Engaging with new, current, and potential customers is greatly facilitated using social media. However, it is important to recognize that not all social media platforms offer the same benefits.
To establish an effective social media marketing strategy, it is essential to concentrate on the social channels that align most effectively with your brand. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and LinkedIn are examples of social media platforms that have proven to be advantageous for businesses.
For small businesses, the absence of a social media presence can result in missing out on substantial advantages for your brand. Social media proves to be a cost-effective and personalized approach to engaging with your customers, while also offering valuable insights into your brand.
In this blog, we will discuss how your small business can benefit from choosing the best social media platform and how digital marketing will help grow your small business.
The tricky question: which social media platform to choose?
Determining the optimal social media platform to use is a complex matter, as there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Numerous popular platforms are available for utilization.
The choice of the best social media platform will differ for each business, depending on factors such as:
- The nature of the products or services offered.
- The target audience.
- The versatility and suitability of the platform itself.
Popular Social Media Platforms to Drive Traffic to your Business
1. Facebook
Facebook, the largest social networking site, boasts a staggering monthly user base of nearly 3 billion people, accounting for approximately 37% of the world’s population.
When it comes to businesses, over 200 million, mostly small-scale enterprises, utilize the various tools offered by Facebook. Moreover, a substantial number of advertisers, totaling more than seven million, actively promote their businesses on this platform. This makes Facebook an appealing choice for those seeking to establish a social media presence.
One of the advantages of starting on Facebook is its user-friendly nature. Almost all types of content, such as text, images, videos, and Stories, work exceptionally well on this platform. However, it is important to note that the Facebook algorithm places a higher emphasis on digital marketing content that fosters conversations and meaningful interactions between individuals, particularly those originating from family and friends. Developing a social media marketing strategy around this is vital.
Who uses Facebook?
Approximately 68% of American adults indicate regular usage of Facebook, with 51% accessing the platform multiple times per day. Facebook users are evenly distributed across genders, and engagement tends to increase with age, particularly after reaching 40 years of age.
Why invest in Facebook?
Facebook is a community led platform and has an older audience, hence small business can focus on creating an online community around the brand is ideal.
2. YouTube
YouTube is an online platform where people can share and watch videos. YouTube users collectively spend a billion hours watching videos daily. In addition to being the second largest social media site, it is often regarded as the second largest search engine, just behind its parent company, Google.
If you employ videos to advertise your business, incorporating YouTube into your social media marketing strategy is highly recommended. To begin, you can create a YouTube channel specifically for your brand. To ensure that more people discover and view your videos, we suggest familiarizing yourself with YouTube SEO techniques or contemplating advertising on the platform to expand your audience reach.
Who uses YouTube?
Approximately 74% of American adults, particularly those in the 15 to 35 age range, regularly engage with YouTube. This popular platform exhibits widespread appeal across genders, although the user ratio leans slightly towards men with a ratio of 11 to 9 for men to women.
Why Invest in YouTube?
Any small business focusing on creating video content and integrating it into their social media marketing strategies. YouTube is the best choice if your target audiences are below the age of 50 regardless of the gender.
3. Instagram
Instagram serves as a valuable platform for presenting your products or services through visual means, utilizing photos or videos. Small businesses can share various forms of content, including photos, videos, stories, reels, live videos, and longer-form videos through IGTV using digital marketing tools.
For businesses, it is advantageous to create an Instagram business profile. This type of profile offers comprehensive analytics regarding your profile and posts, as well as the convenience of scheduling Instagram posts using third-party tools.
Moreover, Instagram proves to be an excellent platform for acquiring user-generated content from your audience, as users frequently share content and tag brands.
Since Instagram is a visually driven platform, brands can post great pictures of their products, use trends into their reels to attract attention. The page should have a cohesive theme and updating content regularly ensures visibility.
Who uses Instagram?
Influencers, artists, and small or large brands. The demographic is mostly concentrated on teens and young adults, especially in the United States. If your business focuses on customers under the age of 40, Instagram is the best bet.
You should prioritize Instagram within your content marketing strategy if your target audience is under the age of 40, and you run a lifestyle, e-commerce, or otherwise visuals-heavy business.
Why invest in Instagram?
Ideally any business can leverage the benefits of Instagram. However, if the target audience is under the age of 40 and prioritizes lifestyle, e-commerce, or other visually-focused business, this platform is the right choice.
4. TikTok
TikTok is an app that enables users to share short videos. Despite its relatively recent launch in 2017, it has swiftly become one of the fastest-growing applications worldwide. In fact, it has surpassed Google as the most visited internet site.
The unique feature of TikTok is that it allows users to create and share videos that range from 15 to 60 seconds in length. The app offers an extensive collection of sound effects, music snippets, and filters that enhance the videos and make them more captivating. Users can explore a wide variety of video content based on their interests, including lip-syncs, dancing, challenges, DIY tricks, and makeup tutorials.
It is worth noting that approximately 48% of TikTok users in the United States fall within the age range of 10 to 29. Therefore, if your target audience comprises young individuals, TikTok can serve as an excellent platform for your business and digital marketing will help boost these chances.
Who uses TikTok?
A significant portion of TikTok’s user base in the United States, more than half, consists of individuals under the age of 35. Specifically, 48% of American TikTok users fall within the age range of 10 to 29.
TikTok possesses an advantage in cultivating future content creators due to its accessibility to younger users, who can readily download and access the app compared to platforms like Facebook, which initially had age restrictions in place.
Why Invest in TikTok?
Create short and engaging videos combined with music and comedy. If the strategy is to reach a younger audience, ensure that the content is engaging and entertaining. Rather than being self-promotional, build a social media marketing strategy that prioritizes short and entertaining content to build you a loyal following.
5. Twitter
Twitter is a platform that attracts approximately 238 million monthly active users who enjoy sharing news, entertainment, sports, politics, and other topics. What sets Twitter apart from other social networking sites is its strong focus on real-time information—events and trends unfolding at the present moment—and the concise format of messages limited to just 280 characters (140 characters for Japanese, Korean, and Chinese languages).
Many brands utilize Twitter as an alternative customer service channel. In fact, according to advertisers on Twitter, over 80 percent of social customer service requests occur on this platform.
Who uses Twitter?
Within the Twitter user base, individuals aged between 35 and 65 comprise 63% of the users, with men accounting for nearly two-thirds of this demographic.
In the United States, there are approximately 81 million active Twitter users, which constitutes approximately one quarter of the nation’s population.
Why invest in Twitter?
Create a social media marketing strategy with digestible, bite size content and connect with the audience in real time. If your customer base is men between the ages of 30 to 50, Twitter is the choice. Generate content related to informational videos, opinion polls, and discussions
6. Pinterest
Pinterest serves as a convenient destination for finding inspiration and exploring fresh ideas and products. On this platform, users have the ability to “pin” photos that redirect to websites, product pages, blog posts, and various other content available on the internet. It proves to be an effective platform for directing traffic to your website, as Pinterest users are seven times more likely to make purchases of products they have pinned.
The platform is particularly popular for topics and themes such as fashion, beauty, home, garden, and do-it-yourself projects. Therefore, if your business operates within any of these industries, it is highly recommended to consider utilizing Pinterest in social media marketing to increase visibility and exposure for your business.
Who uses Pinterest?
Pinterest, with its impressive count of more than 433 million monthly active users, possesses a notably concentrated user base primarily composed of women compared to other social media platforms. Women constitute nearly 80% of Pinterest’s regular users, with a relatively balanced distribution across different age groups: 18-29 (32% of users), 30-49 (34% of users), and 50-69 (38% of users).
Why Invest in Pinterest?
Due to the platform’s layout, create a clear copy with great pictures, this will perform the best. If your target audience is adult women, and if the business focuses on lifestyle tips, fashion, DIYs, crafts, art and personal style, decorating, then this is the one.
7. LinkedIn
With a substantial user base of around 424 million monthly active users, LinkedIn has undergone a transformation from a basic job search engine and resume platform to a robust professional networking site.
It now serves as a platform where industry professionals can connect, share valuable content, and cultivate their personal brand.
Moreover, LinkedIn has emerged as a hub for businesses to showcase their expertise and thought leadership within their respective industries, while also attracting highly skilled individuals to join their teams.
Who uses LinkedIn?
The majority of LinkedIn’s user base, comprising approximately 60%, consists of adults aged 25 to 34. Among the users, 57% identify as men, while 43% identify as women. Notably, LinkedIn excels in B2B lead generation, making it a top choice for businesses to engage both with other brands and their target audience.
Why invest in LinkedIn?
If your goal is to connect with a community of business owners and expand your network to reach potential customers who are actively seeking new opportunities, incorporating LinkedIn into your brand marketing strategy is highly recommended. The platform offers a valuable space to foster professional relationships and tap into a customer base eager for fresh prospects.
8. Snapchat
Snapchat is a social media platform that primarily revolves around sharing photos and short videos called snaps, which are exchanged among friends.
It played a significant role in popularizing the vertical video format, which eventually spread to other platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.
However, the emergence of Instagram Stories has posed challenges to Snapchat’s growth and diminished marketers’ enthusiasm for utilizing Snapchat for brand promotion.
Despite these challenges, it is noteworthy that 69% of teenagers in the United States claim to use Snapchat.
Therefore, if your target audience primarily consists of teenagers, incorporating this app into your social media marketing strategy should be taken into consideration.
Who uses Snapchat?
Snapchat’s active user base consists of a significant proportion of adults aged 18 to 29, accounting for 65% of the total. These users contribute to the platform’s impressive daily video views, surpassing 14 billion.
The gender distribution among users leans slightly towards women, who represent a majority of 56% and access the app daily.
Why invest in Snapchat?
Video-driven storytelling is the platform’s strong point. If the social media marketing objective is to engage with a teenage and young adult demographic through concise video content, incorporating Snapchat into your brand strategy is essential.
Similar to TikTok, use digital marketing services cleverly and instead of solely focusing on promoting your products, aim to entertain the audience on Snapchat.
9. WhatsApp
WhatsApp, a widely utilized messaging app, boasts users across more than 180 countries. Originally employed for personal text messaging among family and friends, WhatsApp has since evolved to enable communication between individuals and businesses.
Through WhatsApp’s business platform, businesses can offer customer support and provide customers with updates related to their purchases. The WhatsApp Business app caters to the needs of small businesses, while the WhatsApp Business API serves enterprise-level businesses.
Who uses WhatsApp?
Typically, people between the age of 26-35 years olds with over 68.1 million users in the US.
Why Invest in WhatsApp?
Businesses can establish communication with users for marketing purposes, while users themselves can directly contact businesses using the WhatsApp application. Utilizing WhatsApp enables you to foster relationships, cultivate leads, and connect with your customers in a more personalized and cost-effective manner.
Furthermore, WhatsApp serves as an excellent tool for customer service, facilitating swift and efficient communication with your customers.
10. Reddit
Reddit, renowned for its upvoting feature, has earned the moniker “front page of the internet” due to its diverse range of content, including current events, celebrity “ask me anything” (AMA) sessions, and in-depth conversations on niche subjects.
Within Reddit, there are dedicated forums called subreddits that cater to a wide array of topics. However, it is important to note that different subreddits have varying levels of engagement.
It is beneficial to conduct research to identify popular subreddits that align with your brand. For instance, if you operate a gaming brand, you may consider joining the r/gaming subreddit.
It is crucial to be aware that most subreddits have strict rules against self-promotion. The main objective is to actively engage with members by asking and answering questions, sharing helpful tips and resources, and participating in discussions.
Who uses Reddit?
People between the ages of 20-29 use Reddit with 221.19 million users in the US.
Why invest in Reddit?
Reddit offers an excellent opportunity to foster community engagement and participate in targeted discussions.
As one of the most visited social media platforms, Reddit receives billions of monthly visits and hosts over 100,000 communities based on various interests.
The platform is renowned for its emphasis on authentic connections, with Redditors actively seeking out and participating in trustworthy conversations.
Even if you choose not to actively engage in discussions, simply listening to the conversations on Reddit can provide valuable insights to enhance your brand’s products and services.
11. Yelp
For any brand aiming to satisfy customers and foster brand advocacy, implementing an online review management strategy is imperative. Yelp offers notable advantages for businesses operating in sectors such as food and beverage, local services, nightlife, and entertainment.
The reviews posted on Yelp significantly impact customer sentiment towards a brand, encompassing both positive and negative aspects.
While no one welcomes criticism, negative reviews can serve as valuable insights for businesses to identify areas for improvement and capitalize on their strengths.
Moreover, being responsive and having a strong digital marketing strategy plays a crucial role, as 45% of consumers indicate a higher likelihood of visiting businesses that respond to negative reviews.
Who uses Yelp?
Users between the age of 35-54 with 19.6 million users worldwide.
Why invest in Yelp?
Yelp is a valuable platform for businesses to consider when implementing an online review management strategy. It plays a crucial role in fostering customer satisfaction and nurturing brand advocacy.
12. Quora
Quora serves as a community-driven platform, both in website and app form, where individuals can explore a diverse range of topics and find information. User-generated questions and answers on Quora are ranked based on metrics such as views, votes, reviews, and shares.
As a brand, engage in digital marketing and establish a presence on Quora by creating a dedicated page for your business or leveraging the expertise of employee advocates to respond to questions related to your products, services, or industry topics.
Quora also offers an advertising platform that allows you to promote your business. Notably, with 63% of users conducting research for significant online purchases, Quora provides an excellent avenue to connect with customers actively seeking products or services.
Who uses Quora?
It has over 500 million monthly active users
Why invest in Quora?
Quora is a platform where users can ask questions and receive answers from other users.
It is recommended to monitor Quora as people frequently seek advice on various topics, including products, brands, experiences, and individuals.
Being prepared to engage and respond to brand-related questions can be valuable on this platform.
13. Tumblr
Tumblr, a thriving platform, nurtures boundless creativity with a staggering number of over 518.7 million blogs generating 12.8 million posts every day. Brands can unleash their imaginative potential on Tumblr through an array of content formats, encompassing text posts, photos, videos, and even audio content. Moreover, brands can harness the platform’s potential to connect with their desired audience by targeting users based on demographic factors like location and interests. Notably, Tumblr’s popularity is soaring among the younger generation, with an impressive 48% of its audience composed of Gen-Z individuals.
Who uses Tumblr?
There are 29.4 million active users on Tumblr between the ages of 18-25.
Why should you invest in Tumblr?
If your business focuses on entertainment topics, creating a digital marketing strategy to cater to this young demographic is a good choice.
14. Tripadvisor
When it comes to travel and hospitality brands, Tripadvisor holds significant importance as a review site. It stands out as one of the most widely-used travel review websites in the United States, with approximately 12% of hotel or private accommodation bookings made by US consumers being facilitated through Tripadvisor.
Essentially, this review platform represents a crucial opportunity for businesses to sway travelers in favor of their services instead of competitors’.
By diligently maintaining their Tripadvisor profile, brands can position themselves favorably to provide travelers with the necessary information to make well-informed decisions.
Given the ongoing growth and challenges in the travel industry, now is an opportune time for brands to reassess and reinvigorate their Tripadvisor strategies.
Who uses Tripadvisor?
With average monthly visitors up-to 463 million and generated 68% of total traffic in May 2022, this platform is the best choice for maintaining a good image of the brand.
Why Invest in Tripadvisor?
Small businesses involved in the tourism industry, including accommodation providers, transportation services, and destination experiences, having a presence on Tripadvisor is essential.
15. Telegram
Telegram, a messaging app established in 2013, emerged as a privacy-focused alternative to larger platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
Through Telegram, users can communicate via chats and exchange files, photos, videos, and more. Group chats on Telegram can accommodate up to 200,000 individuals, while public Telegram channels can amass millions of followers.
The popularity of Telegram has surged in recent years, with a current user base of 550 million monthly active users. Additionally, in December 2022, the platform surpassed 1 million premium subscribers. Notably,
In October 2021, Telegram introduced advertising to its platform. Advertisements are restricted to public channels, and Telegram has committed to safeguarding personal data and refraining from tracking users’ ad clicks.
Who uses Telegram?
It has over 700 million monthly active users.
Why Invest in Telegram?
Rather than targeting specific user demographics or interests, advertisers can select the topics, channels, and languages for their ads.
With the support of digital marketing, brands, especially small businesses, engage with audiences organically by establishing public channels or creating chatbots to assist customers.
Conclusion
The following compilation showcases the leading social media platforms in 2023, highlighting the primary online destinations for internet users. This information offers small business owners a valuable chance to connect with their customers in the digital realm.
By capitalizing on these platforms and developing strong digital marketing strategies , businesses can enhance their ability to reach their desired audience, achieve marketing goals, and effectively convert leads into sales.
Salt Marketing is an agency that houses a dedicated team of marketing specialists proficient in leveraging these platforms along with website development, SEO services, and website auditing. Our team stays abreast of the latest trends and optimal strategies in social media marketing to ensure we deliver the desired outcomes you seek.
Harnessing the power of social media, your business has the opportunity to experience unprecedented growth.
Are you prepared to attract a larger customer base through the most effective social media platforms for businesses? Reach out to us, fill out the contact information and together we can devise a tailored strategy that aligns with your business goals!
