Which is the best social media platform for my business in 2021 and beyond?
Social media is a necessary marketing tool for every business that wants to remain relevant and visible in today’s busy online world. In fact, 92 percent of business marketers say that social media has helped increase their exposure. From branded social media accounts, live streams, private community groups, shops and ads, there are so many ways you can improve your brand awareness.
You don't need every type of social media platform when you first get started though. The key is to pick just one or two key platforms and get yourself established on them first. The best ones depends on your audience, your product, and how much time you have for your social media marketing strategy.
Which platforms should I start with?
Deciding this isn't east, but start by narrowing it down to the most popular and most widely used platforms. From there, it’s all about determining which platform will give you the exposure you're looking for with the right audience. The most widely used ones are currently:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Pinterest
LinkedIn
YouTube
TikTok
Unless you're going to have the support of a massive marketing team then there are way too many social networking sites out there to ever have a presence on them all, and your time would be better spent focusing on the sites that get the most traffic. Of all the social media sites out there, the top ones in terms of monthly active users include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
Then think about who your target audience is and where they are likely to be online. Think age, gender, interests and location. If you've got an older target audience, for example, then Facebook is an obvious starting point here. If it's a very young audience then you're likely to have better luck reaching them on platforms such as YouTube, Tik Tok and Instagram. The key here is to do your research. (see below)
Next, you want to think about your goals. You see, each platform has different capabilities. Will you want to post articles, e-books, blogs, podcasts, videos, webinars or photos? For example, Facebook is great for building communities, sharing, adding blogs and links into your posts. However, these things are mush harder to do on Instagram. Also, if you're going to have a lot of video content then YouTube is a great one to consider. Whereas photos are popular on Pinterest and Instagram.
Once you’ve decided on the goals you want to achieve with social media, determined where your audience is going to be and decided what type of content you will be posting about, you can then go through and compare the different social media platforms to determine which one will best meet your businesses needs and ensure they are well-branded, up-to-date and suit your values and audience.
Here's a quick break down for you:
This is by far the largest and oldest platform, with over 2 billion monthly active users, mostly between the ages of 25 and 54. It's good for lead generation, and its advertising platform can be highly customised to target very specific audiences. Facebook is also a good platform for building relationships, showing the human side of your business, and turning leads into loyal followers and customers. Many different content types are appropriate for Facebook, but the key is content that shows a different side of your company.
© 60 Second Marketer
Twitter is the go-to platform if your business is about immediacy, and if you want to reach out to followers with breaking news, announcements, important messages, and other in the moment information. Most Twitter users are under the age of 50, and the type of content that works best on this platform is articles and quotations.
LinkedIn is typically the choice platform for businesses, and goal is lead generation then it can be very popular. If your goal is to post editorial content, and it can help you establish your company and people within it as a trusted leader in your field and build authority for your brand. You can comment, like, write posts, publish articles, link with other members, join groups and much more! The demographic on LinkedIn is also different than other sites because there are more users between the ages of 30 to 49 than there are users under 30. We recommend most companies have a branded account here, along with all of the employees in it, and it is kept up to date in order to increase your presence and authority.
© LinkedIn Corporation
A very popular platform for images as it looks a little like a mood board of designs. It's surprisingly good for sales too. Something to be aware of is that it is much more popular with women than men and leads itself towards creative brands such as fashion, design, travel, wedding and celebrations, interiors, cooking and other attractive images.
Grow Your Email List Too
But, don’t forget that you don’t actually own your follower list, your profile, or even your posts on these social media platforms!! There are so many examples of influencers and businesses who have had their social media accounts shut down. And what happens to all of those followers? Well, unless you get your account back, they’re just gone altogether. That’s why we recommend growing your email list too. You see, unlike your social media follower lists, you own every single lead on your email list and you can send emails directly to them when needed.
For more support, contact us as Moon Digital.