With the world of social media constantly changing and evolving, knowing which platform is best for you and your business can be difficult. The big three social media websites are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, meaning that if your business isn’t to be found anywhere on any of these channels, you are already well behind the game.
Other notable social channels that you cannot afford to overlook include YouTube, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tik Tok and Reddit. Not all of these will apply to your business or your potential customers, but at the same time, there is no harm in, at the very least, having a presence.
Why Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are Musts
These social channels are the big three in the world of social media for a reason. In the United Kingdom alone, Facebook boasts over 44 million users, with 24 million residents on Instagram and a further 17 million on Twitter. Those are numbers not to be ignored and, with each of those channels offering differing capabilities, your business can reach out and engage with potential customers in a variety of exciting ways.
Facebook is primarily used by its users to connect with friends and family, but its users constantly engage with and look up businesses through the platform. Furthermore, arguably more so than any other social media, Facebook offers a far more precise means of targeting potential customers through Facebook Ads, where you can easily set your audience based on location and interests.
Twitter and Instagram, meanwhile, offer slightly different styles of social feeds. On Twitter, users can choose to follow accounts and topics (or hashtags) in which to engage with. Instagram is much the same, but on a far more visual basis which makes it a fantastic platform for businesses that offer aesthetically pleasing products or services in which to share their work.
What About the Others?
All social media platforms have their pros and cons. Here, we will look at exactly what some of the other social channels have to offer for your business.
LinkedIn
If your business upholds a corporate and formal tone, utilising LinkedIn will be highly beneficial. As opposed to simply posting from a company account, users on LinkedIn are constantly looking to connect with other professionals, meaning you are far likelier to find success by using an account set up in your own name to post about the company and what you are doing – sharing success stories and advice always goes down well here.
Pinterest
Pinterest is very similar to Instagram in the sense that it is a very visual social media platform. Users generally share ideas with one another, ‘pinning’ posts to their personal boards where they can refer to it later. Numerous bloggers utilise Pinterest to share informational pieces and, utilised correctly, can result in a great deal of traffic to your website.
Reddit
From a commercial standpoint, Reddit is probably the hardest social media to crack. This is because its userbase does not come to engage with businesses and the slightest scent of spam or overt self-promotion is soon deleted or ridiculed. Reddit is such a powerful social tool because when a link to a page is shared in the right place, your website can benefit from high amounts of traffic for days after. The best part of Reddit is that with thousands of channels, known as ‘subreddits’, businesses operating in almost any sector will be relevant in one niche or another on the website.
YouTube
You might be forgiven for believing that the only way to make money on this channel is by being a YouTuber, which is a type of social influencer. However, you would be very wrong as YouTube provides an excellent platform to share ideas and promotional material which can then be posted on other social platforms. Think of YouTube as a search engine in its own right – how many times have you searched on YouTube looking for a ‘how-to’ guide? If your company has the capability of producing similar content, then creating and sharing that on YouTube can expand your reach to a new audience you never knew existed.
Snapchat
Snapchat targets a considerably younger audience than the other forms of social media we have already mentioned, with the majority of its userbase aged between 13 and 29 years old. This probably means that if you are operating a B2B business, then Snapchat may not be for you. But, if you're heading up an online strategy for a B2C brand, particularly one with an audience that falls into Generation Z, you should look further into this platform. Originally known for its disappearing images, the features and capabilities have evolved, offering businesses new and exciting ways to reach their audience.
Tik Tok
Tik Tok, much like Snapchat, targets a younger audience through its video-sharing platform and is a firm favourite amongst social influencers. Because of this, even if businesses may not be actively on the platform themselves, through influencer marketing they can still indirectly push their products and/or services simply by featuring in an influencer’s video. People buy from people, so seeing their favourite influencer, who they trust, talk about or use a product will go some way into convincing them and winning their trust off of the back of that. Similar styles of influencer marketing are widely used across other social platforms, especially YouTube and Snapchat.
