Social media platforms are growing in number every year with Clubhouse being the latest addition to the group so how do you know which one to choose to promote your business on?
In this blog post I’m going to be sharing some facts and figures as well as my own experiences of using the platforms and the experiences of my clients to help you figure out which one is best for you.
But before we begin I would like to say one thing…
No matter what social media platform you decide upon you will need a proper plan or strategy if you’re going to make it work for you in bringing in leads and customers.
I will talk more about that later on in the post but for now lets look at some of the biggest and most well known social media platforms and how they can help you build your business and brand awareness.
Facebook currently has 2.91 billion active monthly users (2022 figures). That’s a 6.2% jump from 2021’s 2.74 billion users, which was already a year-on-year growth of 12% from 2019.
Facebook is the oldest and most used of the social media platforms worldwide. You simply have to be there.
In October 2021, Facebook announced it was rebranding to Meta, which is now the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and more. The “metaverse” is looking to take over the social media world it would seem..
Facebook is the favourite social media platform of the 35 – 44 demographic overall but below is a breakdown of who Facebook’s preferred users are:
- Male internet users, 25-34: 15.9%
- Male internet users, 35-44: 17.7%
- Female internet users, 35-44: 15.7%
- Female internet users, 45-54: 18%
(Facebook currently limits its gender reporting to male and female.)
In case you’re wondering – under 25’s are more likely to be found on Instagram, but we’ll get to that later.
A Facebook page is a great way to develop your brand identity and show the human aspect of your business. it is also somewhere to share your sense of humour, show your quirkiness and just be a little less stuffy.
The most important thing is to figure out what your audience and potential customers would like to see or hear about. Share images that relate to your business and links to podcasts or videos. There is no right or wrong here, it is just a matter of knowing your audience and what they would like to see. To help you with this look at your Facebook insights.
A great example of how to do this is mentioned in a WordStream blog and this is what they give as an example…
…in addition to hilarious videos of dogs walking in tiny shoes, a store specializing in footwear might also post an article about how to measure your foot size accurately, what kind of shoe inserts are best for different sore feet woes, etc. A nice mix of humor, educational resources, and posts about your store updates is ideal.”
I think the message here is to mix it up a bit to keep your audience interested and entertained. I teach my clients to cover 5 basic things in their content:
- Inspire your audience – help them to take the action you want them to take
- Inform your audience – help them understand your offer and why it would be great for them
- Educate your audience – show them how to do something or achieve something relevant to your offer
- Entertain your audience – make them laugh or make them think, you can share videos for this
- Promote to your audience – Share your offers and don’t be afraid to do this on a regular basis.
Pros of Facebook:
- It is the largest of all the social media platforms and has more users than anyone else.
- Most people who are checking you out will look you up on Facebook to make sure you actually exist
- People are used to using Facebook and generally know how it works
- It allows for easy interaction with friends and contacts.
- It gives people the opportunity to share their thoughts quickly, without having to worry about written grammar or spelling mistakes.
- People expect genuine businesses to have a Facebook page and so this helps with credibility
- It is one of the most successful places on the planet to advertise your business
Cons of Facebook:
- Lack of trust on the platform as a whole especially around privacy
- Misinformation spread by the growing number of fake accounts
- Facebook is becoming a pay to play platform and you get very little from the platform these days unless you are prepared to pay for it.
- Reach is difficult when you are a small business and new to the platform
- Growing your audience can be challenging on Facebook
My own personal experience of Facebook as a small business owner is that it is becoming more and more difficult to reach my audience on there – even in my Facebook group, as the algorithms now determine who gets to see what.
With that in mind I advise my clients to only post to Facebook once a week unless they have a very large and engaged audience otherwise it’s really not worth their time.
Generally I have found by working with over 3,000 business owners that those who sell products seem to grow more quickly on Facebook and get better results faster than those of us who sell services (but of course there are always exceptions to every rule).
In summary use Facebook if:
- Your audience is the 35 – 44 demographic
- You have a good mix of content to share with your audience
- You have a ready made audience for your page (maybe imported from another platform)
- You are aiming your marketing at ladies over 55 year old.
Some resources to help you get started:
- Why your social media marketing isn’t working and what to do about it
- Who is your ideal customer?
- Get more followers faster
- Create a successful social media marketing strategy in just 5 days
Instagram is owned by Meta (who own Facebook, Whatsapp and others) and have just announced that more than 2 billion people are actively using the platform. The majority of the audience are from India, followed by the U.S. and Brazil.
It continues its support to creators and influencers by introducing fundraisers and shoppable feeds. While brands can now add swipe-up links for increased website traffic, and go for Remix and Collab Reels.
According to Statista reports, female Instagram users have dominated the platform, making up 51.6% of the Instagram population. Check out more Instagram stats here.
- Instagram has more than 2 billion active users.
- 64% of Instagrammers are under 34 years.
- The 25-34 year old age group is the largest of the demographics, attributing to 31.2% of the total Instagram population.
- Instagram has 51.6% female and 48.4% male audiences, as per Statista.
With every update, Instagram adds value to its users. So how can marketers like you extract the benefit out of it?
Thanks to reels, engagement rates are at an all-time high and Instagram has moved away from being a photo sharing platform to a video sharing one (mainly bought about by the success of TikTok).
Hashtags are a major feature of Instagram and posts that contain at least one hashtag have received 12.6% more engagement than posts that don’t include one. Knowing how to use hashtags or where to find the ones that are trending can present a problem to new users so check out my free guide here.
Instagram has paved the way for entrepreneurs to expand their business online. From shoppable feeds to product tagging on stories and posts, businesses are growing here in leaps and bounds.
You can even take a step ahead and optimize your bio with crisp descriptions. Add a link to your site and direct more traffic to your website. Have a look at these Instagram statistics from social pilot to use the platform to uplift your business.
- More than 25 million businesses use Instagram to promote their services and products.
- 90% of accounts follow at least one business on Instagram.
- 2 in 3 people surveyed believe Instagram enables interaction with brands.
- 81% of Instagrammers use the platform for researching new products and services.
- 44% of businesses use stories to promote their products.
- 98% of fashion brands use Instagram.
- 67% of users watch branded stories.
Pros of Instagram
- Instagram is clear about what they should provide their users with.
- Apart from photo-sharing and filters, there is also the feature to share videos and live streams.
- You can also share stories, which would disappear after a day.
- Quite smartly, Instagram provides additional functionalities via other apps, like Boomerang and Photo Grid.
- While posting to Instagram, you can seamlessly share your photos to your Facebook.
Cons of Instagram
- Instagram has become a place where you are bombarded with too many advertisements or sponsored posts.
- It encourages fake news, fake lives, fake stories and pretty much fake everything else because of the need by teenagers in particular to be seen and become famous
- Many of the features we have access to on the app are not available on the web version although more are now being rolled out it would seem.
My own experience of using Instagram is that it is an easy site to build a following on and that people on Instagram are generally collaborative and friendly.
The grid, in my opinion is under-utilised and can be used as a way to showcase your goods and services in a fun and visual way.
The follow/unfollow nonsense is annoying and there are too many follow for follow links that may help you get a few more followers but will not help you make sales.
In summary use Instagram if:
- You are a visual brand or creative person
- Your audience is under 25 years old
- You want a social media platform that you can grow your audience on quickly
- You have great images of your goods or services to promote
- You are great at video content
Some resources to help you get started:
- Why your social media marketing isn’t working and what to do about it
- Who is your ideal customer?
- How to grow your audience on Instagram
- Create a successful social media marketing strategy in just 5 days
If you want to market to professionals or other business owners, there’s no better place than LinkedIn. The platform users are able to connect with like-minded businesses and follow the latest news from organizations, groups and influential people from right across the globe.
When you understand how LinkedIn members and brands use the channel, you’ll gain valuable insights into how you can incorporate LinkedIn into your social media strategy.
Although LinkedIn started life as a job finding site it has now grown into so much more, and more businesses are finding it an extremely useful tool for promoting their goods and services.
Here are some stats that were shared in the HootSuite blog recently:
- LinkedIn has 810 million members To put that number in context, Instagram currently has over 1.2 billion users, and Facebook has almost 3 billion. So LinkedIn may not be the largest of the social networks, but with a specific business focus, it’s an audience worth paying attention to and the obvious lack of competition when marketing makes it a very attractive social media platform for business owners.
- 57% of LinkedIn users identify as men, with 43% identifying as women
- Over 77% of LinkedIn users are from outside the UK While the US is LinkedIn’s biggest market with over 185 million users, the network has gained traction around the world.
- Almost 60% of LinkedIn’s users are between 25 and 34 years old. It’s not a surprise that more than half of LinkedIn users are in the age group that is starting and growing their careers. It’s a professional network, after all.
Pros of LinkedIn
- Networking Opportunity. LinkedIn is an incredible tool that provides business holders with the ability to research potential clients for a business.
- LinkedIn enables you to associate your accounts and blogs to share experiences and advice on subjects that are significant in your business or industry.
- Profiles. Although these were meant to be used as a CV to show your experience and qualifications to potential new bosses, as business owners they are a great way to showcase our goods and services to garner attention and generate leads.
- LinkedIn can help with your overall visibility as it is indexed by Google many times a day.
- For business owners there is FAR less competition than on other social media platforms.
Cons of LinkedIn
- The etiquette can be a little difficult to get used to especially if you’re more used to Facebook or Instagram
- As it is a professional platform there are a certain group of people who want to keep it professional so that meas no pictures of your cat please.
- Look out for the grammar police. Again, it is a professional platform so if you’re going to post on there make sure you do it professionally and check your spelling and grammar – or else
My own experience of using LinkedIn is that it is great. It has become my preferred social media platform and this is where I get the vast majority of my leads from – although admittedly it is also where I spend most of my time.
I find the profile is a great way for letting people know more about me and how I can help them and this has become my shop window on LinkedIn.
Engagement isn’t as big on this platform as it is on others but if you’re looking for engagement just go out and talk about something that is divisive – I guarantee you’ll go viral.
In summary, use LinkedIn if:
- You can’t be bothered to keep creating images for every single post you create
- You want to attract professionals or other business owners
- You want a social media platform that isn’t overrun with teens and tots
- You want to present your business in a professional way
- You’re not so much into visuals or you’re not really the creative type
Some resources to help you get started:
- Why your social media marketing isn’t working and what to do about it
- Who is your ideal customer?
- Get more followers faster
- Create a successful social media marketing strategy in just 5 days
TikTok
- A whopping 69% of all users on TikTok are between 13 and 24, with 27% between 13 and 17 and 42% between 18 and 24. So, if you’re trying to reach this demographic, TikTok is a golden ticket.
- The TikTok app has been downloaded 3 billion times worldwide
- It’s the Seventh Most Popular Social Media Platform Worldwide When factoring in the number of active users each social media platform has, TikTok ranks as the seventh most popular platform. It falls behind the following: Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat.
- The average user opens TikTok 19 times a day
- TikTok provides an awesome platform to people who wish to become famous among people without having any particular skills or talents.
- TikTok is full of comedy sketches, duets, and interesting dances, all of which are very amusing for both kids and adults.
- TikTok creators are among the top paid in the influencer world.
- Less competition for businesses who want to promote their products and services on there
- It is still largely considered a kiddy platform
- TikTok has caused many children to be dependent on it and even borderline addicted.
- You need to be creative to stand out
- You have to be comfortable with video
My experience of using TikTok is limited. I’m not creative in the visual sense so creating videos that inspire or entertain is not really my bag.
I did find the platform fairly easy to grow followers on and the followers I got were extremely supportive and engaged. I do feel, however that this social media platform is for those who are able to come up with funny or inspirational content or those who are aiming their products or services at the younger end of the age spectrum.
In summary, use TikTok if:
- You are aiming your marketing at 12 – 24 year olds
- You are great at creating videos
- You are generally outgoing and can make your audience laugh
- You want to hop onto a social media platform is not yet saturated with other marketers
Some resources to help you get started:
- Why your social media marketing isn’t working and what to do about it
- Who is your ideal customer?
- Get more followers faster
- Create a successful social media marketing strategy in just 5 days
Pinterest is worth a mention here even though it’s not really a social media platform but rather a search engine in it’s own right – in other words, Google with pictures.
Pinterest is a visual platform that has been massively utilised by bloggers and other businesses as it helps them show off their goods and services in an attractive and visual way by way of pins.
Although it lends itself nicely to businesses who provide products and now has clickable buy now buttons, it is also excellent for promoting service based businesses – and I use it all the time.
Here are some stats that might surprise you:
- In terms of global active users, Pinterest ranks as the 14th largest platform in the world as of January 2022. The platform beats both Twitter and Reddit, but ranks below social networks like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
- In February 2021, Pinterest reported 459 million monthly active users — that was the biggest year on year increase the platform had ever seen (up 37% year over year).
- 60% of Pinterest users are women – but this has begun to narrow. As of January 2022, Pinterest’s self-service advertising tools identified the female audience at 76.7%, the male audience at 15.3% and the remainder as unspecified—that’s about a 1% change since January 2021.
- 82% of people access Pinterest via mobile
- 97% of top searches on Pinterest are un-branded which means pinners are happy to keep an open mind when searching for goods and information.
Pros of Pinterest
- It is very easy to drive traffic from Pinterest to external sites such as your website or sales page
- Followers aren’t force to follow everything you do so can pick and choose what they look at and whether or not they see or share your content
- Information on Pinterest is very easy to share.
- Comments are optional on Pinterest and users are not under the same pressure to comment or like everything they see like they are on other social media platforms.
- It’s pretty quick and easy to build a large following
- Your pins stay around FOREVER unlike a Facebook post that may last a few days if you’re lucky
Cons of Pinterest
- The images you use must be very specific or they will not be shown to your intended audience
- There are legal issues which must be considered such as sharing other people’s content in your marketing
- It is difficult to fully automate Pinterest.
- The analytics are pretty rubbish
- Pinterest is primarily a lifestyle platform so if your content fits with this you will do well but if not you will need to work a lot harder to attract attention
My personal experience of Pinterest is I love it and that surprised me as I’m not a creative person. I use a graphic design tool called Canva.com which has templates for all the social media platforms so it’s easy to create pins and other images for your social media posts that are attractive and encourage clicks from your audience.
I grew my followers really quickly, something like 2,400 in one month, which was great. I share how to do that in my free guide which you can get for free right here.
Pinterest pins stick around for a very long time so it’s well worth the time and effort in creating them as they can still be returned as a result to a searcher years after you create them.
In summary, use Pinterest if:
- You are creative
- You are a blogger
- You have products or images that are going to be around for a while
- You want to get more reach for your content
- You want your promotion to be seen for many months to come
- You are looking for a wholly visual way to showcase your goods or services
Some resources to help you get started:
- Why your social media marketing isn’t working and what to do about it
- Who is your ideal customer?
- Get more followers faster
- Create a successful social media marketing strategy in just 5 days
How to get your social media platforms working for you and bringing in leads in just 5 days!
As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog post, if you are going to see results from your social media platforms you will need to have a great strategy in place for your marketing.
It’s no good just posting something and hoping for the best as this is not going to help you figure out what works and what doesn’t.
It’s also no good just guessing what kind of things to post about as this will not attract the attention of your potential future customers or entice them to buy from you when they’re ready.
A good social media strategy will help you:
- Build your audience of potential customers quickly
- Attract the attention of those customers every time you show up on social media
- Be clear and consistent with your messaging
- Be able to articulate your offer so that your customers recognise the value that it offers them
- Have a posting plan to enable you to stay consistent and show up regularly
- Have a content plan so that you know what to post, when to post and how often to post
- Generate a consistent supply of leads
- Bring in new customers
My Social Media Boot Camp has been especially created for beginners to social media marketing (although people who’ve used it for a while have benefited from it too).
It is designed to be taken over a 5 day period and each module builds on the work you did in the previous one so that at the end of the 5 days you not only have a great social media marketing strategy but you have one that has been proven to work by over 2,000 business owners who’ve already put it to the test.
At the end of the 5 days you will be able to go out and promote yourself successfully and confidently on whichever social media platform you choose so that you begin to see those leads come pouring in almost immediately.
On joining you will also be invited to join me and the other students in my private Facebook group where you can shout out for help and extra support if and when you need it.
So, I know, you’re wondering how much that is going to set you back, right?
Well my vision statement is “making marketing simpler for everyone” and to make this possible I needed a price point that everyone could afford.
So, you get to join the Social Media Boot Camp for the tiny investment of just £27.
Yep, that’s right, I haven’t missed off a zero or anything, the price is just £27 (and you can claim that back against tax too so it’s even cheaper).
So, what are you waiting for? Click the link below and get started today. In 5 days you will have simple yet extremely effective social media strategy that will start to bring in those lovely leads and we all know that more leads = more sales.
Join the Social Media Boot Camp Here!
The strategy that I teach in the boot camp can be applied to ALL the social media platforms I’ve mentioned here but also Twitter (which I don’t use myself but have clients that do very well from it).
See you in there 🙂