In the modern business world, a strong online presence is something no business can easily do without.
But, aside from being the main way people nowadays look for businesses, the online realm is also where your competitors are playing their strongest game.
Needless to say, unless you find a way to beat your competition to the main prize, you simply can’t hope of reaching success.
Now, since the online world is such a vast place, finding out when and how to build your presence may seem a bit daunting.
Do you go for SEO or focus on PPC? Do you focus solely on email marketing, or do you dare explore the world of social media marketing?
Simply put, there’s no easy answer to these questions. In short, all of these digital marketing channels will bring positives to your business. The true question is – which of them should you mostly focus your efforts on?
Considering that nearly 70% of online shoppers use social media to find what they’re looking for, the answer becomes somewhat obvious.
That being said, let’s explore some of the top social media channels every business should start paying more attention to.
How to choose the right social media channel for your business?
As a rule of thumb, you shouldn’t stretch your efforts too thin and build a presence on all social media channels. Instead, you should focus on finding out which social media platforms would benefit your business the most.
For instance, it won’t really make much sense to focus on building up your social media presence on platforms that are not heavily inhibited by your target audience. So, if your target demographic prefers Instagram, there’s little to no point trying to establish a strong presence on Twitter.
With that in mind, you will need to do a lot of research to be able to determine which social media channel is actually the best one for your business.
What social media channels are mostly frequented by your audience?
Before you focus on building a strong social media presence on a particular platform, you first need to ensure you’re in the right place.
As mentioned previously, you need to define your target audience first, to be able to determine your course of action. If, for instance, your audience vibes more with concise content, there’s really no point in trying to reach them on platforms that favor lengthier posts.
So, to begin building your presence on social media, you first need to understand which channels to focus on. Therefore, try to determine your target audience as closely as possible.
See which demographic they fall into and which type of content they respond to the most.
Once you figure that out, it will be much easier to determine the right social media platform for your business.
But make sure you stay consistent with your branding efforts on social media. If managing your social media presence seems daunting, consider relying on a reputable design agency in Chicago to help you out.
The key to building a strong internet presence lies in consistency, so make sure you don’t forget this crucial aspect.
What do your social media goals look like?
If you’ve determined your target audience and the social media platforms they seem to prefer over others, you may think it’s now the time to start posting. However, that’s unfortunately not the case still.
Instead, you’ll also need to do some more research and think about what your social media goals look like.
Every business, no matter how big or small, needs to define its goals.
Defining a goal doesn’t simply boil down to stating what you wish to achieve. So, for instance, if your only goal is to reach success, chances are it won’t really get you far. Instead, you need to set quantifiable goals and create a plan for how you intend on reaching them.
The same goes for your social media campaigns. The clearer you define what you want to achieve, the easier it will be to actually achieve it.
Therefore, make sure you clearly define your social media goals, as well as all the milestones you expect to face and how you intend to overcome them so that you can easily develop a failproof social media campaign.
In order to be able to do this right, you need to ask yourself this: “What am I trying to achieve with my social media efforts”?
The answers to this question can be plentiful, which is why you’ll need to:
- Use well-established platforms – if you want to increase brand awareness
- Use targeted platforms for specific purposes – LinkedIn for B2B marketing, for instance
- Rely on visual channels – if you simply want to sell a product
… and so on. The answers will vary depending on your goals.
Where are your competitors?
The next thing you need to consider before you further develop your strategies is which social media platforms are dominated by your competition.
By understanding which social media platforms are most commonly used by your competitors and why, you’ll be able to more easily pinpoint the ones that are more suited for your business and brand, in particular.
Aside from this, you can also seek the help of a reputable PPC agency that can easily help you determine your strong points against your competitors and use them to your advantage.
Do you have enough resources at your disposal?
And finally, before you decide on a particular social media channel, do know how many resources you have at your disposal.
In order to do this right, you first need to determine what your social media budget is. After that, see how many platforms and channels you can afford to manage simultaneously, without any issues.
On top of that, see if you have the right talent within your operation that can easily handle this properly. If not, that’s another point you’ll need to add to your overall budget.
With that said, let’s explore some of the trending social media channels.
Different types of social media channels and the types of content they favor
As previously mentioned, not all social media channels favor the same type of content. That’s why you need to determine the right ones for your business and start producing content your audience will best respond to.
With more than two billion active users, it’s safe to say that Facebook is probably one of today’s biggest social media platforms.
One of the reasons Facebook made it to this list – aside from the sheer volume of traffic it experiences daily – is the fact that it’s super easy to get started on this platform.
With more than seven million businesses currently advertising on Facebook, it becomes more than apparent why you should keep this social media giant in mind.
However, if your target demographic is not heavily present on this platform, you will probably be better off exploring some other channels instead.
Instagram is another widely-used social media platform perfect for business promotion.
With more than 1 billion monthly users, Instagram offers a great opportunity for businesses to reach out and connect with their target audience.
Photos, videos, stories and live videos are just some of the content forms you can opt for if you decide to use Instagram, which leaves more than plenty of room for creativity.
As a business, you can easily create a business Instagram page where you will advertise your products and connect with your audience, which will grant invaluable insight into your customer behavior.
TikTok
TikTok is an up-and-coming social media platform that’s mostly frequented by a younger audience.
Well over 500 million active users browse this social media channel daily in search of not just good fun but some interesting brands as well.
So, if your business has a thing or two to offer to this demographic, make sure you check TikTok out.
YouTube
With 1.9 million active users, YouTube is arguably the most popular video platform out there.
Any business, no matter how big or small, can easily rely on YouTube to promote its products or services.
Even if you don’t choose YouTube as your main social media platform, you can still rely on this platform to bring more reputation to your business and offer greater value to your audience.
Last but not least, LinkedIn is a great social media channel, particularly when B2B promotion is concerned.
With more than 294 million active users, LinkedIn has already proved to be an invaluable tool when connecting to various professionals is concerned.
So, no matter if you’re looking to connect with other businesses or you’re simply looking to promote your endeavor in hopes of reaching additional talent, LinkedIn may be the perfect choice for you.
So, if you’re looking to expand your reach and establish a strong presence on some of the most popular social media channels, make sure you check out these five first.
But before you do so, make sure you do your research and find out which platforms you should mostly focus your efforts on.
Ellie Northcott is a long-time marketer, currently working as a freelancer in Miami, Florida.
Editor at Digital Strategy One.
She is also a passionate writer and loves to explore new, innovative and digital news.
In her spare time, she is an eco-activist.
