Which Social Media Platforms Should You Use To Promote Your Business?
There are lots of social media platforms to market your business through. While you can promote your business through all of them, it could be a lot of work to keep up with all of these social media channels. Quite often, a better strategy for small businesses is to hone in on a handful of social media sites so that you really focus your marketing efforts. But just which social media sites should you choose?
Facebook is the biggest social media site and is well suited to almost every type of business. Local small businesses can target their marketing locally, while large multinational companies can choose to promote globally. In other words, all companies can benefit from using Facebook. The downside of Facebook being so popular is that advertising is very competitive – with almost every company heavily promoting their business via this platform, it can be difficult to stand out. A Facebook ads agency could be worth hiring to improve the effectiveness of your Facebook advertising. High quality images and videos will help you to stand out.
Instagram is primarily a photo-sharing site. It is best suited to companies that have something visual to offer. Tattoo artists, cake-makers, make-up artists, photographers and illustrators can get a lot of leads through Instagram because it can serve as a public portfolio of their work. It could be much harder to promote a company such as an accounting agency or law firm through Instagram as you haven’t got much to visually offer.
Twitter is another popular site that almost any business can benefit from using. Many companies use it as a public customer support platform – customers will often head to Twitter when they want a complaint to be dealt with quickly. You can also use Twitter to publicly interact with other brands (and even take part in light-hearted ‘brand wars’). As much of Twitter is text-based content, it is a great place to develop your brand’s tone of voice. For companies that are able to communicate more through writing than images, it is a great platform.
LinkedIn is primarily used for business purposes and is one of the best platforms for business-to-business marketing. Manufacturers, recruitment agencies and accounting firms may find it easier to gain leads through this platform than other social media platforms. LinkedIn is also a great platform for promoting your personal achievements – every business owner should have a personal LinkedIn account.
YouTube
YouTube is the biggest video sharing site. It could be an ideal place for promoting your blog through vlogs, demo videos, explainer videos, behind-the-scenes videos and other types of video content. Video content typically requires more investment than other types of social media content but can be one of the most effective forms of content for connecting with customers.
WeChat is a popular Chinese social media platform that is starting to gain traction in the west. Like Facebook, you can advertise using various types of content ranging from video to text. A benefit using WeChat is the lack of competition compared to other social media platforms – while almost all Chinese businesses use WeChat, only a few non-Chinese businesses use it making it easier to stand out.
TikTok
TikTok is another social media platform of Chinese origin that has become very popular recently, particularly with social media users under 25. It relies on short video content, so could be a great platform to use if you have something to visually offer to young people. Like WeChat, there is a relative lack of competition on TikTok, which could make it easier for your business to stand out. It’s best to get involved now however as TikTok is getting big fast and will likely be a competitive advertising space in a few years time.
