Years ago, being present on Facebook was pretty much enough to stay relevant or even get ahead of the competition, but nowadays, just being present doesn’t nearly cut it. You have to be on the right platform and armed with a strong marketing strategy. There are many more platforms than you might expect – Wikipedia lists dozens of major active social media sites in 2018. You just need to pick one single platform for your business and you can expand later if need be. Inevitably, this is going to be one of the most popular social media networks, but in order to make an informed decision, it’s important to have insight into what each one is best for and which audiences they work best with.

Set the grounds first

Before we delve into the most notable social media platforms for businesses, you want to establish the most important parameters of your social media marketing campaign. The answers to these two questions will be crucial to choosing a social media platform that’s right for your business:

• Who is your audience? Identify the demographics of both your current and target audience. When you have the answer to this question, you can match the traits to research data and find which platforms they use the most.

• What does your audience want? From exceptional customer service to establishing trusting relationships with brands, modern audiences have learned to expect a lot - and understanding how they expect to interact with you will help you choose the right platform.

Naturally, answering these questions requires professional research and data analysis, so dedicate some resources to hiring an agency to help you set the grounds. DesignRush is a helpful platform for business owners where you can use different filters and search options to choose the right digital agency. A reliable digital agency will analyze your target audience and its behavior on social media, which will not only lead you to the network that’s most used by them, but also help you establish an effective strategy for interacting with them.

Instagram

Instagram is the ideal platform if you’re targeting Millennials and seek high levels of engagement (it’s also dubbed “the Mecca of user-generated content”). This is where you can establish a strong brand identity and build a trusting relationship with your followers both through posting high-quality content and engaging with them actively. Be careful, however: expectations are high when it comes to the quality of content and it’s essentially a highly visual platform. If the visual medium suits your niche, you’ll be able to post engaging content that you can later repurpose for your website or other platforms.

Facebook

Speaking of repurposing, Facebook and Instagram can work great together, which you can use to your advantage to see which kinds of posts are truly the most effective. On its own, Facebook is great for tracking installs or purchases. The majority of it is dedicated to businesses and advertising and it’s a type of platform that you can use for posting useful content that’s more focused on the informative side. With Facebook’s changing algorithms, it’s especially important to consistently monitor how your efforts are faring.

Twitter

People use Twitter to stay up-to-date, and a brand can undoubtedly benefit from this type of medium. It caters to a wide range of audiences and brands can use it to portray their identity, but it’s really not the ideal platform if your primary goal is acquiring new customers. That being said, a startup or small business can’t rely on Twitter solely to harness the power of social media.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a very specific platform, and it’s rather underused by brands when you consider its amazing potential for selling and the fact they’ve rolled out buyable pins. The thing with Pinterest is that it’s an entirely visual platform – you’re not aiming for engagement or building relationships here. It relies on beautiful content and you can use promoted pins or collaborate with creators to post content that’s essentially showcasing your products. It’s the perfect platform for businesses within the fashion and lifestyle industry.

Snapchat

We’ll go right out with it: this is a platform better suited for bigger brands that are looking to stay relevant and engage younger audiences. Small businesses can’t get much from it, considering their main concern is ROI. If for some reason you fancy Snap, it can’t hurt to have it on the side while you focus your attention to another platform more suitable for a business on the rise. This is the top platform for ephemeral content so there’s basically no need for curating posts, and it can be put to good use if you want to post behind-the-scenes clips of your company’s day-to-day.   

You’re at the very beginning of your social media marketing endeavor, so tread carefully – it’s better to take the time to choose the right platform and establish your presence properly than to rush into things when your campaign is only getting on its feet. Hopefully, this guide helps, and once you’ve got that down, you’re ready to put your plan to action and harness the power of social media.