Did you know that over half of the world’s population uses social media? There are almost 4 billion active social media users.
If your small business doesn’t have an online presence, then you’re most likely missing out on a large proportion of customers. At the very least, if you’re not on the right platforms, you’re not building meaningful relationships with prospects and customers alike.
To help you out, in this article, we’ll outline some of the best social media platforms for small businesses. That way, you’ll have a maximum online presence for the best exposure possible.
Facebook is one of the biggest social media platforms out there. While it first started out as a platform solely for college students, it was quickly converted into a space where practically everyone could socialize and connect. In early 2019, Facebook reached 2.38 billion users, which is by far the largest number on any social media platform.
On Facebook, users can friend one another and join niche groups to discuss interests and topics.
If your demographic is pretty generic, then Facebook can be a fantastic place to start. This is especially true if you are looking to do geo-targeting with your marketing.
While Facebook is definitely used for people to network for social purposes, it’s evolved in the last decade to be an important tool for businesses.
Not only can you set up a business page with vital information on it, but you can also make posts, show pictures, gather customer reviews, and share content from your other marketing efforts. You can also directly message with people to give them quick customer support.
LinkedIn is very similar to Facebook, except it’s more niche. Here, companies, employees, vendors, and customers can connect with one another for the sole purpose of business. Currently, it has over 706 million users across 200 countries and territories.
This is one of the more formal social media platforms for small business. This means that if you’re to be on LinkedIn, your brand should stay focused on business matters and present them in an appropriate tone. Be careful not to come off as too salesy or pushy, as it can turn people off your brand.
Like with Facebook, you can “friend” others and share posts with both words and pictures. There are also special groups you can join to further focus your target on prospects. LinkedIn also allows you to display vital company information that will give both customers and potential employees the information they need to make a decision about your brand.
Twitter’s been around for quite some time now, and it’s remained popular with users of all ages. As of 2019, they’ve stopped publishing their monthly user numbers since they’d been dropping for a while. But at its last count at the end of 2018, there were 321 million monthly users.
What makes Twitter so unique is its short-form posts. Not only are the posts short and sweet, but it’s also the norm to see them in rapid-fire. This format means you can communicate with your audience in ways you wouldn’t be able to on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn.
On Twitter, you can post pictures and other media as well. But for the most part, users stick to tweeting short messages.
Studies show that Twitter users are generally younger, educated, and financially well-off Democrats. If you’re in the business of politics or anything similar, then this can be an interesting space for your brand to occupy.
Even without the issue of politics, it can still be a great platform to connect with your audience and share your content. This is especially true since you can post multiple times daily without it being considered spam, while it would be on other platforms.
While Instagram is relatively new to the scene, it’s quickly become a hit with users around the world. In 2018, it surpassed 1 billion monthly users.
This platform is slightly different from the others. It’s a heavily visual social media platform. While you can certainly add captions to photos, the main point is to showcase carefully curated images to represent your thoughts (or in the case of small businesses, your products).
For this reason, Instagram can be a great place for you to show off what you have to offer.
In addition, Instagram is mainly popular with the younger crowds. So if your target demographic is on the more youthful side, then this is definitely a platform to consider getting on.
Snapchat
Snapchat is probably the newest social media platform on this list. At the end of 2019, it had 210 million daily users.
It brought a unique spin on social media, as anything posted is short-lived and is not accessible after a short period of time. The fleetingness of Snapchat’s posts made it highly attractive to users of younger ages. It also had tons of cool and cute filters to put on images and videos that made it even more appealing.
Snapchat is a far more informal and casual platform than the others listed above. So if your brand has a fun and whimsical personality, then you should do your social media marketing on this platform.
Get on the Right Social Media Platforms
There are many social media platforms out there, with more being added each year.
It might be tempting to make business accounts for all of them, but you’re only spreading yourself too thin. Instead, pick a few to focus on, where you feel the most customers and prospects are on. That way, you’ll be using your time and resources wisely by avoiding the use of a scattergun approach.
So get to researching and experimenting with the most popular social media platforms. You might just be surprised at which ones work out the best for you.
Do you want more help developing your brand? Then contact us now!