Today, it’s more important than ever to have a presence online, but which social media platform is right for you and your brand in a crowded marketplace? With so many to choose from, it can be a bit overwhelming when you’re starting out. But you don’t have to be on every single one – in fact spreading yourself too thin can be worse than have no social media presence at all.

Find what works best for your brand, and focus on quality content. It is far more important to be interesting and engaging online, than to churn out the same content over and over again using a  one-size-fits-all approach. How much more effective to craft content that takes each social media platform’s unique strengths and makes the most of them. Gets a like from us.

Think about who your target audience are and what content they are seeking. Check out your competition to see where they devote their attention, and use our guide below to work out which social media platform is right for you.

Facebook

Active users: Over 2.7 billion active users per month

  • Most well-known/popular
  • A great starting point – business pages can be used like a mini-website with many functions
  • Powerful targeting options
  • Group functionality allows you to build communities
  • Sponsored/paid posts available to reach out to new audiences
  • Great for sharing links to websites or news articles
  • Wide demographic – huge range of users from your teen, your Millennial and your nan.

Instagram

Active users: over 1 billion with 500 million people actively using Instagram Stories

  • Visually driven – photos and videos
  • Continual development from the platform for small businesses’ use.
  • Most popular amongst those aged 18-35

Twitter

Active users: over 300 million users

  • Public – tweets can be easily found on search engines
  • Good to show off customer service
  • Very fast-paced – great to keep on top of current trends and be quick to reply
  • 280 word character limit – short messages but good for sharing links
  • Most popular amongst those aged 18-49

Pinterest

Active users: over 250 million users per month

  • Visually driven – share images of products, recipes, how-to infographics etc.
  • Consists of boards with different themes to share images on
  • Most popular amongst females aged 20-40

Linkedin

Active users: over 260 million users per month

  • Great for building your professional network
  • Showcase your company’s values, mission and achievements
  • Get your product and services in front of your ideal buyers, either organically or through targeted options.

There are also many others including Snapchat as well as many more niche apps to try out. We recommend starting with just one and build up your online community on there – it’s much easier to build new followers on other sites once you have created a solid foundation and loyal following on one.

Of course, using a combination of these platforms give you variety and a wider reach. If that sounds a bit much for you, we can help with that too.