Social media is a great way for small businesses to build their brand, but it can also be overwhelming. How do you know which platforms are right for your company? And what platform should you focus on first? This post will answer those questions and more by giving you advice on how to identify which social media channels might work best with your business goals.
Different social media channels for businesses
Social media is a great way to engage with your audience, share content and build your brand. It’s also an excellent way to find new customers and employees.
Social media channels are different for every business, so it’s important that you pick the right one for your company.
The top three
The top three platforms for business-to-consumer (B2C) brands are Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp. These channels provide a range of features that can help you reach customers in new ways. For example:
- Facebook allows you to create an account for free if your brand isn’t already verified on the site. Signing up will also give you access to insights about how people interact with your page as well as tools like Page Insights and Audiences Insights that help analyze what content resonates best with users and identify opportunities for optimization.
- YouTube is one of the most popular video sharing sites in the world today–it has over 1 billion users who watch more than 2 billion hours of content each month. You can create engaging videos using this platform by uploading them directly from your computer or phone or through its mobile app (which makes it easy for anyone who wants access). You can then promote these videos through paid advertising campaigns so they’re seen by even more people across all platforms including Facebook owned Instagram which has been particularly successful at driving engagement among younger demographics – between 25-34 years old.
- The commercial benefit of WhatsApp is customer communication. According to recent data, 54% of users choose WhatsApp to track purchase and delivery updates, followed by 50% of users’ preference for appointments, webinars, and event alerts, and 39% of users prefer WhatsApp as a channel for customer care.
Companies may advertise their goods and services, communicate with customers directly, and reach a large audience by utilizing one or all three of these well-known social media platforms.
LinkedIn is a great place to find new customers and connect with potential clients. It’s not just for professionals, either; you can use it as a platform to share content, build your brand and network with other companies.
The social media platform is also an extremely useful tool if you’re looking at hiring someone else who knows what they’re doing–LinkedIn has over 300 million members worldwide who have experience in their industry.
Twitter is a great place to share your expertise, content, news and events. It’s also an excellent way to interact with customers and the community.
Here are some tips for using Twitter:
- Share content relevant to your audience on Twitter. Make sure that whatever it is that you’re sharing has something interesting about it–it can be a new product or service announcement, an article written by someone else in the industry (with links back up), even just some interesting facts about how social media works today. If people like what they see then they may start following you.
- Use hashtag searches to find hashtags related to topics related to what interests people most at any given time; these could be anything from #veganuary (for those who want their diet restricted) through #selfieadvice (about taking better selfies) right up until trending hashtags such as #thisisthesolution
TikTok
TikTok is a popular social media platform for people who love to share videos. It is one of the most intuitive platforms to use and has a large audience, so if you’re looking for an opportunity to grow your audience with short-form content, TikTok could be the right fit for you.
If you’re not familiar with Pinterest, it’s a visual platform that allows users to share images and pin them on boards. Users can then follow those boards as well as other people’s pins.
You should use this social media channel because it allows you to showcase your brand personality and style. You can also promote your business or blog through Pinterest by posting relevant article titles and descriptions, which will help generate traffic from interested people who want more information about what you do.
If you have an interest in a certain niche (like fitness or fashion), then using Pinterest is one of the best ways for small businesses like yours to reach out directly into their target audience without having any friction between them–and without spending too much time advertising.
Which Social Media Platforms are Best For Your Business?
Once you have a clear idea of what your business does, who its target audience is and what kind of content it can create, it’s time to determine which social media channels are best for your small business.
Here’s how:
- Consider the purpose of each social platform. For example, Pinterest is great for sharing visual content that isn’t text heavy like blog posts or news stories; Instagram has become a popular format for photo sharing; Vine allows users to share short videos with their followers through a series of looping clips (think GIFs); Twitter allows users to post 140 characters at once–perfect if you’re trying to get something out there quickly while still having enough room on screen so people don’t miss anything.
- Consider the demographics of those platforms. For example: If one person owns an online store selling women’s clothing online then he might want more followers than someone who runs an accounting firm but doesn’t have any products listed on his website yet. You could even make sure not just men but also women follow these social media accounts too–another way would be creating multiple accounts across different brands/products so no one feels left out when it comes time for promotions.
Identify Target Audience
To identify the right social media channels for your small business, you need to know who your target audience is. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. Once you have a clear idea of what they like, how they feel about something and why they engage with certain content over others, it’s easier to determine which channels work best for them.
Here are some questions that can help you answer this:
- Who are my customers?
- What do they like?
- What are their interests?
- What are their pain points?
- How can I help them meet their needs more effectively through social media?
What’s Your Budget For Each Platform?
The next thing to consider is your resources. What are you willing to invest in?
For example, if you have limited time and money, it might be better for you to choose a social media platform that has fewer users than another one but offers more benefits (such as analytics). Or perhaps you’re starting from scratch and don’t have any experience with social media marketing at all–in which case, it could be better for your business if there were many more users on the platform so that people would find their posts more easily. The point here is that each of these factors matters differently depending on what stage of growth your small business finds itself in at this particular moment in time.
It’s also worth remembering that not everything can be measured: some things are subjective or qualitative (like how much value someone gets out of using a certain feature), while others are quantitative (how many times did they visit my website last month?).
Do You Have Time to Create Content?
Can you create content effectively?
The answer to this question depends on what kind of business you’re trying to build. If you’re selling products or services, then yes, it’s important that your audience knows what they need and why they should buy from you instead of another brand. That’s why many businesses invest in social media training courses–because they want their customers (and potential customers) to know exactly how much value they’re getting out of using their products or services. But if all your customers do is buy stuff from you–and never engage with your brand again–then maybe it doesn’t matter how great your marketing strategy is.
How Many Platforms Do You Need?
How many social media channels should you be using? There is no one answer. It depends on your business, resources and audience. For example, if you’re a small business that doesn’t have the money or time to manage multiple platforms and audiences then it makes sense to focus on just one or two platforms. If however, you’re already managing multiple accounts (Facebook page + Instagram account) then there is room for more–but only if they are used strategically in conjunction with each other.
If this sounds confusing don’t worry because we’ve got some tips for getting started.
How Will You Use Each Platform?
When you’re thinking about which social media channels to prioritize for your small business, it’s important to understand the purpose of each platform. What is its primary benefit? Does it offer an audience that will help you grow your business or generate revenue in some way?
The first question should be: what is this platform used for? Do people use this platform because they want information about my product or service (i.e., Facebook), or do they use it just because they want something interesting to read (i.e., Twitter)? This question should lead you down a rabbit hole of research on your competitors’ websites and blog posts until you have a pretty good idea of how much traffic each platform produces per month/year/etcetera — then factor those numbers into your decision-making process.
Bottom Line
Social media is a great way to connect with your customers, build brand awareness and grow your business. However, it’s not always easy to know which social media platforms are best for your small business. In this article we’ll explore the various types of social media channels, how they work and what makes them unique so that you can decide which ones are right for your company.
