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With nearly 3.5 billion social media users worldwide, social media marketing is key to all business strategies.

That said, like all marketing, not everything is right for every business, and all social platforms work differently, have different audiences, require different content and are better for certain industries.

While many platforms have come and gone, hello Myspace, and others like Tumblr, Tik Tok and Snapchat exit, we’ve created a breakdown of what we think are the key players in the social media advertising world, below.

Facebook

Everyone’s heard of Facebook – they even made a film about it! With more than 2 billion monthly active users worldwide and 1.57 billion daily active mobile users, Facebook is without a doubt the biggest social media platform around.

It is also one of the most comprehensive advertising platforms around, making it great for advertising as a business. Using social graphs to pinpoint those most likely to respond to your ads to create leads, the platform also works to an algorithm to ensure your budget isn’t wasted.

Content:

While brands can share organic content on their profiles, the platform has cracked down on organic visibility in recent years. This is what makes paid advertising the key areas to focus on when using Facebook.

Allowing you to spend anything from £5 and above, and with a diverse range of ad types, from video to images and graphics, there’s not much you can’t do here. However, with around one million likes happening every 20-minutes, ensuring your content is eye-catching is the key.

Who’s it for?

There isn’t one specific type of business that fits the mould for Facebook. From large conglomerates to smaller independents, there’s room for all businesses on Facebook. 86% of all social marketers regularly use Facebook ads, while 55% said the platform was the most important one to them.

Just remember, with a main audience demographic of 25 – 34, don’t waste too much effort here if your audience is a lot younger or older.

Twitter

One of the earliest social media platforms, Twitter is still going strong, generating hundreds of millions of tweets globally every day. A microblogging social site that requires you to get your message across in 280 characters or less, alongside a photo, video or graphic, the platform has around 320 million monthly active users.

Best content: 

With around 6,000 tweets generated per second, it can be easy to get lost on Twitter, which has become a source of news for many over time. Therefore, when creating content it’s important to make something that will capture your followers’ attention such as a poll or by using a video or image.

While there is paid advertising on Twitter, due to the huge amount of content, it’s better to keep it organic with hashtags being your main tool. Allowing you to get involved in a conversation and attract people searching for a specific hashtag, it’s the ideal way to reach a wider audience.

Another area the platform has grown for businesses is in the world of customer service, allowing brands to get quick real-time answers to customers.

Who’s it for?

Most major companies have a Twitter presence and 77% of users have said they feel more positive about a brand that replied to them.

Much like Facebook, this isn’t for one type of business and can be beneficial from a branding perspective to be seen here.

Instagram

Owned by Facebook and with around one billion active monthly users, 71% of whom are 35 and under, Instagram is a social app used to share short videos and pictures.

Best content

Because the platform is all about imagery, copy and hashtags play a smaller role, however, hashtags are good for finding similar content and customers could find you by using these.

For brands using the app, it’s all about authentic-looking, beautiful imagery that stands out to draw people in. Customers here buy into a lifestyle, and leaving a lasting visual impression is key. Again, while you can pay for advertising here, it’s important to build a strong organic following for your brand.

That said, influencers have boomed over the last decade because of Instagram, which allows you to market your products to an influencer’s audience through product placement.

Who’s it for?

As you can guess from the type of content, this is a big place to be for those in the travel, fashion, food and design industries due to the ability to create content that’ll jump of the page and attract likes.

LinkedIn

With 260 million monthly active users, LinkedIn is a social networking site for businesses. Taking a different approach to the others, this is a place for learning, sharing knowledge and networking and therefore features a lot less content that you’d find on the previous platforms.

Best content:

If a business is running organic content it needs to sell you as a business. Highlight success stories from the business around clients and people and share insights into what you’re doing as a brand.

However, as more of a B2B platform, it’s a great way to make business through paid adverts, which includes direct mail, as marketers who use LinkedIn in their marketing mix have seen 90% of B2B leads come from the platform.

Who’s it for?

While the platform is for anyone working in the professional industries, and is a great place to advertise and find work, it’s mostly for companies working in the B2B industries when it comes to advertising.

If you’d like to find out a bit more about social media marketing, what platforms are right for you and what content your business should be creating, get in touch today and see how we can help.

Olivia profile picture

About the author

Olivia’s experience relating to both in-house and agency roles has given her the knowledge to craft social media content for brands that align with their audience. From Marple, Stockport, she is a frequent swimmer and self-confessed foodie, who loves to travel to new countries whenever she gets the chance… But most of the time you’ll find her snuggled up on the sofa with a HUGE cup of coffee. Olivia is responsible for developing engaging, creative and innovate content for clients.

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