We’re currently living in an age where social media dominates our daily lives. Gone are the days when businesses needed to bootstrap and build a hefty list of supplies to fuel their startup. These days, a professional website, a laptop and a social media marketing plan are plenty to help get your business on the fast-track to generating sales. But which social media platforms are best for your business? The answer lies within your company’s targeted demographic as well as what kind of content your company is able to produce.
First off, it’s almost imperative that your business has a presence on all social media platforms; even if you sparingly utilize most of them. If anything, having profiles on these platforms will benefit your company's search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. Social media automation tools such as Hootsuite and Buffer make it easy for business owners to schedule social media posts weeks or even months in advance. The most popular social media platforms include
- Google +
- Youtube
- SnapChat
Rest in peace, Myspace. : )
Facebook is the most popular social media platform by a wide margin and the one that will be the most successful at scaling your business. The problem with Facebook is that your business page will have a very low organic reach unless you’re paying to boost your content. With Facebook’s boosting capabilities you’ll be able to pay to promote your fan page, important blog articles or create Facebook advertisements. No matter which route you take, your company will be able to target users based on their age, gender, income, geographic location, interests, etc. What’s the best part about Facebook boosting? You’re able to set your own budget and campaign dates. The greater your company’s spend, the greater your reach will be. Over time, paid boosting will help build a larger following for your business. In turn, those followers will see all status updates that your company makes. 61% of Facebook users are between the age of 25 and 54 which is the most important demographic for most businesses. These users will also check their Facebook accounts multiple times per day.
Linkedin is the best social media platform for companies that operate on a business to business model (B2B) because it allows users to easily identify employees of other companies. It’s also an excellent social media platform for lead generation if you wish to create referral relationships with companies within your niche. 80% of Linkedin users have the ability to make important decisions for their employer. The majority of Linkedin users are between the ages of 25 and 45; a prime age for working professionals. In Linkedin’s earliest days, the average Linkedin account holder had an average income of $109K per year. Though that number has dipped slightly, Linkedin users are on average, higher income earners than users of other social media platforms.
Let’s be honest, Twitter’s best days are behind it. In fact, President Donald Trump has breathed life into the platform and will keep it on life support for several more years. Twitter, however, is an excellent platform for SEO purposes if your company has a blog that is regularly updated with fresh content. Twitter is the best social media platform for helping content go viral with it’s sharing features. It’s vital for businesses to utilize hashtags related to your business with each post, especially if those hashtags are trending at that moment. There is a strong correlation between the use of hashtags and the number of followers a brand account has. Twitter does have an advertising platform but it cannot measure up to the popularity and effectiveness of Facebook ads. Twitter users are unfortunately, often at the top of the sales funnel and are often only looking for interesting content in real time.
Instagram is an excellent social media platform for branding your business with more than 500 million registered users. The health and fitness industry dominates Instagram. Instagram users, however, are not able to add links to their posts; website links are instead limited to each user’s bio. If your business has the ability to regularly post eye-catching images, then Instagram is a no-brainer. Businesses such as professional photographers, artists, interior decorators, wedding planners, wedding venues, restaurants, food bloggers and graphic design companies will get an excellent return with their Instagram marketing efforts. That’s especially true if your services are geared towards millennials who make up 60% of Instagram account owners. Like Twitter, it’s very important that your Instagram posts are made using popular hashtags to help build your audience.
YouTube
Youtube is a larger search engine than both Bing and Yahoo. That alone should tell you the importance of incorporating Youtube into your company’s digital marketing strategy. Youtube is owned by Google and has a ton of domain authority which means your company’s Youtube videos will be able to perform well in the Google search results. Youtube is an excellent branding tool for companies that regularly conduct webinars or create instructional videos.
Youtube videos are also an excellent compliment to your company’s blog strategy since nearly all videos can be embedded into blog posts. Does your company operate a podcast? Audio media can be uploaded to Youtube as well. Does your company publish content for free? Businesses can now utilize Google Adsense and generate revenue via Youtube. There are plenty of online personalities that make a full-time living off of the content they publish to Youtube.
Like Instagram, businesses that are able to post beautiful imagery will get the most out of Pinterest. These businesses will often include professional photographers, interior decorators, wedding planners, wedding venues, graphic design companies, restaurants, food bloggers, and artists. If your company’s business model is gender-specific and targets women only, then Pinterest is going to be perhaps the most important social media platform. More than 40% of all women online have a Pinterest account and 62% of all Pinterest users are under the age of 50. And unlike Instagram, Pinterest will allow you to include links to your company’s website with each and every post. If your images are pinned by a Pinterest user with a strong following, your images could go viral very quickly.
Google +
Like Twitter, Google Plus is an excellent platform for SEO marketing purposes. Businesses that regularly publish content to their company blog will be able to share their posts within related Google Plus communities. Regularly sharing your company’s blog posts will help establish a stronger page authority for your website. Google Plus never took off in a way that the company had envisioned when it first launched in 2011 but still has the ability to drive traffic to your company’s website. Do not underestimate the power of Google Plus.
Snapchat
Snapchat is perhaps the social media platform that will be utilized the least by business owners. Snapchat only allows for temporary content. It’s an excellent branding tool for businesses that cater to audiences under the age of 24. If your company posts a good amount of interesting video content or interviews, then Snapchat will be worth integrating into your marketing strategy. The app currently has more than 100 million registered users. Business owners can also now post links to their website with outgoing snaps which was previously not possible with earlier versions.
Additionally, there are other apps and websites that intersect with these popular social media platforms though they’re not as popular. They include
- Meetup
- Tumblr
- Gab.Ai
- Minds
- Medium
- Vimeo
- VK
These platforms will offer new avenues to lead more customers to your website and hopefully generate more revenue.
Contact John Mann SEO Consulting
Are you a small business that needs help getting your company's social media marketing campaign off of the ground? We'd love to help! Not only will we help build and optimize all of your social media profiles, we'll teach your staff how to automate your social media content for the future. To schedule your free consultation, give us a call at 615-491-9819 or complete our contact form.