Social Media

Do All Companies Need Social Media? Which Platform is the Best for Me?

Do all companies need social media? The answer is yes. Social media isn’t a fad, or something only used by millennials or gen Zers, it’s here to stay. In fact, the biggest growth area is in the over 65s. In 2020, over 3.6 billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to almost 4.41 billion in 2025. On average, internet users spend 144 minutes per day on social media and messaging apps, which accounts for the majority of phone usage.

So whether you run a local shop or a large multinational, having a social media presence is vital. It should form an essential part of your marketing strategy. Social media presents a big opportunity to businesses as users typically log on every day and are exposed to businesses on there regularly. It is a great way to reach new audiences, build trust and increase awareness of your brand. But you need a solid content strategy to take full advantage of it otherwise you risk being lost in the noise.

So as well as having a content strategy, you need to establish which social media platforms your target audience is using. There is no point in spending a fortune creating videos for Tiktok if your target audience is those aged 30 to 50. Having a presence on all social media channels takes a lot of time an effort, and if you are a small business you may not have adequate resources to do this. If you are a B2B company, your customers may not utilise social media for business purposes.

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So which platform is best for me?

The answer is it depends on your target market. If you are a B2B company, LinkedIn might bring the best results. However, if you are a B2C company, Facebook or Instagram may be better. Below we outline the main social media platforms for businesses.

1. Facebook

With over 2.7 billion users worldwide, Facebook is somewhere all businesses should have a presence. Customers are likely to check out your Facebook profile as well as your website before they make a purchase from you. Facebook is a good way to promote your business and reach new customers.

Make sure you have a business page and keep it up to date. If you right regular blogs for your website, Facebook is a good place to share them to reach new audiences. You can use the messenger to communicate with customers and prospects.

The Facebook algorithm loves video content, so use the Facebook live feature to film behind the scenes footage, or videos showing how your products are made or how to use them.

2. Instagram

Instagram is great for sharing images and visual content. You can also upload short videos. It tends to attract a younger demographic and is best suited to lifestyle and visual brands that can show off their products and services. Use relevant hashtags to expand your reach.

3. Twitter

Twitter is best for short-form content, tweets have a much shorter lifespan. You can use hashtags to reach new audiences and also find content relevant to your business. Twitter is good for showing your voice and really personalising your business, but it needs someone to have the time to constantly post tweets, retweets, and replies.

4. LinkedIn

If you are a B2B business, then LinkedIn is a great platform. It is mostly used by business professionals and is a good way to share industry or company news and promote your business.

Exhibition stand contractor Quadrant2Design has had a lot of success on LinkedIn. MD Alan Jenkins said ‘We find we get a lot of enquiries from businesses who have seen both our modular and hire stands which we share on LinkedIn. Pinterest is also a good way to show images of our projects’.

5. Pinterest

Pinterest is another image sharing platform. More than 400 million people use Pinterest every month to find ideas and inspire their next purchase. And 31% of millennials in the UK with a household income of over £100K are on Pinterest. People use it to find inspiration before making a purchase, so it is a great place to show photos of your products with links to your website. The ability to add links to your images, or pins, is what sets Pinterest apart from Instagram, making it a much more useful marketing tool.

6. Youtube

Video content is increasingly popular, in fact, as of 2022, an average person is predicted to spend 100 minutes per day watching online videos. Youtube is not only one of the biggest social media platforms it is also the second biggest search engine after Google. Use it to share webinars or videos about your products.

7. Tiktok

Tiktok is increasingly popular with the young, but it is also now attracting older audiences. With the popularity of video content, it is likely to continue to grow. Since its launch in 2016, TikTok has been downloaded over 2.6 billion times, and the brand estimates that it has 1 billion being active users per month. Tiktok content tends to be short videos accompanied to music. If your target audience is the younger generation, it is a great way to get your brand personality out there.

Here are some final pointers:

Go where your audience is, if you want to target 40 something professionals there is no point in spending a lot of time making videos for Tiktok.
Look at the user data for each platform – income, age, gender, interests etc.
If resources are limited, pick 2 or 3 platforms and target them well, there is no point in trying to spread yourself across every platform and not doing it properly.
Have a goal in mind for each platform you use, this will help focus your efforts.
Check out where your competition are, this will give you an idea of where to target for your own business.

Social media is not only a means of communication, the best social media platforms are becoming integrated with e-commerce. 2021 statistics from Tech.Co found that 55 percent of people had bought products via social media. So a social media strategy should form part of the marketing plan of any company. Just make sure you target the right platforms well, rather than trying to target all of the platforms badly.