How can you connect with your customers, build brand loyalty, boost your SEO, and drive more revenue with one platform? By jumping onto social media. When done right, social media can become your most lucrative marketing channel.
I do have to emphasise “when done right”. So many businesses jump on social media, put minimal effort into it, and give up when they don’t see any results. Social media can be a complex, and confusing beast, which is why it is understandable that many businesses give up after attempting to do it themselves. But when you do understand how it works and how you can be successful, the results are incredible.
The first step to understanding social media is choosing from its hundreds of possible platforms. Do you need to be on all of them? No. Not only will most platforms be irrelevant to your business, but also no one has the time to be on everything and be successful. So, let’s break down the best platforms for businesses, and the niches they target.
With over 1 billion active daily users, Facebook is your best general social media platform. It is generally a neutral space, where pretty much any business can find its audience. You can create a business page, build up content, and make some highly targeted paid ads to find and attract your niche.
The powerful analytics tools then give an insight into who your fans are, what their interests are, and the type of content they like. You can use this to hone your content, increase engagement, and increase your success on the platform.
While Facebook is a good platform for most businesses, it has become a bit of a “standard” platform. There is a lot of competition on Facebook. Users tend to only spend 10 minutes per day on average in the app, increasing competition for their attention. So, depending on your niche, you may find other platforms that allow you to better target your audience.
Talking about niches, Instagram is perfect for businesses that have a flair for the visual or are looking to target a younger generation. Instagram has gone all out on its eCommerce features, making it one of the best social media platforms for eCommerce businesses. The stories feature offers a powerful tool for businesses to post limited-time content that showcases their products, values, and voice.
But it doesn’t stop there. Many businesses outside of the eCommerce space also find success on Instagram. It is the perfect spot to showcase your brand, telling your audience who you are, what your story is, and what you value. Connecting with your customers in this way, over pure promotion, develops long-term connections, and builds a loyal fanbase.
At the end of the day, brand is what Instagram is about. The platform is set up around it, and the audience expects to connect with brands themselves, rather than what they sell.
Tik Tok
We all know about the dances and Gen Z culture that comes straight from Tik Tok, but did you know that Tik Tok is also an excellent platform for businesses? With over 2 billion app downloads and counting, this platform is huge. The secret sauce that makes Tik Tok an epic platform for businesses is the way it pushes content.
Tik Tok pushes lots of content to its users’ main feed, usually from accounts they don’t follow. Pushing content over profiles makes it unique from other platforms. You don’t have to follow people to get started. Just keep watching videos and the algorithm will know what you like. What this does for businesses is make it easier to reach a large audience and grow a following, as long as you post compelling content.
Much like Instagram, Tik Tok is very brand focused. Unlike Instagram, you don’t need to be as polished on Tik Tok. The key to success is showcasing the fun sides of your brand while being informative, and entertaining. Keep in mind that 41% of users on Tik Tok are aged between 16 and 24.
On the opposite end, we have a very different niched social media platform in LinkedIn. This platform is all about professionals, business owners, and career development. Which means that not only are you looking at a different audience, you are looking at an audience who will be in a professional mindset when using the platform.
You may have already guessed it, but if you are a b2b business then LinkedIn can be a very powerful platform. For businesses, it’s all about providing solutions, useful advice, the latest news, and sparking conversations.
LinkedIn has also transformed the way professionals seek new career opportunities. This makes LinkedIn an excellent place for those looking to recruit professionals. Post available jobs, and use the platform to highlight the career development that employees can expect in your business and you will attract great talent.
With over 1/3 of its users following companies, and 77% of its users finding new products while browsing, Pinterest has a lot of potential for businesses. On average Pinterest returns $4.10 for every $1 spent on the platform. It also can have a massive impact on your rankings in Google, with Pinterest results regularly popping up in Google searches.
The downside of Pinterest is that it is not suitable for every business. You need to be in a specific industry that thrives on the platform. Fashion, home design, renovation, travel, food and drink, and beauty all reign supreme on Pinterest. If you’re in one of these industries, then Pinterest is a must-have.
Snapchat
Snapchat is a very unique social media platform. What once started as a messaging app has since expanded to include stories, brand showcases, ads, filters, and much more. Despite being the 2nd most popular mobile app, and with over 4 billion snaps per day, a lot of businesses don’t quite get Snapchat.
We don’t blame them, Snapchat has carved itself a very specific niche. This is a platform loved by teenagers and young adults. So, if they’re your target market, then Snapchat is a platform that may pique your interest. The tools brands need to be aware of, and take advantage of are filters, stories, and paid Ads.
If you have a following on another platform, encouraging your fans to follow you on Snapchat will help you build your following and allow you to reach your audience. Create unique content only for Snapchat to encourage follows from your die-hard fans. Create filters (also known as lenses) that highlight your brand and encourage your audience to use them to generate UGC that raises awareness of your brand.
YouTube
YouTube is THE platform for sharing videos online. It has over 2 billion monthly users and many billions of hours of video. The platform itself prefers to think of itself as a kind of search engine/social media hybrid. Powered by Google’s search algorithm, YouTube makes it easy to find information and entertainment through its in-platform search.
Users are constantly looking to YouTube to learn new things, to be entertained, and to keep in touch with what is happening in the world. Because of this, YouTube is an incredibly powerful platform for businesses.
Businesses can use YouTube to upload video tutorials, showing how to use their products, or to provide a video that backs up their text-based blog. Or they can create longer-form content like informative podcasts, and more. This content can then be reused across other social media platforms to get more bang for your buck. It is important to note with YouTube that there are high expectations when it comes to the quality of a video, with higher quality content generating more clicks.
Twitter is a great platform for connecting with your customers directly. This is why it is extremely popular as a customer support platform for many different brands. It allows your customers to reach you directly, and for you to communicate straight back to them.
The trick to success on Twitter is to be active. This means that you need to pump out a lot of tweets each day. This can be difficult for many businesses to achieve at first. But, if you can keep up with the amount of tweeting needed, Twitter can be very useful for connecting with your audience and generating UGC.
Conclusion
Choosing the right social media platforms for your business and strategy is a vital component to your success in social media marketing in Brisbane. It is important that you work out which platforms fit your brand, products or services, and the amount of time you have available.
Another key aspect to success on social media is having an excellent strategy. Come have a chat with the marketing team at Link about your goals on social media.
