An In-Depth Look at the Best Social Media Platforms for Businesses

In a time where social media is at the center of day-to-day life, your business would be amiss not to tap into the countless benefits that come from it. Getting started can be a bit daunting; however, once you learn more about the best social media platforms for businesses, you’ll question why you didn’t start sooner.

Which Social Media Platform Is Right for Your Business?

Social media leads to more brand awareness from your target audience, and it can increase customer retention. It also allows you to connect directly with your customers, building a greater sense of trust and a more significant emotional investment.

Due to the seemingly unlimited number of social media platforms available, it can be challenging to decide which ones are right for your business. We’re here to help you break it down.

Facebook

Facebook is where individuals go to connect with their personal networks. This platform is popular for sharing in-depth content, so you should use Facebook if you feel that your business would benefit from these styles of posts. It’s important to note that more text-heavy posts often have higher engagement rates.

Facebook offers Business Suite, making it easier for marketers to manage posts, ads, and pages. From there, you can also create more targeted Facebook ads through Ads Manager and reach a more specific audience.

With it being one of the largest social platforms and a place with high audience engagement, Facebook is generally a must for most businesses. Adults make up the largest demographic on Facebook, with 69% of U.S. adults being active users. While it does attract the attention of younger generations as well, Facebook is not the most popular platform among teens. If you are looking to attract the attention of this crowd, Instagram and Twitter are two options for your business.

Instagram

Instagram is a more aesthetic version of Facebook. The platform allows for easy access to photo and video sharing. To hold their audience’s attention, brands rely on eye-catching visual content as a source of information. While it is always good to add an engaging caption, you want to be aware of its length.

Starting with pictures only, Instagram has evolved to be a platform that also hosts videos and even a digital marketplace. Instagram’s video content feature is nice because it allows you to post live videos, Instagram stories, IGTV’s, and short videos.

A pull for many is the artistic creativity that Instagram encourages. Perhaps due to the added graphic design element, Instagram is popular with teens and adults alike. Not only is it user-friendly, but it also allows for dynamic interactions between audiences and businesses.

While usability is one of Instagram’s fortes, it is harder to get recognition through the app. To reach a large audience, you must follow an aggressive posting schedule to maintain audience engagement.

Instagram is an excellent medium for teens and adults alike and one that, at times, can bring the two together. Instagram presents the unique quality of enhancing unity and creativity while also providing space for discourse and connection.

Twitter

If you are looking to get your audience’s attention in 280 characters or less, Twitter is the place for you. Twitter is a platform that allows for real-time thoughts, ideas, opinions, and news. It has created a space to incorporate easily digestible, candid content amidst a more professional world. Like Instagram, Twitter has the attention of younger generations, along with adults. It is a community of witty, sarcastic, straight-shooters looking for reciprocal actions from the platform’s businesses.

When using Twitter, the benefits come through more as engagement and brand awareness instead of direct sales. While ads still find success on Twitter, they are directed towards discourse, communication, and quick, accessible information.

The more candid nature of the platform provides a unique opportunity for authenticity between business and customer. Many find posting on Twitter to be a breeze. Sometimes trouble can occur when “retweeting” or “quoting,” but like all social media platforms, once you get the hang of it, you’ll never look back.

While not all businesses find Twitter to be essential, the ones that take advantage of the 280 characters find their connections with customers and audience members to be more authentic and valuable to their success.

LinkedIn

It’s easy to get lost in the different platforms as a business owner if you are looking to connect with other companies. This is where LinkedIn shines. LinkedIn is a great marketing tool to promote your business among a user base looking to form B2B connections. It is also a place to highlight industry news, trends, reports, and other social media content that might be too professional for other social media sites.

Bottom line: if your business is not using social media platforms, it’s time to get started. Social media sites are the go-to platforms for marketers, influencers, and consumers to connect, engage, and buy. Large businesses and small businesses alike should take advantage of the benefits of using social media platforms, as they are the central hub for communications these days. If you are interested in creating a social media strategy for your business, contact us to learn more about our services.