Messaging platforms have opened a whole world of possibilities for businesses to connect, engage, and communicate with their customers. However, with so many to choose from, picking the right platform for your business can be tricky.
Pick the Messaging Platform That’s Right for You
Let’s discuss some of the social media marketing options for your business, starting with networking sites.
With close to two billion users, Facebook is easily the largest and most recognizable social network in the world. As of January 2018, the largest demographic of Facebook users were between the ages of 25 and 34 with 58.3 million individuals in the US using the social network on a regular basis.
Offering free business pages and audience-specific targeting for ads, Facebook is one of the most effective networking sites on the Internet today. It is especially useful for businesses looking for prospective customers.
Launched in 2003, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with 546 million members as of March 2018. Among those members are executives from all Fortune 500 companies. At least 50% of LinkedIn users are high-income earners with college degrees.
LinkedIn is especially useful for making professional connections and showcasing professional expertise through no-fee article publication. More than 3 million users share content weekly.
As for your business’ blogging efforts, microblogging is also viable option in the form of Twitter and Tumblr.
Boasting over 700 million active accounts yearly, 100 million Twitter users log in to the microblogging site daily. Sixty-nine million users are in the US with millennials in the US making up 38 percent of active account holders. A whopping 93 percent of Twitter users who follow an SMB, plan to make a purchase from that brand.
Seventy-four percent of account holders use Twitter to get product updates, making it an excellent platform for staying engaged with customers.
Tumblr
For those unfamiliar with it, Tumblr is a microblogging site that allows users to post images, GIFs, videos, music, texts, links, and other content to a short-form blog. As of April 2018, there were 409 million blogs on Tumblr.
Sixty-nine percent of Tumblr users are millennials with 42 percent of traffic coming from the US. Tumblr is effective for businesses that want to be relatable to their target audience.
Video and photo advertising is becoming increasingly popular for customer engagement and brand awareness. Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Vimeo are the top sites for video and photo advertising.
More than 800 million active users log in every month to the photo sharing site with more than 60 percent of those users accessing the platform daily. In the US, 38 percent of women and 26 percent of men use Instagram. Eighty percent of Instagram users follow at least one business on Instagram with 50 percent of businesses posting Instagram stories regularly.
Instagram has the highest follower interaction rate of any social network and is especially effective for increasing brand awareness, growing a community, increasing blog traffic, and acquiring leads.
With more than 200 million active users, Pinterest is more popular with women (41 percent) than men (16 percent.) Fifty percent of millennials use Pinterest every month, with most users residing in suburbs.
Eight-six percent of millennials use the platform to plan life events (think weddings, home purchases, vacations) while 93 percent use Pinterest to plan purchases. If customer engagement and product education are important to your brand, Pinterest is an excellent platform choice.
YouTube
The most popular social media platform for seniors, 66% of users over the age of 65 use the platform. Statistics show YouTube ads are highly effective and hold viewers attention more than TV ads. YouTube has proven valuable for businesses with 51 percent of US marketers running YouTube video ads.
Of those, 62 percent plan to increase their market spend on YouTube in the coming year. Video is quickly becoming the most popular form of content with YouTube users showing a preference for seeing products in action, rather than just reading about them.
Vimeo
As of March 2018, there were 240 million visitors to Vimeo. Twenty-six percent of Vimeo users are in the US. The most popular video topics viewed on Vimeo include movies, reviews, music, software, games, internet tools, business, US news, and international news.
Are You Ready to Get Social?
Social media has been proven effective for marketing, but it can be time-consuming and costly. To make the most of your social media marketing, it’s crucial to use the platform that best suits your business and is most likely to reach your target audience. For help with your social media marketing, contact our marketing professionals online or call us at 414-465-2285 today!
