Social Media For Business: A Breakdown of Each Platform
By Latisha S. | latisha@pancakedigitalsolutions.com
If you’ve ever found yourself overwhelmed and confused when it comes to using social media for your business, then you aren’t alone! With so many different platforms out there, it can become daunting trying to figure out how each platform works. Hopefully this list of social media for business a breakdown of each platform can shed some light on the functions of each platform and why that social media channel may or may not be right for your business.
Facebook is probably the most common, well-known social media platform on the market. And with good reason! One of thing that makes Facebook stand out is because there are so many good ways to connect with your audience.
Some ways that you can connect with your audience are:
- Personal Profile
- Business Page
- Groups
- Messenger *Please don’t spam people through messenger! Use well crafted messenger bots or build a connection with them one-on-one.
Most people are on Facebook, so it is typically beneficial for businesses to be present here.
Find out more about Facebook here.
Instagram is a branch of Facebook, but it has a completely different feel! It is more visually appealing and also a lot more inspiring than Facebook.
Instagram is where people go to be motivated and inspired by others beautiful “Instagram-worthy” photos. For example, these photos can be of amazing views around the world, your dog, you breaking a sweat during a good workout, or even a beautiful image of what you had for breakfast!
However, these put-together images are becoming less popular. People are growing tired of the “fake” feel of these photos. Users don’t feel that these images portray authentic, real-life situations. Because of this, users are craving to see the authentic side of people. They want to see your messy hair because the baby kept you up all night or your “not-so-chiseled” physique because you are HUMAN.
Instagram is a great place to share those authentic and raw highlights of your day, especially through their stories function.
Twitter is probably best known for it’s short little “tweets”. This microblogging platform is a great topic based network for businesses and brands to share about issues, news, or updates that are important to their companies mission.
You can really learn a lot about marketing by following some big brands on Twitter. One of my personal favorites is Wendy’s Twitter.
You can also follow relevant hashtags and tweets related to your industry and the interests of your ideal audience. This helps you stay on top of trends, news, and updates.
Find out if Twitter is right for your business here.
LinkedIn is an amazing networking platform for professionals and entrepreneurs to establish their reputation and credibility!
This professional social media platform is where you share about business, marketing, and social media trends relevant to your business and target audience. However, unlike Facebook, you won’t see as many selfies or photos of kids and families on LinkedIn (although those can still be used sparingly.)
Looking to improve your LinkedIn skills? Check out these 7 LinkedIn Strategy Tips here.
Now, let’s remember one thing about Pinterest…it is technically NOT a social media platform (for more info on that, click here).
Instead, Pinterest is a Visual search engine. However, I have listed it here because people tend to lump it together with the other social platforms.
Pinterest’s job is to act like the top of a funnel to send leads & traffic to your products and services. People go to Pinterest for inspiration and most importantly, an intention to purchase!
You can use Pinterest in a number of ways:
- Lead people to your Facebook group
- Lead people to your website
- Capture emails through a freebie
- Lead them to your Shopify or Etsy store
- Lead them to your Instagram or YouTube
To learn more about Pinterest check out our other Pinterest posts here.
TikTok
Ahh…TikTok. I’m sure that if you have teenagers, you have probably already heard of this insanely popular app!
But, what is it exactly?
TikTok is a video-sharing social app. It is used to create short lip-sync, comedy, and talent videos. So far it has mostly been used by kids ranging from 10 years old to early twenties.
However, it is starting to become popular for brands, businesses and marketers. Brands are starting to use TikTok’s paid advertisements to promote their products. And because of how easily videos go viral on this platform, influencers are rushing to it in hopes that they can gain massive followings and viral videos.
There is a lot that is yet to be discovered on TikTok. But, it is definitely an app to keep an eye on and play around with to see if you can tap into a new audience.
To learn more about how TikTok works, check out this blog
On the Table…
I hope this breakdown of the social media platforms has been helpful for you to understand the different platforms, their usage, and how they may or may not benefit your business.
For more on social media platforms, check out this blog post.
You can also join our free Facebook group, Marketing 4 Makers, for more social media & marketing tips!