The introduction and swift rise in popularity of social media platforms has provided businesses of all types with a whole new world of marketing potential. From multiple platforms on which to promote key services or products to real-time opportunities to connect with customers and increase brand awareness, companies can leverage social media into a legitimate source of marketing and advertising revenue. After all, we’re living in an age in which the average internet user has at least 5 social media accounts—it couldn’t be clearer that the use of these platforms is no longer optional for B2C companies.
Although many brands hold accounts on multiple platforms for social media marketing purposes, focusing the majority of your efforts on one or two platforms best suited to your specific needs and goals is a wise marketing move. That being said, with so many social media platforms available today, how can a business determine the best platform to more fully invest in? Do you funnel more resources to the platform where you have the biggest following? Do you follow the conversions? Once you pick a platform, should you abandon all others? Keep scrolling to find out.
The Best Social Platforms
Although utilizing a number of social media platforms, and maintaining active, consistent, and well-rounded accounts is beneficial for any brand, every platform is different and offers slightly different advantages depending on your reasons for using it. Check out our short-list of highly utilized social media platforms and some of their strengths.
Generally speaking, posts on Facebook are longer and more informational. This platform is useful for building relationships and getting information to and from followers. Publicly available since 2006, extremely user-friendly, and boasting over 2.23 billion active users, Facebook covers a huge range of demographics.
Snapchat
Used for posting short pictures and videos that users can see for a specified amount of time (usually 24-hours), Snapchat is awesome for capturing brief, behind-the-scenes clips and informal content. One of the most largely used platforms currently, Snapchat is most utilized by young people between the ages of 13 to 34 and provides a unique opportunity for brands to connect with some of their younger consumers.
Another image and video focused platform, Instagram is centered around showcasing high-quality images viewable in a scrolling format. Useful for connecting with other brands or people in the industry and getting products, services, or offers in front of a wide audience, it is similar to Snapchat except that you don’t have to build followers on a separate platform first.
Used to post short-form content in 140 characters or less, Twitter is useful for customer service representation, answering questions, responding to reviews, and sharing other industry-related content. Actually listed in the Apple store as a news app, Twitter is a great place to share exciting company news or real-time updates with your followers.
“Pins”—photos and graphics that provide inspiration for home décor, fashion, recipes, and more—are Pinterest’s jam. These images can link directly back to a website, blog post, or remote location, increasing your ROI with every re-pin (share).
Although every single one of these popular platforms (and there are many more out there, too) offers unique advantages to its users, how should a brand determine which one to focus marketing efforts on?
It’s Okay to Be Choosy
When trying to pick the best social media platform to focus your branding efforts on, ask questions like the following in order to help narrow down your options.
- What message is my brand primarily trying to communicate through social media?
- Who is my primary audience, and which platform do they use most?
- Which platform is the best fit for the type of content my brand wants to post?
- When (during the 24-hour day) is my brand most likely to post on the platform we choose, and what are its peak engagement times?
By thinking critically and examining the goals your brand is trying to accomplish through its primary social media platform, the best choice should easily float to the top of the of your sea of options.
Call in the Social Media Marketing Experts
There are countless articles, videos, blog posts, and podcasts dedicated to assisting brands in choosing the ideal social platform (and we’ve created plenty of helpful content ourselves). However, a second set of knowledgeable eyes always manages to pick up on strengths and weaknesses a company might overlook on its own.
As a cutting-edge digital marketing agency, Snap specializes in staying current—and that means keeping on top of the latest and greatest social media platforms. With top-notch services including SEO, social media marketing, PPC, and web design and development, our team of experienced and well-rounded digital people would love to help take your brand’s social presence to the next level. Every brand has the potential to use social platforms for the tremendous growth tools they can be. Embrace yours, and contact Snap today.