media, telecom, technology, consumer goods, automotive businesses, real estate, and travel.
In the United States, male and female users between the ages of 25 and 34 account equally for 25% of Facebook’s user base, with the second largest demographic being users between the ages of 35 and 44.
Something Facebook has been strong at is evolving with the times. Over the years, the platform has come out with new functions such as Marketplace, Groups, and Watch that keep it at the top of the social media world. There are now more opportunities for brands to connect with their audience than just posting to their followers’ social feeds.
Facebook has proven to be an effective way to connect with customers and communities, both organically and through paid advertisements. As you can see, there is a massive audience here. Even if you aren’t willing or ready to put money into the platform, your brand can still generate great engagement through simply keeping in contact with your followers by posting routinely to your page timeline.
2. Instagram
Instagram gained its popularity rather quickly, and has stayed consistent with its audience growth since. Currently, there are about 1.16 billion active monthly users on the platform.
Instagram began its social media journey as an outlet to share authentic photos, differing slightly from the capabilities Facebook had. Over time, the platform has adapted to being able to share video content as well through “stories.” This is where businesses really started to see the benefit!
With Instagram, brands are able to showcase their product and tell their stories. This ability to showcase brands is what makes it great for product-based businesses, influencers, and coaches. A couple of things to keep in mind are that the audience is typically younger (54.4% of users are between 18 and 34 years old), and that Instagram is a platform designed specifically for mobile devices. Depending on your brand, this can either be a benefit or a drawback.
Since this is a platform for storytelling, it is imperative that brands share original, authentic content as opposed to stock imagery. If you are relying on stock imagery your messages will more than likely fall flat. Keep this in mind when deciding on which platform is best for your brand.
3. YouTube
Continuing on the video storytelling topic, and coming in second with most monthly active users at 2 billion, we have YouTube. Since this platform is solely video based, it beats out the competition when it comes to video content. Especially considering that 73% of US adults use this platform!
Video is a popular medium for content marketing and can be utilized in many different ways. This is why YouTube is used among a wide variety of industries and brands, and is a recommended platform for most companies. Some key benefits include being able to show off your brand’s personality and highlight your product and/or how it is used. Video is a great way to compliment your other marketing strategies, and typically generate more conversions.
4. Twitter
Monthly active users are a little lower than its competitors at 353 million, but Twitter can cultivate an incredible amount of engagement if you are in industries such as entertainment, sports, politics, tech, or marketing. Twitter is a great way to engage with your audience and be informative and helpful, but the great thing about this platform is that there’s room to be personable and have a little fun.
Twitter might seem a little more relaxed, but it’s certainly not to be brushed aside. A good Twitter strategy will require you to be consistently active, posting a couple times a day and interacting with other users as needed. Think of Twitter like an ongoing conversation that you have to feed in order to stay relevant.
5. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a vast network of professionals, with nearly 61 million of its 756 users being in senior job roles. This makes this platform a little different than the rest, as it is more of a networking tool, or used for B2B (Business to Business) purposes.
What does this mean for your business? Well, if you’re seeking decision makers that have the ability to hire your company or partner with you in some way, you’ve come to the right place. With this platform, you have a highly-targeted audience of professionals who have the potential to positively impact your brand.
This might be a platform you use a little less often, but maintaining a presence on LinkedIn is still a good idea for your brand. You can stick to the business related content on here, and take advantage of the networking opportunities available.
These five platforms are a great starting point to begin building a social media presence, but rest assured that there are many more out there. The key is to determine what your goals are with your social media presence, and how you want to present your brand. From there, you can determine which platform(s) you need to be on.
Does this mean you need to create a profile on every social media platform you can find? Absolutely not! Not every platform will provide the appropriate tools or advantages that your brand needs, and that’s ok. This is a classic example of “quality over quantity.” It is more important for you to own your presence on one or two platforms that your target audience spends time on than to be inconsistent on 5+ platforms. Remember, if you’re going to have a profile on any social platform, you have to remain active and consistent on it!
Our team would love to talk to you more about how social media use can compliment your digital marketing strategy. If you’re ready, give us a shout so we can learn more about your goals!
