As an entrepreneur or business owner, you know you need a presence on one or more social media platforms.
You know your customers, true fans and approximately 4.59 billion people worldwide have social media accounts.
In short, you know your business needs social media marketing.
Thankfully, you don’t need to be familiar with all social media platforms. You only need to know the ones that can benefit your brand the most…
The ones where your target audience is most active, where you’ll get the greatest visibility and furthest reach and where your brand and offerings can shine brightest.
In this post, we’ll go over the 8 social media platforms we believe every entrepreneur should know — so you can decide which ones are right for you.
Let’s dive in!
The Top Social Media Platforms to Consider for Your Brand in 2023
1. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a social networking site for professionals.
It’s called “the world’s largest professional community” — because it helps you grow your network, build your resume and find employment.
LinkedIn has over 900 million global members and lists over 58 million companies, so it’s an excellent resource for entrepreneurs building recognition in their industry.
You’ll do especially well on LinkedIn if you’re a B2B marketer. Approximately 40% of B2B marketers say LinkedIn is the top channel for driving high-quality leads because of its reputation as the top social media channel for B2B digital marketing.
To get started on LinkedIn, you should:
- Complete your business profile and add links in it to all your websites, blogs and shops.
- Import your contacts list and connect with those people through the platform.
- Follow the people and businesses you hope to work with in the future.
- Watch your news feed for posts you can share or comment threads you can contribute meaningfully to.
Engagement on this social networking platform focuses on industry-related topics and professional experiences.
Networking efforts as an entrepreneur could lead to partnerships, collaborations or talent acquisition.
LinkedIn’s host of business solutions include:
- Ad Targeting options
- Sponsored Content
- Text Ads
- Dynamic Ads
- Sponsored Messaging
- Campaign Manager
- LinkedIn Pages
- Sales Navigator
- LinkedIn Audience Network
- Reporting and Analytics
Add the Follow Company Plugin to your website and drive visitors to your LinkedIn page when they click the Follow button.
Further reading: 15 LinkedIn Marketing Hacks to Grow Your Business
2. Reddit
Reddit is the self-proclaimed “front page of the Internet.”
People worldwide use it to share social news and entertainment content from across the Internet.
Users post content in over 100,000 dedicated sub-forums called subreddits, then other users can comment, share and either upvote or downvote the post.
With all the different subreddits, you can enter the scene with virtually any niche. But some topics and posts see more activity than others, so be sure to determine whether your niche resonates on Reddit before joining.
Reddit boasts some impressive stats too:
- Over 430 million MAUs (monthly active users)
- Over 52 million DAUs (daily active users)
- Primary audience between 18 and 34 years old
Reddit offers paid ads and advertising resources, but building rapport first is crucial.
Blatant advertising and self-promotion are frowned upon, but you can still reap marketing benefits and raise brand awareness by prioritizing engagement.
For example, if a Redditor post a question related to your niche and expertise, providing a helpful, thorough response will help you gain credibility and upvotes in the community.
Further reading: Everything Our Paid Team Learned From Attempting a Reddit Advertising Strategy
3. Facebook
Facebook is the reigning king of all social media platforms. With 2.96 billion MAUs and 1.88 billion DAUs as of December 2022, it’s the largest social media network in the world.
To put that into perspective, that’s over one-third of the global population!
With that kind of reach, having a Facebook presence can benefit businesses in any industry. And Facebook offers many opportunities for businesses to engage with their audience, including:
- Post comments
- Public or private groups
- Messenger
- Facebook Live
- Events
- Facebook Ads
Ads Manager helps you create and monitor each Facebook ad. You can format ads as either a single image or a slideshow of images, and create video ads by turning a video into a story ad or by boosting a video post.
And with these additional business services, Facebook can also help you find your target audience, build an email list and attract new customers:
- Advanced targeted advertising – Get your ads in front of the right eyes.
- Analytics – Evaluate your business profile, content performance and each marketing campaign.
- Tracking Pixels – Add these to your websites and any pop-up campaigns to measure activity. They let you:
- Reach people most likely to buy your products or services.
- Reconnect with pass-through visitors to your website.
- Discover new customers that resemble your existing ones by specific criteria.
Further reading: Facebook for Business: Everything You Need to Know
4. Twitter
Twitter is a microblogging social media site that emphasizes short, digestible content, real-time entertainment and immediate reactions.
Now owned by Elon Musk, it has 436 million MAUs and 238 million DAUs, and its users are highly engaged — perfect for increasing your follower count.
Strategize your Twitter activity by:
- scheduling your tweets
- planning multiple daily tweets
- monitoring activity closely and replying promptly
Connect directly with customers and influencers who can help promote your brand. Middle-aged adults — mostly men — are the largest group using Twitter, so focusing your presence on this platform is perfect if they’re your key demographic.
Twitter’s advanced search function is a useful tool for market research… you can discover trending hashtags and topics, find popular influencers in your industry and glean insights on new ideas.
You can engage in targeted advertising using hashtags and @mentions. Click To Tweet buttons allow you to easily share content and track performance over time.
Twitter ads offer 20+ product options, targeting tools and analytics. Business Insights offers personalized advice based on the performance data from your page.
And Twitter is a great customer service solution… your customer support Twitter strategy can include:
- Concise, focused replies to inquiries due to the 280-character limit boost efficiency.
- Quick, almost real-time interactions with customers feel more conversational.
- Public answers to inquiries address issues for multiple people at once.
- Public replies show everyone the responsiveness, knowledge and humanity of your support team.
Further reading: Getting started on Twitter: A 101 guide for brands
5. TikTok
Launched in 2016, TikTok is the fastest-growing social media app worldwide. It’s one of the most downloaded apps in over 40 countries, with audiences in over 20 regions.
This platform allows you to showcase your brand’s creativity, passion and personality using short-form video sharing.
Users record, edit and post quick videos, often set to music… and then other users like, comment, share and make their own videos using your music or content.
TikTok has over 1 billion MAUs with extremely high engagement. This presents a huge opportunity for growing your followers and increasing your reach.
The user base is young, mostly under 35 years old. 25% of users are teens, while 22.4% are in their 20’s.
Business accounts receive real-time performance tracking, engagement solutions and creative post formats. Use Ads Manager to build and manage each marketing campaign and enable ad tracking.
Advertising options on TikTok include:
- Branded Hashtag Challenge: Create a hashtag campaign lasting 3-6 days. Then users create content based on your campaign theme and using your hashtag.
- Branded Effects: Create shareable stickers, filters and special effects customized to your brand.
- TopView: Record a video ad lasting up to 6 seconds. It’ll show as a full-screen ad with autoplay and sound, uninterrupted by any other feed content.
- Brand Takeover: Post a full-screen dynamic or static display of your brand visual.
- In-Feed Ads: Integrate a video ad with autoplay and sound, lasting up to 60 seconds max, into the user’s “For You” feed.
Further reading: A Beginner’s Guide to Using TikTok
6. Instagram
Owned by Facebook, Instagram is a growing giant in the social media landscape with over one billion MAUs and over 500 million DAUs.
Instagram is highly visual and has one of the highest engagement rates of all social media platforms. It’s also one of the most effective platforms for influencer marketing.
Most users are under 35, and 90% of all users follow at least one business.
Instagram users share photos and short videos using their Instagram feed and Instagram Stories. And videos longer than 60 seconds can be shared using IGTV.
So Instagram offers an incredible opportunity for you to share your business’s branded content and grow and engage with your audience!
Use IG Live to livestream original content like announcements, interviews, product releases and Q&As. The live comment feed lets you address comments and helps viewers engage with each other.
It’s ideal for artisans and brands that thrive with visual digital marketing. Resources available for those with a free business account include:
- Instagram Insights – vital performance analytics on your profile and posts
- Instagram Shopping – features that make your content shoppable anywhere in the app, including in-app checkout
- Instagram Ads – your visual content transformed into a unique and creative advertisement
Ads can run either directly in the app, through Ads Manager or via an Instagram Partner. Thanks to ad targeting, your ads can appear in the Explore section in addition to the feed for a wider reach.
Further reading: How to Use Instagram for Business: A Practical Step-by-Step Guide
7. Pinterest
Pinterest has 445 million MAUs. Over 60% of these users are women, but male users increased by 40% in 2020. Although most users are Millennials, Gen Z users increased by 40% last year.
Pinterest is a photo-sharing social platform and hub of ideas from across the Internet. Users post or collect “pins” — images and videos that link to external websites.
Through pins, they share products, ideas, quotes and unique, inspirational visuals. They either “pin” to an existing board or create a new one.
A board is a self-named collection of pins dedicated to a specific topic. Pinboards span a wide array of interest areas, including:
- Wedding ideas
- Home improvement
- Travel destinations
- Inspirational quotes
- Summer fashion
- Recipes
A whopping 97% of Pinterest searches are unbranded. So this is one of the top social media sites for small businesses building recognition. Brands that are highly visual or creative especially thrive on Pinterest.
Create a business account and connect your website, blog or shop. Make your site content pinnable and your pins shoppable. Resources for business accounts include:
- Analytics
- Pinterest Trends
- Audience Insights
- Shopping tools
- Audience targeting tools
Ads Manager helps you turn your pins into ads. You create, track and manage those ads all from one place and can even set up presets.
Free ads consultation offers you personalized support, guidance and strategies for success. A curated list of Pinterest Partners can also help you manage your business account.
Further reading: Resources to help your small business succeed on Pinterest
8. YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing social media channel. Like Facebook, it’s largely used by all age groups and in all industries. And it boasts some impressive stats:
- It’s the second-largest social media platform after Facebook.
- It’s the second-largest search engine after Google, its parent company.
- It’s the most popular video-sharing site in the world.
- It has over 2 billion monthly users, not including users without an account or who don’t log in.
- Over 500 hours of content is uploaded to YouTube every minute.
With video marketing on the rise, YouTube is leading the charge.
YouTube allows entrepreneurs, business owners and experts to post video tutorials, product descriptions, announcements reviews, interviews and how-to walkthroughs.
You can engage with your audience and build rapport by responding to their comments, hosting live streams where you hold live Q&A sessions.
YouTube hosts user-uploaded videos of any length and broadcasts live streams. Viewers can like and share your videos, leave comments and subscribe to your channel.
You can also embed your YouTube videos on your websites. Other people may also embed your videos on their sites or in their blog content. This further increases brand awareness, since:
- Over 70% of users discover new brands on YouTube.
- Users are 4x more likely to research a brand, product or service on YouTube than on any other social platform.
YouTube uses Google data for targeted advertising. This ensures the right people see your videos. YouTube’s analytics tools help you track the performance of your media over time.
Just as web content ranks high in a search when it follows SEO rules, videos rank well when they follow YouTube SEO.
Further reading: How to Build an Audience on YouTube Without Spending Money on Ads or Fancy Production
Your Turn
Which social media platforms do you currently use? Which are you most interested in trying?
Let me know in the comments below!
And if you’re struggling to get your business off the ground or are feeling paralyzed by an endless business to-do list (emails, social media, content marketing, videos… oh my!)… then I’ve got the perfect Workshop for you!
On Thursday, March 23rd, 2023 at 9am PT/12pm ET, I’ll be sharing HOW to Unlock The Science Of Consistent Action… so you can stop dreaming and start doing.
This Workshop is specifically designed for procrastinators, the time-poor and anyone brand-new to business who needs an overwhelm-free way to finally turn their BIG dreams into a reality. So if that sounds like you… go ahead and save your seat.
