Social media for business has become a very important marketing tool, offering organizations opportunities to increase brand awareness, run targeted campaigns, increase leads and build community relationships.

Like everything in life, not all social media platforms are equal; some will appeal to B2C markets, others to B2B organizations, some to younger generations, others to more mature audiences and so on.

Here is a brief list of some of the popular Social Media platforms used in business today and to which types of business they may most appeal:

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR BUSINESS

1. TWITTER

What is it?

Twitter is an online news and social networking service where users can post and interact with messages called “tweets”. Until recently a tweet was limited to 140 characters, however, Twitter has just recently doubled this limit to 280 characters.

What type of business is it suitable for?

Twitter is suitable to all businesses from the Sole Trader to the Multinational Corporation.

What should it be used for?

Organizations should use Twitter to highlight upcoming events, new product launches, important company announcements, customer service and much more. Due to its brevity, you can ‘link’ your tweet to a web page with much more detailed information, you can shorten the web page link address for your tweet by using services such as bit.ly and goo.gl. A great Beginners Guide on how to use Twitter has recently been published by WebClare.

When to use?

Businesses should post on and interact with their Twitter accounts on a daily basis.

2. LINKEDIN

What is it?

LinkedIn is a business oriented, professional networking social media service.

What type of business is it suitable for?

LinkedIn is one of the most popular social media for business platforms and is primarily suitable for businesses that operate in B2B (business to business) marketplaces and Recruitment.

What should it be used for?

Description of company and services provided, individual’s professional profile, new job postings, company and product announcements, highlighting upcoming events. LinkedIn prioritizes relationship building amongst members, do not lead with a sales pitch to a new connection, but rather build a relationship built on mutual interests or industry sectors.

When to use?

LinkedIn should not be over used as your connections may view this as spam. Posting a couple of times a week may be sufficient. As well as posting on your company’s profile you can also post on relevant LinkedIn user groups for a wider audience reach.

3. FACEBOOK

What is it?

Facebook is a popular free social networking website that allows registered users and businesses to create profiles, upload photos and videos and post messages. With over 1.6 Billion active users worldwide, it is the world’s most popular social media platform.

What type of business is it suitable for?

Like Twitter, Facebook is suitable for all.

What should it be used for?

Facebook can be used for increased brand exposure, targeted offers, communication platform, building a loyal brand following and community. As part of your social media for business strategy your organization can use Facebook Ads to target selected demographics, geographical locations and much more. The Marketing Crowd offer wonderful courses on best practices for Facebook Marketing

When to use?

Post on a daily basis. Try to make posts interesting and encourage audience participation, including likes, comments and shares.

4. INSTAGRAM

What is it?

Instagram is an internet based photo sharing application that allows users and businesses to share pictures and videos on their accounts.

What type of business is it suitable for?

Luxury brands, fashion, food and lifestyle product companies.

What should it be used for?

Sharing visual content and short videos. By using the same filters consistently your organization or brand can establish a style that will become instantly recognizable to your followers. Using appropriate #hashtags is also very popular on Instagram.

When to use?

Organizations should aim to have at least one post per day.

5. PINTEREST

What is it?

Pinterest is a free website that requires registration to use. Users can upload, save, sort and manage images which are known as ‘pins’ through collections known as ‘pinboards’.

What type of business is it suitable for?

Mainly suitable for Fashion, Food, Travel and DIY businesses.

What should it be used for?

This platform should only be used if your organization has great images to share. According to The Next Web Pinterest favors most recent content, pinning and re-pinning should be done on a regular basis.

When to use?

Frequently, many times a day.

6. YOUTUBE

What is it?

YouTube is a video sharing website that allows users to upload, view, rate, share, comment and subscribe to other users. YouTube is owned by Google, so when it comes to SEO, videos are more likely to appear in search results than other websites.

What type of business is it suitable for?

Any organization that has video content to share.

What should it be used for?

Product promotions and demonstrations, ‘how to’ guides and client testimonials.

When to use?

Organizations should try to post a new video at least once a week.

The above is a brief overview of some of the most popular social media for business platforms used today. Other platforms such as Yelp, Google+, Snapchat, Quora….. should also be considered depending on your organizations target market and demographics.

If you would like help with your social media marketing and which platforms will work best for your business contact RML Marketing & Business Development Solutions today.