Which Social Media Platforms Will Work Best for Your Company

By Guest Author, Tori Green:

It’s 2019, and even the most stubborn of business owners now understand the importance of establishing a digital presence for their company on some sort of social media platform.

However, some companies try a little too hard, and they end up wearing themselves thin and burning out a bit. One of the most common mistakes that businesses make is to attempt to be on everything: SnapChat, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.

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This happens because many business owners simply aren’t sure which platform is right for their company, so they just decide to be “safe” and make an account for each outlet, and try to keep up with posting on all of them.

The problem with this plan is the content ends up suffering or posting halts altogether. It’s not easy to keep up with several social media accounts. There’s not enough time in the day for it, and it’s also almost impossible to create enough different content for each account.

Also, when you’re juggling several social media platforms, it can be hard to keep up with what’s working and what isn’t with each one.

So what’s a business owner to do?

The answer is to find one, two or possibly three social media outlets for your business, and focus on mastering those. But with all the options for social media, which do you choose? How do you know which one the majority of your audience uses, and which makes the most sense for what you’re selling?

In this article, the digital experts at Alecan Marketing in Los Angeles provide a breakdown of who is using what.

Snapchat

Monthly Users: 300 million

If you’re marketing to millennials, SnapChat should probably be one of the platforms you choose for your business—but only if you’re planning to post plenty of behind-the-scenes videos of your company, interviews or “unveiling videos” of new products and services. For example, if you have a makeup or fashion business, vape pens or essential oil diffusers, craft beer or whatever it may be, SnapChat is perfect to show off what’s going on in the office and what everyone is working on.

Roughly 70% of SnapChat’s users are female, and 78% are 18-24. So if you’re marketing to young women, SnapChat is probably a must for your business.

Twitter

Monthly Users: 326 million

Twitter is good for customer service, as many users will utilize Twitter as a platform for complaints or praise. They will call you out by name, and this outlet is great for business owners to provide explanations, apologies, and gratitude for compliments. If your business deals with a lot of customer service, Twitter may be ideal for you.

80% of Twitter’s users are affluent millennials, and so if you’re targeting this audience, Twitter should be considered.

Facebook

Monthly Users: 2.23 billion

Because Facebook remains the largest social media platform out there, it’s good for companies to set up a Facebook business page whether it’s maintained or not.

However, this page should either be completely maintained or not at all. It should either be a stand-alone page that contains business information only (hours, link to website and company bio) and no posts, or it should be updated daily. Anything in between is discouraged. If someone visits your Facebook business page and there are posts from six months ago, that’s not good. Completely minimal or totally utilized is best for Facebook.

Keep in mind that Facebook business page also establishes legitimacy and helps with SEO.

68% of American adults are Facebook users, with 58.3 million of them being between the ages of 25-34.

However, if your audience is in the age range of 18-24, you might want to save your energy for other platforms besides Facebook. The younger generation doesn’t seem to be as interested in Facebook as their older counterparts are.

Instagram

Monthly Users: 1 billion

Instagram is one of the leading social media platforms, with one billion users and 500 million of those checking their account every single day.

70% of Instagram users are under 35—and if you’re marketing to teens, Instagram is a must, as 72% of teens use Instagram every day.

With Instagram, however, there are some things to keep in mind. First of all, the platform has incorporated its own algorithm which can make it difficult for business owners to control who sees their content.

Furthermore, you cannot post clickable links on Instagram (outside of your bio) unless you have 10,000 followers. At the point that you gain that many followers, you are allowed to include clickable links in your Instagram stories.

No doubt Instagram has a powerful reach, but it has a few catches. Consider it, but double-check that it will work for you.

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Pinterest

Monthly Users: 250 million

If you’re targeting women and you’re selling something pretty or practical, Pinterest is a no-brainer. 81% of Pinterest users are female.

The image-based Pinterest allows users to collect photos from the Internet and keep them gathered in one place for mood boards, dream homes, fantasy vacations, online cookbooks, and much more.

If you have a salon, for example, make sure to take well-photographed shots of your clients’ hair. Upload these to Pinterest, and sit back and watch as they are re-pinned and shared to hundreds of Pinterest boards.

Pinterest is ideal for images of makeup, food, vacation destinations, tattoos, anything to do with weddings and events, florals, crafts and almost anything else you can think of.

YouTube

Monthly Users: 1.9 billion

Sometimes it’s good to go back to a classic. YouTube remains King of Online Videos, with 1.9 billion users per month and 30+ million daily.

If your company produces a lot of video content—whether it’s interviews, product demonstrations, events, leader speeches, behind-the-scenes with employees, conferences, business outings, company travels, whatever—YouTube is very important to have, and will put your services in front of a lot of eyes.

YouTube is also owned by Google, so being established on this platform is also helpful with SEO.

There you have it! Which one of these sounds best for your company? Weigh your pros and cons, figure it out, keep up with what’s new with your chosen outlet and master your social media. Good luck!