Business owners have a lot on their mind these days as they navigate rapidly advancing technology and new social media apps that seem to spring up overnight. Currently there are 3.6 billion people across the globe who use social media, and experts predict this number will grow to 4.41 billion by 2025.
While many business owners can agree that having a presence on social media is important to spread awareness about their company, which one is the most beneficial and will yield the most return? Should a business focus all of their marketing energy on one platform, or should they have multiple platforms to reach as many people as possible?
This article will identify common social media apps used for business and describe tips for cultivating a successful online presence.
Common Social Media Apps for Business
Common social media apps for business include Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. Each of these platforms has a slightly different focus – Instagram is more centered on photos while LinkedIn is tailored to professionals – but each aims to keep users engaged on the app for as long as possible. This presents businesses with a unique opportunity to engage with users and promote their services.
- Pros: Businesses can gain an audience through their own business page, groups, and ads; and they can engage with this audience through posts, chat bots, and Messenger. Facebook also allows external links that help generate traffic to a business’s website.
- Cons: An ever-changing algorithm can make it hard for a business’s content to show up consistently on their customers’ news feed and keep them actively engaged with the business.
- Pros: A picture is worth a thousand words, and businesses can easily generate interest with visually appealing photos and videos.
- Cons: Because this platform doesn’t allow for external links to be embedded in posts, it can be hard to generate website traffic. Additionally, it can be hard to stand out if a business doesn’t post high-quality content.
- Pros: This platform is geared towards individuals, and businesses can post content that might not interest users who use other platforms to connect with friends and family. This content includes what it’s like to work for the company, job postings, and business blogs.
- Cons: The platform has a very narrow focus and won’t be beneficial for all companies.
- Pros: Users can interact directly with businesses through hashtags, and businesses can create relationships with customers.
- Cons: A tweet only has about an 18-minute lifespan, meaning that businesses must post often to maintain their relevance.
YouTube
- Pros: Companies can use YouTube to post long-form content and create content that gives a more in-depth look at the company (think a five-minute tour of the company’s facilities versus a five-second Facebook clip).
- Cons: Unless the content is embedded on a website, companies must direct their audience to YouTube to see the content.
Tips for Choosing Social Media Platforms
Companies must be methodical when deciding which social media platform is most beneficial to help grow their audience. Below are some tips to narrow down the most popular social media platforms.
Target Your Audience
Businesses are successful when they have a clear understanding of their ideal customer, and customer demographics play a large role in determining which social media platform is most beneficial for businesses. For example, a business-to-business company would be more successful on LinkedIn because the platform is business-centered and designed for professionals.
Business-to-consumer companies can identify social media platforms whose demographics align with those of their ideal customers. Younger adults between the ages of 18 – 29 tend to use Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube while older adults tend to be more active on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Choose Platforms That Correlate with Content Type
Content can be classified as either macro-content or micro-content. Macro-content is long-form content such as YouTube videos, podcasts, and blogs. Micro-content is short-form content such as photos, tweets, and memes.
Companies should identify whether their ideal customers prefer to receive macro-content or micro-content to learn about new products or services. For example, a company’s ideal customer might be teenage girls who are interested in fashion. Simply seeing a photo (micro-content) of a new dress might be enough to entice a teenage girl into purchasing the product.
On the other hand, seeing a post on LinkedIn that leads to a blog (macro-content) about a new piece of software and what it can accomplish might entice a business manager to look into the software. Seeing a picture wouldn’t provide enough information for the manager to take action.
Limit Social Media Platforms
Once companies have thorough studied their ideal customers and how these customers receive information, they should join one or two social media platforms and focus their energy on these platforms.
There is more to mastering a platform than simply making posts or publishing photos, and each platform has different guidelines and specifications for posting content. In the long run, it is beneficial to stick with a limited number of platforms to learn what works and what doesn’t work, and companies can more easily adapt to changes within each platform if they’ve been on the platform for a long time.
Riser Media Group
There are numerous social media platforms available for businesses to advertise on. Let the experts at Riser Media Group determine which platform is best for your business so that you can grow your audience and RISE above the competition!