Published: 04/05/2020
Every business needs a social media presence. Why? Because in 2019, there were 3.48 billion active social media users across the world, with people in the UK spending an average of 1 hour 50 minutes on it daily, according to a report by Hootsuite and We are Social. Some of that time could be spent interacting with your brand.
With the Covid-19 pandemic putting a strain on business, even forcing some to close for the time being, you may need to promote yours on social to maintain your customer base and, if your business model allows, encourage online sales. Customers also want to protect their go-to local businesses, so it seems support on the likes of Facebook and Twitter has ramped up.
If you’re thinking about your business’s survival, or helping those in need, it could be a good time to start making more of your social channels
But, as a business owner, there’s no doubt you’ll have plenty on your mind especially at this completely unprecedented time. Not only is time precious for you, but we’d understand if you’re not sure on which platform to focus your efforts.
We want to help, though. Learn the top-five social media platforms for businesses, together with how you can make the most out of each. Let’s get cracking…
Facebook’s the king of social media and towers above the competition when it comes to numbers. Let’s look at a few statistics:
Staggering, right? If you were to use just one social media platform for your business, Facebook would be the one to choose. Within it, you can create business pages that can be ‘liked’ by users to indicate interest.
Pages can also be used to post content and, if you pay to ‘boost’ it, you’ll reach target audiences. Here are six top tips on how to make the most of your Facebook business page:
Twitter's registered users grow by a whopping 460,000 each day. Here are a few more statistics:
The way it works is very different from Facebook, and business accounts function in much the same way as a personal account. You’ll also have to contend with a 250-character limit per post, meaning what you write has to be short and snappy.
There are six main elements to a Twitter profile – handle, username, profile picture, bio, header image, and pinned tweet – and, for businesses, ensuring all these elements work together to project a cohesive brand image is key.
The aim of the game on Twitter is to build a following, engage with consumers and existing customers, and spread your business’s message. So, here are some tips on how to do just that:
Similarly to Facebook, Twitter also offers analytics so you can monitor, measure and boost the impact of your tweets. It’s a good idea to use this to ensure you’re posting more of what people want, and less of what they don’t.
Instagram is all about images – with text and hashtags secondary. Let’s start off by looking at some of the numbers for Instagram:
On top of that, Instagram has seen the highest amount of support for local business out of all social media platforms.
With Instagram, compared to other social channels, engagement is high and customers tend to be brand loyal. So, if your business’s offering could be sold using imagery, Instagram is potentially a better social media platform for you over others.
On the platform, you can choose to use a personal account to promote your business or upgrade this to a business account. With the business option, you’ll get access to more features like analytics, ad targeting, and a contact button.
Here are some more tips for making the most out of Instagram for your business:
Did you know, YouTube’s the second biggest search engine in the world after Google? Here are some more stats on the video-sharing giant:
Whether YouTube is a good fit for your business will depend on the nature of your company and whether you can translate that into an engaging video.
If you can create top-quality, relevant content, then videos can perform very well. And remember, the content doesn’t just relate to adverts, more and more users are searching for ‘how-to’ videos on the site.
Striking the right balance between advertising, educating, and entertaining is key to success on this platform.
Posting existing customer testimonials is also a nifty way to use YouTube to promote your business. Here are some additional ideas on how to make it work for you:
Like Instagram, Pinterest’s all about imagery and visuals. On the platform, users add ‘pins’ of images to ‘boards’ they’ve created. Here are the stats:
Pinterest is useful for businesses because the images can lead to click-throughs to websites, products, videos, and more. So, if you can bring your product offering to life through pictures, it might be the one for you.
The statistics are pretty enticing too. In the US, it’s reported 93% of Pinterest users use the platform to plan their purchases, and over two-thirds reported discovering a new brand using the app.
As with all the other platforms we’ve touched on, you can set up a Pinterest business account via which you’ll have access to analytics and advertising to make sure your pins are performing. Here are a few other hacks:
The truth is they can all be very useful in their own way, but the key here is making sure you use them properly. If setting up an account with all five would result in you spreading yourself too thinly and not using any of them properly, then opt for one or two, to begin with.
Whether you use one or all five though, maximising the opportunities each has to offer is what’s going to serve your business best. As it stands, Instagram looks to be the best one for generating support while your business navigates the Covid-19 pandemic.
Want to make sure you’re accepting the best payment methods for your business? From pay by link to payment gateways and everything in between, get in touch with our experts today to see what we can do for you.
Sources
Social media hashtag data has been collated using Linkfluence social listening tool
https://wearesocial.com/global-digital-report-2019
https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/
https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-350-million-photos-each-day-2013-9?IR=T
https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/facebook-statistics/
https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/twitter-stats-and-statistics/
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-stats/#ig-user
https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/04/20/instagram-statistics
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-stats/#ig-user
https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/04/20/instagram-statistics
https://www.businessofapps.com/data/youtube-statistics/
https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/average-daily-time-on-social-media#post-navigation-4
https://coschedule.com/blog/best-times-to-post-on-social-media/
https://napoleoncat.com/blog/social-customer-service-response-time-on-social-media/
https://neilpatel.com/blog/visual-content-you-need-to-use-in-your-marketing-campaign/
https://dustinstout.com/social-media-statistics/
https://s22.q4cdn.com/826641620/files/doc_financials/2019/q1/Q1-2019-Slide-Presentation.pdf