Social media's rise in popularity over the years has changed the marketing and advertising landscape in numerous ways. Some brands have used social media to their full potential, culminating in unparalleled success on various platforms. Brands from fashion retailer Boohoo to major corporations like Sony know how to post just the right content and connect with their audiences. They understand how to acquire millions of followers and, subsequently, customers. Your business can also find success with social media if you take full advantage of these platforms to engage with your audience.
To help you decide on the best social media platforms to use for your business, we'll take a look at some of the top social platforms for businesses. While we've found the following three to be great for many industries, this list could vary depending on where your target audience is found. Each of these platforms has a key demographic, so you will need to carefully select your target audience before choosing the right social platform.
There are currently around 1 billion active users on Instagram, more than 500 million of whom use the platform every day, including the Instagram Stories feature. When it comes to Instagram Stories, 1/3 of the most viewed stories are posted by businesses and viewed by consumers.
Generally, some industries that do the best on this platform include marketing, retail, fashion, education, and restaurants, all of which can post plenty of visual content to engage audiences.
Learn more about how to use Instagram for your business with the following articles:
What makes Twitter particularly useful is the ability for brands to communicate with audiences. Whether via public posts or private messages, customers can ask questions, speak their concerns, and share tweets to increase the number of brand mentions. In turn, businesses can respond to any comments or messages, and those responses have the opportunity to encourage additional positive engagement. As a result, many businesses have been able to showcase their customer service skills on this platform to improve their brand reputation. Hashtags are also a great way for brands to engage with their audience, whether they share trending hashtag-related posts or launch their own hashtag campaigns to further increase brand awareness.
Around 38% of Twitter users are 18 to 29, and another 26% are 30 to 49 years old. The platform is also ideal for targeting audiences with higher income levels, as 77% of Americans earning $75,000+ use Twitter. Nearly any industry can benefit from using Twitter to develop a social media presence, from small businesses to large organizations looking to build a loyal audience.
Learn more about how to get the best results from your Twitter campaigns with the following articles:
Like Instagram, brands on Facebook can post stories that feature videos or photos that stay up for 24 hours and have the chance to gain plenty of viewers. Facebook is also great for running paid ad campaigns, with plenty of tools that make it easy to target the ideal audience with video or image ads that drive engagement. At the same time, you can post regularly on your company page, which can increase engagement. You also can communicate with audiences in comments, like you would on Twitter.
The entertainment, real estate, marketing, retail, and education industries are some of the top-performing industries on Facebook at the moment.
The following articles can help you get the most from Facebook campaigns:
In addition to Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, these two platforms are also helpful for many businesses looking to get the most from their social media marketing.
Businesses in just about any industry can benefit from using YouTube, including retailers, manufacturers, eCommerce businesses, healthcare practices, law firms, and many others.
Read the following articles to learn more about how YouTube can help your business:
Ultimately, if you want to appeal to career-oriented audiences and other businesses, LinkedIn is a valuable platform to use. You can also use LinkedIn's Website Demographics feature to gain insight into your websites’ visitors, including job title, and much more.
Learn more about how to use LinkedIn for your business with these helpful articles:
As you develop your marketing plans, don't neglect to use social media platforms along with other marketing channels. Business and social media go hand-in-hand, so it's important to do what you can to use social media to your advantage. Through the use of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or a combination of multiple platforms, you can maximize your reach and significantly increase conversions. Although analyzing and staying up-to-date with the latest social media trends can be intimidating, working with a media partner can always help.