Top 7 Social Media Platforms
Social media is everywhere. How often do you hear or read the words: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and so on? If you live in a city, watch TV, listen to the radio, or go online then you’ve probably heard at least one of these words so far today. As a business owner, it is our job to figure out which social media platforms pack the most punch and reaches the best audience for us. Today, I want to provide you with a quick rundown on the top social media platforms currently available, to hopefully shed some light.
Facebook: The first, and perhaps most obvious one of the bunch is Facebook. Facebook is currently the TOP performing social media platform with millions of users logging in daily. But, here’s the trick, Facebook is actually not the best platform for every business! We hear about Facebook all-the-time as it is so popular, but not every business that signs up on Facebook benefits.
Twitter: The second most popular platform (at the moment) is Twitter. Twitter has a unique spin giving users the ability to provide quick “blurbs” for their fans. As these blurbs are limited to under 200 characters, not everyone enjoys Twitter. Currently, Twitter’s fan base tend to be users over 25, so if your business is targeting a much younger demographic you may not get as much benefit using Twitter. Don’t be confused though, while the majority of their users are older, younger users still long in daily.
Instagram: A newer player in the field, Instagram has quickly risen to the top. Social media platforms that utilize images have become huge lately, and Instagram offers something unique: it’s mobile! In fact, users can only upload images via a mobile device. This means the users most frequently using Instagram are on-the-go.
YouTube: YouTube has been around for quite some time, but it’s still a top contender. Many videos that become “viral” do so because of the millions of users on YouTube. Best of all, YouTube is an excellent way to reach both a younger and older demographic. Videos (and video blogs) have become HUGE hits lately, and it is very possible to become an overnight success using YouTube (although, the chance of this happening is pretty low – it all goes back to content!).
Tumblr: Have you heard of this new platform on the streets? Yep, it’s all the rage for the younger demographic. Tumblr has quickly risen to the top for those under the age of 30. It gives users the ability to blog, share images, post videos, and connect. This is a great platform to use if you are targeting a younger audience – plus, the blog feature and ability to link to a custom URL are great options to use.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn is currently an underdog of sorts. It is a powerful platform, but it’s ability is limited and it’s demographic is more geared towards the professional. This is good for businesses who are targeting professionals (such as law firms, private practices, legal, marketing, hospitals, and even other businesses similar to yours).
Pinterest: Last, but certainly not least, we’ve got Pinterest. Pinterest is a “pinning” social media platform where users can “pin” their favorite images, recipes, products, and blog posts to a virtual board that is then shared to followers. Pinterest is a great platform to help spread products and services via “word-of-mouth.” Pinterest has a very unique feature that is great for businesses selling products: it has the ability to notify it’s users of a sale! This reason alone helped increase sales for many businesses in 2013 on Black Friday and Cyber Monday!
There you have it! These are certainly not the only social media platforms currently available, but they are the most used ones that are great for businesses!
Have a great day,
Aly
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