Identifying the right social media platform for your business

Social Media is now more than a bonafide platform for advertising, promoting and exposing businesses, new and existing; large and small to target customer groups.  It has the capacity to reach diverse customer groups and potential customer groups worldwide.  But which social media platform really suits your business?

As with other traditional and non-traditional marketing platforms, the response to this question is dependent on who your business is trying to reach, with what product or service, the price point and the customers’ propensity to buy.

Before putting your business on social media, it is advisable that you familiarize yourself with the platforms and find out the likely audiences that you can reach using each platform.  This initial step will also help you to make a determination as to where your time and money will be spent, so that you maximize your business’s visibility and spend; and not spread yourself too thin.

The following is a compilation of the most popular networks and some suggestions on how you can use for your business:

Facebook

Undoubtedly the most popular of the social networks, Facebook reports that as at January 2017, there were 1.79 billion active users.  Facebook is the easiest social media platform to use.  It allows individuals to keep in touch with family and friends as well as to find long lost contacts.  It is this unique feature on which businesses capitalize when using this social space.  Because of Facebook’s very nature, individuals will always be active on this medium therefore businesses, celebrities, brands, professionals all use the opportunity to promote, engage and increase their visibility.

Instagram

If your business can tell strong stories in photo or video, Instagram is the perfect platform for you.  With 600 million active users monthly; businesses that are in art, fashion, travel or food can thrive in this space.  The statistics on this platform are staggering but importantly you should know that 48.8% of brands use Instagram for promotion and this is set to rise to 70.7% in 2017.  Will you be among those brands?

Just two other things to note, Instagram users ‘like’ 4.2 billion posts per day and 75% of Instagram users take action, such as visiting a website, after looking at an Instagram advertising post.  Let that sink in…

Twitter

While not as wildly popular as the two previously mentioned, Twitter has a unique capability with its ‘retweet’ feature.  If a tweet is retweeted often enough, the message being sent could go viral… and in marketing, going viral is a great thing.  Twitter also allows you to mention individuals and companies by name if you want them to see and retweet your ‘tweet’.  It is also a great platform to use if you are running a poll or to provide an update for your business… it is only 140 characters but used wisely, it could reap significant benefits.

YouTube

Of all the platforms mentioned, YouTube is the only completely video based platform.  With 1 billion monthly users monthly, it provides a dedicated platform through which your business can send its recorded message.  Each user is assigned a channel and that channel can be shared among your customer group so that they can watch for updates on your channel.  Once an individual subscribes to your channel, they are automatically notified of updates/addition to the channel.  If you choose not to, your business does not have to have a channel but an alliance with vloggers or YouTubers can provide exposure for your business as they have large, engaged audiences.

Of course, these are not all the platforms available.  Other social media sites include LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pinterest, Periscope and Snapchat.  These too are popular with a combined audience of over one billion monthly users.  As stated at the onset, the emphasis with social media marketing, as with all other forms of marketing, should be on the achievables.  Look at each social media platform and based on their offerings, choose the one best suited to your business.

Once you have made a selection, ensure that your advertising message is properly targeted so that the right audiences are reached.

Sources: www.statista.com and www.businessnewsdaily.com