The Benefits of Different Social Media Channels
When creating a social media channel to market your business, it’s important to consider which ones will benefit you and most importantly your time! There’s nothing worse than spending all your energy growing a platform, only to realise that the people seeing your content aren’t your target audience.
Social media is a great place to begin marketing your business. Unless you are paying for advertisements or subscriptions, it’s free to use. For the majority of people, we treat social media like a search engine – similar to Google. Being able to quickly look over and see what it is your business can provide is essential. You should make sure that you are showcasing your work, things that make you stand out from competitors, and how to contact you.
Each social media platform can provide different outcomes for your business, so let’s take a closer look at the top social media platforms and the benefits of each:
Using Instagram for my business
Kicking it off with Instagram – the Frankenstein’s monster of social platforms! This is because Instagram has taken elements from other platforms over the years: Instagram Stories (Snapchat), Instagram Reels (TikTok), Instagram Shopping (Amazon), 10-minute videos (YouTube), and now… Threads (Twitter). The one feature it hasn’t taken however is links in captions. To combat this issue, a lot of businesses choose to create a Link.tree account which allows you to list multiple links all in one place which is then hosted on the user’s bio. For many businesses, this is typically the first social platform they create as it has 2 billion monthly users, ranking it as the 4th most popular social network.
Promoting a business with Facebook
Part of the “Metaverse”, Facebook became the largest social network in the world, with over 3 billion monthly users. First launched in February 2004, Facebook is popular amongst friends and families. That’s not to say that it can’t be used for business. Facebook offers the Meta Business Suite where you can stay up to date with notifications, inbox messages, insights, and ads across both Facebook and Instagram. You are also able to join groups to network and share posts with other like-minded people.
Growing a business with LinkedIn
Perfect for growing your network, LinkedIn is a platform where you can market B2B (business to business). Different to the rest of the platforms on this list, LinkedIn is one where you are able to connect with other people in business compared to the consumer (B2C). Maybe you’re the owner of a coffee brand and want to connect with a local café to collaborate – LinkedIn is the ideal place to do this. This platform also allows you to create a profile with your job title, experience, workplace, share posts from your website, reshare others post with your own thoughts, and so much more.
Utilising X (formally Twitter) for a business
A feature of X that separates it from the rest is the character limit per post. Tweets can contain up to 280 characters – but that’s not to say there aren’t ways around this. Most people when posting content over this limit choose to either create “threads” (no, not Instagram’s Threads!) where you continue the rest in the comment section of the post, or, for a fee of £5.99 a month, you can subscribe to X Premium and reap the benefits of a verification tick, reduced ads, 25,000 character posts, edit posts, and other functionalities to improve user experience. With approximately 335 million users per month (a large decline over the years), this is a platform which you may want to further consider how it would benefit your own business.
Informative videos for a business on YouTube
The world’s largest video-sharing platform which has revolutionised how we consume and create content has been up for debate on whether it is considered a social media channel. One of the main things to be considered a form of social media is the community aspect. YouTube allows users to like, share and comment under videos and allows creators to upload videos, from YouTube shorts (15 seconds) to the longest YouTube video (596.5 hours). From “Get Ready with Me” videos by rising influencers to “How to …” videos from businesses promoting their products, there are so many possibilities with the content you are able to create for your business, no matter the industry you are in.
Short-form business content on TikTok
What was once an app used to showcase the latest dance craves has since overtaken other platforms and now has one billion monthly users. In terms of the demographic, it is widely used by both males and females, as well as people ranging from 13 to 65+. During the pandemic, we saw an increase with brands using TikTok to create funny, shortform content that related to their audience. Since this rise, other brands began to hop on this trend to not only do the same, but also to share the process of making products, call to actions with how they can help you and provide a service. In recent years, they have made a feature called ‘TikTok Shop’, where you can buy, sell, and discover through livestreams or on the For You Page (FYP), all without leaving the app.
Making the most of Pinterest for a business
An unlikely social media platform, however, it is one that has been used by many businesses over the years. For most of us, we scroll through Pinterest for inspiration whether that’s hairstyles, home decor, or DIY projects to pin to our boards, which makes perfect sense as to why businesses advertise on there. According to Pinterest itself, shoppers spend 2x more per month than people on other platforms. This is because advertisers are using ads to reach people who are already towards the end of the customer journey and are ready to buy. Whilst it may not be the platform for all industries, it is perfect for those particularly in the services sector.
Building a business presence on Threads
The newest of all social media platforms, Threads, was first launched in 2023 as a rival to X. Built by the Instagram team, it is a way to share text only posts, which has never been an option on Instagram. It offers a separate space for real-time updates and public conversations for both creators and casual posters. Whilst back when it was first announced there was an initial boom of people running over to check it out – specifically social media managers and the memes surrounding a new channel to manage – it has since quietened down, with under 100 million monthly active users.