Choosing social media platforms for business

Social media is an excellent way for small businesses to market themselves. But, in 2022, there are so many platforms that it can be hard to tell which you should use. Let’s explore the four big social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.

For all of the platforms, businesses can create a business profile. Business profiles allow you to view insights about your account and pay for promoted ads. However, the audience and style of content can vary between apps. Looking at each platform’s strengths and weaknesses will help you decide which one you should use for your business.

Facebook

Facebook is the largest social media platform globally, with 2.9 billion users. Of those users, 1.9 billion are active every day. This makes Facebook a good choice for reaching a large audience. 

Something unique to Facebook is the ability for customers to leave reviews directly on your pages. Viewers can then see the reviews as they browse your page.

Businesses can also join pages to connect them with the local community and keep up-to-date on local happenings. You can list products on Facebook Marketplace, which reaches customers worldwide. This feature is helpful if you sell tangible goods, such as clothing, but not necessary if you sell services, such as medical care. 

Instagram

Facebook owns Instagram, so businesses can schedule posts for both platforms simultaneously. Unlike Facebook, though, customers cannot leave reviews on Instagram. There is an Instagram marketplace, though, that reaches users worldwide.

Your followers can be reached through the home page, while you can reach new audiences through the explore page. This makes it a good balance for businesses wanting to connect with their existing audience while still growing their following. 

Twitter

Tweets are short and sweet; the maximum character count is 280. Posts are shown directly to your followers. This seems like a given, but many other social media platforms require engagement with your post to boost it to your audience. On Twitter, posts are shown to your followers regardless. This is often a benefit, but your tweets might get lost if your followers also follow hundreds of other accounts.

Additionally, Twitter is known for rapid changes and a harsh user base. As a result, businesses will have to be careful on the platform to maintain a good reputation with customers and keep up with the trends.

TikTok

TikTok is unique in that you can only post videos. This might seem limiting at first, but there are actually many ways to create useful, engaging content on the platform. And you can make short videos to entice your customers or long videos to educate your customers.

Because of the TikTok algorithm, which chooses which videos to promote, the platform can be an easy way to reach new audiences. There are many ways for customers to engage with your content, such as duets, comments, likes, and shares.

TikTok is also the fastest-growing social media platform, so now is a great time to start one for your business.

Using social media for marketing can be a bit confusing at first. You might have trouble figuring out what to post or what platform is best for your business. If that’s the case for you, we can help. Reach out to us to see how we can help make your marketing strategy simple.