What are the “BEST” Social Media channels for Businesses?
The quick answer is…..
That depends!
It will depend on your audience, your marketing goals, your intentions for you product/brand, and quite a few other objective criteria.
In this article we’ll have an quick overview of a few of the most popular social media channels and a brief look at the business applications for each.
LinkedIn is best for mainstream Business to Business companies, professionals, recruiters and job seekers. It is not the place to share pictures of your recent trip (unless it is completely relevant to your business) or your family!
Long form posts that offer great content to your readers is favoured over image posts.
LinkedIn is great for networking with professionals, industry leaders and potential employees/employers. Sharing industry news, industry breakthroughs and cutting edge technologies and ideas and positioning your brand as an industry leader. Additionally LinkedIn is known for “thought leaders”, people and projects that are making waves and disruptions to the “normal” way of doing things.
Facebook is best for Business to Consumer companies and brands.
It is the largest social media platform, reaching a broader cross section of people. It still has more views per day than any other platform. While a very large percentage of use is for sharing personal stories and posts to family and friends, it remains one of the best and most versatile marketing and advertising platforms for businesses.
On Facebook you need to have a personal “PROFILE”. From there you can add as many business or interest “PAGES” as you like. Each “PAGE” can start as many targeted interest “GROUPS” as you like as well. Facebook’s algorithm does not favour pages, however, you need a business page in order to run paid ads.
In addition to profiles, pages, groups and paid ads, you can run EVENTS. These can be for local events, or online events.
The paid ad platform is very powerful with highly focussed targeting and re-targeting abilities. By putting a FB pixel on our website you can target people who have visited your site and either left, or did various other actions.
You will need a Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Whatsapp) business account to run ads across all platforms – each platform can be targeted during ad setup in the Business suite.
Instagram is essentially an image sharing platform, however since purchased by Meta, it has become so much more. It is a perfect platform for Business to Consumer companies and brands.
It has a large audience, slightly younger than Facebook (very generally speaking), however the age range is still very broad.
As an image sharing platform, this is a great place for products and brands that are visually appealing, and paying attention to the quality of image and visual appeal of the image is important.
Reels (vertical videos) are very popular, and, in fact, favoured by the Instagram algorithm. You have only one minute to communicate you message! Video should be engaging, sub titled, and to the point.
Ads can be run natively from Instagram business account, however targeting is minimal if done manually. The powerful automatic targeting is good and almost as effective as ads built in the Facebook business suite.
Another benefit of Instagram for visually appealing businesses is the influencer partnership possibilities.
Additionally, Instagram has an in-app shopping capacity which is quite easy to set up. Many businesses sell directly from Instagram without having a website. The DM method works well for sales in Instagram as well.
Twitter is a short text forum and is most suited to businesses seeking to establish thought leadership, or to stay up to date with trends, or even to handle customer service!
“Tweeters” are on the platform often and tweet a lot.
Twitter does have an ad program as well, however it is only available as a Platinum member (monthly fee)
Pinterest is another visual platform, relying on images with minimal text.
People can share images that they have created, or images that they have found on the internet and find interesting.
The strengths of the platform for businesses in the DIY, fashion, home, décor, recipe, wedding planning, arts and crafts niches is that people are on the platform looking for inspiration.
The platform can drive traffic to a website. Organic traction takes time, and there is an advertising platform.
TIKTOK
TikTok is the new kid on the block. Initially silly dancing for the younger generation, a new bread of influencers is emerging. Video, in the vertical format, is key and short, interesting, both visually and conversationally, are winning combinations.
TikTok is not just for silly dancing and the young crowd any longer and is a serious contender for generating brand awareness. TikTok has a great advertising platform and is a favourite amongst brands where visually interesting and content rich video can make an impact.
YOUTUBE
YouTube is often overlooked by most businesses as it would seem to be a difficult area to shine in. It is a platform for longer videos in the 9:16 or full screen broad format. The videos on YouTube seem to be of a better quality of editing and higher quality, however, a phone video should suffice if shot well and edited well.
Influencers can build up a great income from their YouTube activities when they reach a threshold where ads can be placed into their videos, while it is a great place for businesses to fill those advertising spots!
For tech companies, Reddit is the go-to social media platform to get feedback and advance their brand. Ask Me Anything sessions and niche targeting possibilities.
CLUBHOUSE
This platform is for thought leaders, influencers and professionals capitalising on real-time discussions. Great for brand awareness, live audio discussions and networking.
There are other platforms that have real time audio discussions as well.
PODCASTING
Influencers, thought leaders, and professional brands can benefit from the utilisation of podcasting platforms,
While these are some of the prominent platforms, there are many others tailored for specific niches or geographies. It is essential for businesses to understand where their audience spends time and tailor their strategy accordingly. Always consider factors like platform user demographics, content format, and the nature of engagement when choosing a platform.