What Social Media Platforms are a Must?
When it comes to choosing the best social media platform for your business, the opportunities are wide and varied. You could be posting snappy snippets on Twitter or beautiful photos on Pinterest. So how do you choose the right social platform for your business, and what social media platforms are a must?
A Look at the Big Players
You’re probably already familiar with the big players in social media. We’re talking about:
Each of these platforms offer millions of monthly active views. People spend countless hours on these sites, so why not advertise on them? You can reach new people and increase your following.
Let’s just look at the data for a minute:
- Facebook – 2.23 billion monthly active users
- Instagram – 1 billion
- Twitter – 335 million
- LinkedIn – 294 million
- YouTube – 1.9 billion
If you create and build a solid platform on all of these sites, that’s a wide reach and the potential for a large community of followers and customers.
But the chances of being able to win and perform on all of these social media platforms is rare. As a start, focus on two or more social media platforms that have a more dedicated audience. One that has less competition from other businesses and brands. When you are able to grow into a larger space, dominating all the other platforms will be easier.
Other Social Media Platforms to Consider:
- Pinterest – 250 million monthly active users
- Medium – 60 million
- Snapchat – 255 million
- Viber – 260 million
- Reddit – 330 Million
- Tumblr – 642 million
- Houseparty – 1 million
These social platforms are the first ones you should look at when you’re examining your social media marketing plan. However, before you start creating a profile, ask yourself the following questions:
What are your social media goals? How do you want to use the social site? For example, using Twitter to drive traffic to your site may be easier than using Pinterest for the same purpose.
Who is the audience you want to reach? Let’s face it, if you’re marketing to anyone under the age of 40, then Facebook isn’t the right choice for your business. They’re just not on Facebook. They are on Snapchat and they are on Pinterest. If you’re marketing to professionals, then LinkedIn may be the place to focus your attention.
Is advertising an option? Many social sites offer advertising opportunities. If advertising on social is part of your plan, then you may want to prioritize that platform over one that doesn’t offer ads.
Ask yourself: Can you consistently produce quality content while creating an engagement campaign?
It doesn’t do you much good to build a profile on a social site where you aren’t skilled at creating content. Take YouTube, for example. If you are not comfortable creating video content, then that’s not the best choice for your business, regardless of your audience and goals. (Though you could outsource your social content creation). Yes, there are many solid social platforms to choose from and these big names are a must. However, make sure that the social sites you choose fit your business needs and goals. It takes time to build a social following and you want to make your efforts count.
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