When it comes to social media marketing, the website you choose is just as important as your strategy. If you don’t pick a popular site that has plenty of users and one that can suit your needs, you won’t receive a good return on investment. If you aren’t sure which platforms are the best, here are the top five social media websites for marketing.
Facebook is one of the most popular social media websites in the world. In the first quarter of this year alone, there were 1.65 billion monthly active users. To add to that, the amount of time people spend on the website averages around 20 minutes or more per day, which accounts for nearly 20% of all time online. All of these statistics mean that your business has the best chance to succeed when it comes to social media marketing. Most businesses use Facebook by creating a “fan page” that allows users to “like” your business. When someone likes your page, it shows up in their feed for their friends to see. Any time you make a post, your status updates appear in the feed for each of your followers. This fan page bypasses the friend requests, making it easier than ever to have people follow your company.
During the first quarter of 2016, Twitter had 310 million users worldwide. Many people use it on a daily basis to discover local and global news as well as connecting with friends and family. The way Twitter works is by allowing a message size of 140 characters to communicate messages to fans or followers. While the 140 character limit may not seem like a lot, studies have shown that using around 110 characters gets 17% more engagement. So, quick and short messages reach audiences much easier than longer, drawn out posts. Additionally, Twitter recently announced that links and photos will no longer count against your 140 characters, which gives businesses more room for communication.
While Instagram is smaller than Facebook at 400 million users reported as of September 2015, it’s still one of the top social media websites in the United States. It’s also perfect for businesses that wish to participate in social media marketing. While it’s mostly populated by individuals who share photos with their friends and family, companies have the ability to create accounts to show off original products, promotions, and even contests with followers. One popular company that takes part in Instagram marketing is Starbucks. By posting creative pictures, Starbucks engages their fans to talk about their product in a fun way.
In September 2015, Pinterest announced that they had over 100 million monthly active users. This is perfect for any company that has a desire to market since a pin is 100 times more spreadable than a tweet. Pinterest seems like one of the more complicated websites to use for social media advertising, but it’s actually quite simple. Pictures and posts are linked to tags, much like Twitter, although there are a few key differences. One of which being that you cannot run contests on Pinterest like you can with Twitter and Facebook.
Tumblr
Tumblr is often passed over by many social media marketing seekers, but this can be a mistake. With over 290 million users and unlimited character space, it can be the perfect way to connect with audiences. In 2013, Tumblr was also popular enough to be purchased by Yahoo for $1.1 billion, but how do you use it for marketing? Tumblr works very similar to Twitter and Pinterest since it uses tags as a way to reach people. Users have an option to “reblog” one of your posts, giving their followers the chance to see your product.
