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All social media networks are not created equally. When you start a social media strategy one of the first things to do is figure out what networks you will utilize. Your best results will come from having a small combination of platforms that work the best for you and your business. Start by reviewing the demographics and usage of the top platforms to see where your audience might be present. Select 1-3 platforms and work these into your strategy.
Here is a summary of the major social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and YouTube.
1. Facebook
Here is a summary of the major social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and YouTube.
1. Facebook
- Facebook is a highly popular social media network with a varied audience, with over 3.0 billion active monthly users as of 2021.
- Use Facebook to promote your business information, engage new and longtime customers, get to know your audience, lessen your marketing costs, boost your web traffic, Improve SEO.
- A Facebook business page is a free resource that helps businesses connect with their customers and grow their online audience.
- Every business should have a Facebook page. When used correctly, a Facebook page can be invaluable to a small business.
- You can use Facebook to share everything from photos to important company updates. With a business page, you have access to powerful advertising tools and in-depth analytics. You can use Facebook to highlight information such as your contact information, hours of operation, and the products and services you offer.
- LinkedIn has 260 million monthly users and is the best platform for professional networking. LinkedIn has the distinction of being the most utilized platform for older audiences. It boasts the largest users between ages 30-49. It's a great place to find top talent, position yourself as an industry leader and promote your business.
- Within its massive network of professionals, you’ll find more than 61 million users in senior positions on LinkedIn. Everyone should have a fully optimized LinkedIn account to control their image online.
- If you’re looking for decision makers who have the power to hire your company, stock your product, or partner with you, LinkedIn is the place to be. Did you know that 44% of LinkedIn users have an income above the national median? Or that more than 50% of Americans with a college degree use LinkedIn?
- LinkedIn is designed to be more professional than other social media platforms and is geared toward businesses and professionals. Users create profiles that are similar to resumes, and companies can create pages that showcase their business. Because LinkedIn is a professional platform, it's the best place to post job openings and information about your company culture.
- You can join industry-specific LinkedIn Groups to ask and answer questions, which can help you establish brand recognition and bring users to your company page and website. Like on Twitter, it is best to have a mix of original and shared content on your page, so commit to creating polished, professional content related to your business.
- Twitter has over 330 million active monthly users as of 2021, On Twitter, you can share short tweets (240 characters or fewer), videos, images, links, polls and more.
- Twitter is an excellent platform to build awareness for your brand. Twitter utilizes the hashtag, which organizes conversations around a word or phrase. By searching hashtags, you can learn what people are talking about so you can craft your tweets to take part in popular conversations. Why would you do this? Because Twitter can offer insight into what topics are trending, Twitter is often used by news outlets to find stories. Since Twitter is often used to provide real time updates to an audience, many brands combine Twitter with offline engagement, such as events
- If you have interesting content and can voice that content in an engaging way, Twitter is a great tool for quickly spreading the word. Hashtags help boost posts, and if a user with a lot of followers retweets you, your content could go viral. But with Twitter, it's important to find balance. Don't just share your links or media; make sure you are also sharing a lot of interesting, relevant content from other Twitter users.
- Instagram has around 1 billion active users in 2021. 63% of users are between the ages of 18 to 34 with virtually even split between male and female users.
- It's important to note that this platform is almost entirely mobile: You can't take photos or create new posts on the desktop version.
- Instagram is one of the fastest growing platforms, especially among a young audience. Instagram relies on photos for conversation. As a result, this platform works really well for visual based businesses, like art, food, retail, and beauty.
- More artistic niches tend to excel on Instagram, the person running your account must have a good eye for detail and ensure the photos and videos posted to your account are high-quality.
- Snapshot has over 360 million monthly users with a young demographic. The most active users are Snapchat are 13-year-olds, and they’re spending upwards of 30 minutes a day on the app.
- Snapchat is a haven for user-generated content, behind-the-scenes videos, exclusive offers, and influencer takeovers.
- Snapchat is another mobile-only, visual social media network that's known for its disappearing content. Users can send videos and photos to each other or post content to their public Stories, which disappear after 24 hours. The app has expanded to include chat, messaging, image storage, events and media content. Now, content posted on Snapchat can easily be saved and uploaded elsewhere.
- Because posts are temporary, there is less pressure to create super-polished content. You can also see how many and which specific users viewed your story. A small business will most likely utilize the platform's Stories feature, but keep in mind that only users who have added you can view your Stories content. However, once you have an audience, Stories allows you to easily create story-driven and interactive content.
- Pinterest has over 322 million monthly active users with 81% of Pinterest users being female.
- Some of the most popular content on Pinterest includes fashion, food, decor, wedding, workout and DIY-related pins. In addition, anything with rich visual can thrive on Pinterest.
- Pinterest is used for “scrapbooking” or, in other words, saving content by “pinning” photos to a virtual bulletin board. Female users dominate the Pinterest demographic. Some of the most common pins are recipes, style ideas, striking photographs, and DIY crafts.
- Every pin on Pinterest includes an image or video, making it a purely visual platform. As such, Pinterest is not the place for you to share information like your business hours
- With over 2 billion active users YouTube is a video-sharing platform where people can view, upload, rate, share and comment on content. Now owned by Google, the site is a huge hub for news and entertainment.
- 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute worldwide, it may seem like an uphill task to get your video noticed. But, also consider these YouTube statistics: 1 billion hours of video on YouTube are watched daily and 90 percent of consumers say they discover new brands and products through YouTube.
- Many businesses on YouTube have a creative, visual or educational component. The platform is heavily creative in nature, so it's important for you to have a dedicated video editor producing content. However, your business doesn't need a channel to market on the platform – there's a subculture of YouTube influencers who publish frequent videos and often maintain large audiences. Often, businesses partner with YouTubers for product placement because these users already have engaged audiences. Using YouTube influencers can be an easier way of marketing your business on the platform, since you don't have to put in the time and effort of creating content and building a following, which can take years.
The Social Media Profile
“Don't use social media to impress people; use it to impact people.” — Dave Willis, Writer & Pastor
Each Social Media Platform allows you to set up a Profile. A profile describes you or your business and you have control of your profile. Whether you are just trying to get more exposure online, connect with your fans or customers, or improve your online reputation, social networking profiles are important. Be sure to OPTIMIZE your profile on each social media platform by filling in all that is asked for. A Bio is essential and will set the stage for your online presence.
A bio on any network should address five key pieces of information:
Checklist for an Optimized Social Media Profile
“Don't use social media to impress people; use it to impact people.” — Dave Willis, Writer & Pastor
Each Social Media Platform allows you to set up a Profile. A profile describes you or your business and you have control of your profile. Whether you are just trying to get more exposure online, connect with your fans or customers, or improve your online reputation, social networking profiles are important. Be sure to OPTIMIZE your profile on each social media platform by filling in all that is asked for. A Bio is essential and will set the stage for your online presence.
A bio on any network should address five key pieces of information:
- Who you are
- Where you work
- What you do
- Your brand’s tone
- How someone can get in touch with you
- Images – Do not leave profile images blank.
Checklist for an Optimized Social Media Profile