Inbound and Digital Marketing Blogs & Insights | StraightArrow

What’s the Best Social Media Platform for your Business?

Written by Melody Osorio | 1/30/19 1:01 AM

Social Media is ever-changing, and its population has proliferated to almost 1 million new users in the last year. Do you ever wonder what your business's best social media platform is?

According to We Are Social, a large number of the older generation is joining the social media craze.

It is, indeed, a great time for marketers and businesses to monitor proper social media and identify where their customers and prospects are.

With over 3 billion people on different social media platforms, it is the best place to test out the full potential of your business. From brand awareness to making sales, it’s all possible in the social media universe.

How To Know The Best Social Media Platform For Your Business?

Remember that not all social media platforms will work for your business.

First, you should draft a well-thought-out social media marketing strategy.

This is where you identify your goals, then evaluate and closely examine the best social media platform to help you maximize your marketing efforts.

Facebook

Facebook is a wide-reaching platform that has users worldwide. Knowing what social media metrics you want to follow for each platform is essential. Facebook is most effective for gaining reach, engagement, views, and impressions and driving traffic to links included in the post. Despite its fair share of backlash and negative press, it is still business.

Retail, media, financial services, and health care industries can maximize Facebook for their businesses.

A great content strategy would be your best ally to thrive on this platform if you're in the sports or automotive industry. 

Instagram

Instagram is a highly visual platform. There’s an unwritten rule on posting high-quality images and curating aesthetically pleasing content. Having a theme or following a particular color palette is one of the best ways to make your Instagram feed stand out.

The recent changes in the platform’s algorithm put the most relevant posts at the top of a user’s feed.

One factor that the algorithm considers is the relationship between users.

By this, we mean that your account will be prioritized on their feed if a follower often likes or interacts with your posts. With this in mind, it is in your best interest to have frequent to high engagement on your posts. Although a person’s interest also has a weigh-in on this.

Viewing things repeatedly will prompt Instagram to show related posts on their discover page or feed (if it is a sponsored post).

If you’re part of industries such as travel, fashion, beauty, food, and interior design—this platform could work wonders for you.

91% of consumers prefer visually interactive content, and pairing off the traditional text with visual elements can help encourage brand retention.

Showing people exactly what you are selling and making information more digestible through infographics will help your brand in the long run.

Unlike other social media platforms, where you can easily link your landing pages or websites, using links isn’t much of an option on Instagram.

The practice instead is to tag brands or people in the actual photo and include hashtags in the caption.

Image source: World Record Golden Egg

Take the most liked Instagram photo, for example.

This golden egg was posted last 5 January 2019 to beat the previously most liked photo, Kylie Jenner’s birth announcement, with 18 million likes — and it did.

The golden egg gained over 36 million likes and continues to do so daily.

 

Twitter

Twitter is considered a news platform as it has one of the fastest-moving feeds among all the social media platforms. International news, gossip, and anything trending worldwide can be seen on Twitter.

75% of users check the text-based website daily to get updates.

As a plus, the platform allows users to post videos and images and features Periscope as its live video platform.

If your product caters to business-to-consumer (B2C), Twitter is your platform. It can serve as a customer relations platform, where brands can proactively engage with their customers, and some industry leaders can leverage and reach audiences.

Jumping onto a trending hashtag or creating your own can increase your brand's visibility.

If they are looking for something specific or following the hashtags you chose, as is joining the worldwide conversation — though keep in mind that it should always be related to your brand.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the platform where professionals connect and build their networks. It also gives its users access to job listings, news, and industry updates, instead of relying on media content.

Think of it as your typical social media platform; only your mandate is more professional and direct for business.

As of 2018, 61 million users on LinkedIn are senior-level influencers, and 40 million are decision-makers.

If your product is business-to-business (B2B), this platform is the best place to engage with your market, as it generates 80% of B2B social media leads.

So make sure to complete the necessary information on your page and begin sharing content that matters.

  • Highlight the best things about your brand
  • Customize your call-to-action
  • Sponsor your best-performing posts.   

Other things that can help with lead generation on LinkedIn are proactively asking and giving recommendations, looking for prospective clients to grow a lead database, and researching your competition.

The platform doesn’t only encourage connections but also serves as an avenue to grow a community of link-minded parties.

Takeaway

Social Media is a handy tool for businesses and individuals alike. And as responsible social media users, our job is to keep our consumers informed by staying up-to-date with the latest innovations and trends.

When we conceptualize content, let’s remember that our products and services should be accompanied by relevant, timely, and fact-based information.

And should you face challenges in turning your visions into actual executions, we are always here to help!