Instagram! Facebook! Twitter! Pintrest! These are just some of the common social media platforms available on the internet. They experience regular traffic, with millions visiting these platforms each month.

Of the 4 billion active internet users, over 80% have access to and are active on at least one social platform. These numbers suggest that marketing your brand on social media could help boost its growth. instead of taking time to develop a campaign for TV, print or radio, which may be limited in terms of size, level of information and reach, you should consider using social media to develop your brand.

What platforms could be ideal for your business?

YouTube

This is the largest video hosting website on the internet, featuring 1.6 active billion users who make over 3 billion searches every moth. YouTube’s search output is so massive that it is second to Google’s search engine for total number of queries made, outweighing other search engine queries. The user demographic is varied, with many users looking for educational and entertaining videos, as well as informative ones. This is an ideal platform for service providers, since many of the searches are based on walk through and how-to guides.

Unlike other social platforms, YouTube requires video uploads, which are more challenging than articles and images. You may need to source outside help to create catchy videos that will attract users. You should post about two or three videos every week, lasting about ten minutes each to create brand awareness and attract users to your content. However, these videos do not need to be entertainment themed alone.

Twitter

This platform has a significantly smaller monthly rate of traffic than  YouTube. However, it can be a great platform to engage with tech savvy users of all demographics and from different regions across the world. Like Redddit and other social media platforms with more tech savvy users, it is a great site to test out content because users are less reserved. Tweets, the series of small messages limited to 280 characters, offer brands the chance to send out information quickly. Creasing a Twitter profile for your brand is as easy as visiting the site and signing up. Users may also share videos and images, as well as time sensitive updates, retweets and relevant business information.

On Twitter, it can be rewarding to follow other brands and authority figures in your field. You will be able to view and share relevant content with your followers, and build better brand association, which will help you grow on the platform.

Many Twitter will use your page as a helpline, particularly through the messaging feature offered on the site. You should regularly check your messages and notifications to keep in touch with any clients that may need the help and provide timely communication with them.

Linkedin

Linkedin offers a platform for professionals. It has about 500 million users, most of whom are industry professionals from different relevant fields. Most brands will overlook Linkedin as a networking platform because it is commonly perceived as an online resume. Brands will fail to consider its potential for strategy development, business networking, comprehensive market analysis and the development of partnerships between brands.

You should consider creating a Linkedin profile since it is free and easy to do so. Your brand will also be online in the most professional social network platform, which will go some way to helping you develop partnerships and boost visibility to this demographic.

Instagram

This photo and video sharing platform is popular with a younger demographic, with almost 800 million regular users. The platform allows sharing of images, videos and texts, which may all be included on Insta stories. The youthful urban and suburban followers make up a great target demographic for brands with products and services that may appeal to them. You could use the platform to launch products, carry out quick interviews, display event photographs and share some behind-the-scenes footage.

Instagram is relatively easy to sign up to and will work both on mobile and through the website. You should post regularly, but should limit your activity to about five posts each week with different types of content.

Remember, you can make use of paid advertising on this platform through a series of affordable automatic likes and views which will create great traction for your brand and content. You can buy automatic instagram likes from igautolike to help boost the performance of your content on Instagram.

Facebook

By user traffic alone, Facebook is the best social platform available. Up to 2.2 billion, which amounts to 60% of people with a social media account, are active every month on the site. It is far more globally reaching than other platforms, even those listed above, and will offer a unique demographic for your brand.

The sign up process is relatively easy, and will only take a matter of minutes. On the platform, you may post news articles, links to informative or entertaining content, videos, images and other textual content. You should avoid posting too much, as well as selling your brand too often on the platform. Instead, target interactive and informative content to help boost engagement levels.

Final thought

You will be better able to reach your target audience by choosing the right social media platform. All these options offer access to millions of potential clients, with free and paid marketing options available. These sites are easy to use, and could be left under the responsibility of your social media marketing team. A few of the sites also offer brands the ability to market them within a specific location, which will improve brand exposure within this region.

No single approach is ideal for all these platforms. You will need to develop your content to fit the needs of each platform. With geographical targeting and the provision of detailed contact information which is credible, verifiable and similar across the board, users will be more likely to trust your brand and make purchases. By choosing the right platforms, your campaign will reach the right people.

By Eddy

Eddy is the editorial columnist in Business Fundas, and oversees partner relationships. He posts articles of partners on various topics related to strategy, marketing, supply chain, technology management, social media, e-business, finance, economics and operations management. The articles posted are copyrighted under a Creative Commons unported license 4.0. To contact him, please direct your emails to [email protected].