6 Strategies to Finding the Best Social Media in Business Marketing

Social media isn’t just for keeping in touch with friends and family. If used correctly, you can also boost business performance through various social media platforms.

Even before the onset of the pandemic, businesses have tried exploring social media as an avenue for advertising and marketing. Thus creating a wonderful opportunity for social media management services to flourish. For example, you can see paid ads of some notable brands on Facebook, including fast food chains and banks.

The new normal has changed everything, with people relying more and more on the Internet to help them in their everyday lives. These days, you can even see advertisements from some smaller businesses make their way into your social media feed. – all thanks to the right digital marketing agency at the helm.

That’s all a result of shifting to the use of social media in business marketing. Of course, different social media platforms use different algorithms to promote certain content online. That’s simply a result of certain demographic groups being the predominant audience of different platforms.

Getting to know your target market, and where they spend their time online, is key to your business’ success. Ideally, you’d want to optimize the use of your resources, and finding the right social media platform to invest in should be a part of your strategy. Keep reading to learn more about Propelrr’s social media management and marketing tips and tricks.

Social media in business marketing

First things first: you have to know the numbers related to social media marketing.

As recently as March 2023, it is estimated that 4.89 billion people use social media. That’s more than half the entire global population! On average, each user bounces between seven different social networks per month, and they spend an average of 151 minutes online daily.

Additionally, total spending on social media advertising is projected to reach $268 billion in 2023 alone. It has overtaken paid search advertising as the favored channel, with more and more marketers favoring social media. In fact, marketers favor Facebook (93%) and Instagram (78%) over other social networks.TikTok, however, is quickly emerging as a solid competitor for the two giants, especially when it comes to catering to younger audiences.

Sure, that all sounds really good. But it’s not really the selling point yet, is it? What you’re looking for is how well social media marketing actually brings revenue to your business.

eMarketer projects that ecommerce sales in the US will hit $53 billion in 2023, and will even double by 2025. This rapid growth is attributed to a quick rise in both the number of ecommerce buyers on social media, and the average spend per user.

Currently, Facebook (65.7%) and Instagram (43%) are leading the pack with the number of ecommerce buyers on their platforms. And TikTok? Its numbers jumped rapidly from 3.5% in 2020 to 33.3% in 2023.

Without a doubt, these three are your best bet in making a mark with your business. But how do you even begin to choose?

Finding the best social media platform for your business

The statistics are there, and they don’t lie. Social media is the present (and future) arena of marketing strategies. You have to take the initiative in establishing an online presence.

Fortunately, you can choose between Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok as your primary platform. The question is, how profitable can these platforms be?

Here are six strategies to help you pick the most profitable social media platform for your business.

1. Define your target audience and create marketing personas.

You can’t really go wrong with having this as your first step in identifying the next step forward. It’s as simple as determining what their age groups are, gender, interests, location – basically anything that helps you better understand where your money is coming from.

If you haven’t already, consider installing Google Analytics to your website to help you reach your audience better. This way, you can just log in and see key demographic points at a snap of a finger.

Once you do that, it’s time to establish a clear identity that represents your customers. Otherwise known as a marketing persona, this identity will help you better connect and empathize with your crowd. It gives you a better idea of how best to reach out to them and encourage them to stick with your business.

It’s also recommended to create 3-5 personas that can establish connections with “majority of your customers, yet are small enough to still carry the value of specificity.” In other words, you can narrow down your target audience into smaller groups to better understand how to market your business.

2. Define your tone and social media presence.

Of course, you can’t stop at understanding your customers. You have to present yourself to them, as well.

If you’ve already established your business’ branding, good! Just tweak it a little to fit your revitalized strategy. If you haven’t… Well, you better get to the drawing board. Here are some tips to help you create your brand voice:

• Align your voice with your Mission-Vision statement. It speaks volumes (pun intended) when you relate your tone to why you exist in the first place. Keeping true to your core values serves two purposes: it helps establish stronger ties with your community, and it blocks out external distractions.
• Listen to your target audience. What type of content resonates with them? Why did certain posts do better than others? Answer these questions and you’re well on your way to having a defined brand voice.
• Describe your personality. It’s easier to connect with a brand who knows how to deal with its audience. Will you be friendly and conversational or firmly professional?

For example, Apple tends to show that it is state-of-the-art and innovative in the tech industry. Red Bull’s marketing strategy revolves around thrilling, adrenaline-pumped activities fueled by the energy drink. Think of how you can present yourself given the industry you’re in and how you can connect with your audience.

The keyword: Connect. You are, after all, on social media. Interacting with your audience is key to your success. That’s not just limited to your product catalog or your social media posts, either. More often than not, you’re going to have to respond to your customers’ inquiries via direct messages (DMs) or on your posts. Consider this type of interaction before you establish a brand voice (or tweak it).

3. Identify the good fit social networks where your audience hangs out.

Explore websites that help you see how well a certain industry is doing on different platforms. For example, you can go to Buzzsumo to search for keywords related to your niche. You can see a breakdown of how many instances each term has been viewed online. However, you can find that Buzzsumo’s search is only limited to a few platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Reddit. You can use other similar search engines to help you move along.

Alternatively, you can find which website helps you build a strong community. Sure, Facebook might be the biggest driver of shares and interactions, but does it help drive conversions? In that sense, Facebook marketing might be more costly than the other options available to you. It may be in your best interest to find a platform that builds user-generated content easily.

4. Find the overlapping networks between your target audience and social network demographics.

Of course, it might be easier to just see which sites your target audience frequents. G2 breaks down key demographics of social networks here. Just take note of the following highlights:

• 1.93 billion users log into Facebook daily. Its biggest demographic are males aged 25-34.
• Instagram has 1.5 billion active users monthly. 64% of its user base is under 34 years old, while the gender split (between male and female) is almost 50/50.
• Only 6.1% of all Internet users use Twitter. 38.5% of them are between the ages 25-34, and are mostly male.
• TikTok is more popular among Gen Z users than Instagram. 39% of Gen Z consumers admit that the site plays a large role in their purchasing decisions. 56.1% of TikTok’s users are female.

Regardless of which social media platform you want to use, you have to find ways to maximize your reach and drive traffic to your business. If you want to appeal to younger audiences, TikTok is probably the way to go. Business-minded individuals might opt to use LinkedIn, instead. The statistics may change year on year, but you can at least prepare yourself if you stay updated with the latest social media trends.

5. Run a quick check on your competitors.

It is entirely possible that your competition is doing much, much better than you. Rather than throwing in the towel, why not just observe them? Maybe they’ve gotten the hang of the social media algorithms and you could learn a thing or two.

Quintly and Ahrefs content explorer are among the most popular tools to give you an overall picture of how you are doing vis-a-vis your competitors and the larger industry in general. Of course, you can also use Google Analytics to help make the comparison easier.

6. Keep active in your channels.

One common theme around this article is how to establish a connection with your audience. The best way to do that is to keep your audience updated with your business. It doesn’t have to be daily or hourly posts, either.

You can explore other pieces of content, like Facebook or Instagram stories. Instagram Reels can also be useful for marketing your product, provided you employ the best practices to encourage reach..

Encourage your audience to send you DMs so you can instantly reply to their queries. You and your staff don’t have to be personally online 24/7, either. You can use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms to give your customers personalized content.

Your activity helps build trust and loyalty and, in turn, meaningful interactions with your customers. They might even be more open to the idea of leaving reviews for your products, and help influence their peers to try you out!

Hopefully, you have a better idea of which social media platforms you want to establish your presence on. The next step is to see whether that choice is helping you gain ground.

Most popular social media platforms used by businesses

Of course, you wouldn’t want to miss out on which platforms are commonly used for social media business marketing. These social media platforms are among the most popular and profitable ones out there. This narrows down your search and makes planning your marketing strategy that much easier.

Traditional platforms

1. Facebook. When a person thinks of social media, they would usually think of Facebook. Ever the market leader of social media, Facebook currently has under 2.96 billion monthly active userson its platform. Its most active user base are adults aged 25-34 years old, with the male population using Facebook more than females.

   On average, users spend 30 minutes on Facebook. That amounts to 19.6 hours a month, with each user clicking on 12 ads within that same time period. In fact, Facebook’s ad revenue for 2022 reached $116.6 billion. Users from the US and Canada (48%) and the Asia-Pacific (22.1%) dominated Facebook’s ad revenues in the last quarter of 2022.

   Expect to see more of the same, since Facebook remains an online juggernaut.

2. Instagram. Instagram is also a good idea if you’re looking to use social media in business marketing. It is the 4th most used social media platform, with 2 billion active users per month. It is also the preferred platform for women aged 25 to 34.

   It is projected that Instagram can deliver a global ad revenue of $50.58 billion in 2023. Considering that marketing experts also project 35% of Instagram users to make a purchase on the platform in 2023, that’s a good indication of how good Instagram can be.

   Make the most of the Instagram experience by posting on Stories, Highlights, and Reels. Instagram Reels are especially useful, since they take up 30% of the Instagram view time.

3. YouTube. YouTube is another popular social media platform, extending as far back as its origins from 2005. It has over 2 billion monthly active users, with India, the US, and Brazil dominating demographics. About 77% of users between 15-35 are on YouTube, with every other age group not too far behind.

   Various types of content are available on YouTube, from 5-minute tutorial videos, to Shorts, and even livestreams. YouTube can also be used as an educational tool, with users uploading videos on different topics such as math or book reviews.

   YouTube might not generate as much as Facebook or Instagram, but its ad revenue of $23.983 billion is still nothing to be scoffed at. YouTube users appreciate the content they get on the platform as well. Ads on YouTube are more relevant to their interests than traditional TV advertising.

   You might want to consider pushing relevant content on YouTube, too. It is the second-largest search engine behind Google, and is an easy place for users to find product reviews. It’s not like YouTube is going away anywhere, either. Use of the platform is expected to rise over the next few years, especially since more and more people are transitioning to the online sphere.

4. Linkedin. LinkedIn brands itself as the social media platform for professionals. It’s effective for jobseekers and those who want to expand their professional network alike.

   That said, its user base is not what you’d expect from other platforms. LinkedIn has over 900 million users in over 200 countries. Additionally, the average LinkedIn visit is just over 7 minutes long.

   What LinkedIn lacks in user base, it makes up for with purchasing power. A LinkedIn user typically has twice the buying power of the average user. That’s why 82% of B2B marketers consider LinkedIn as a useful platform.

   Ads also do well on LinkedIn, with a conversion rate of up to 2 times higher than on other platforms. Users who have been exposed to brand and acquisition messages are 6 times more likely to sign up for a business.

   LinkedIn’s growth is also impressive, with total ad revenue expected to double from $3.8 billion in 2021 to $7.7 billion in 2026. That’s one thing to look out for in the future.

Platforms gaining traction

1. X (formerly Twitter). Ever since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, several new policies were implemented. Though Twitter Blue is a hot topic, Twitter’s revamped algorithm is making sure verified accounts are the most visible ones on a user’s feed. Plus, you can now see how well a tweet (Twitter post) has gained traction with the basic Twitter analytics tab.

   X has seen a big bump in monthly active users, now pegged at 436 million per month. Roughly 55% of these users log in daily, and can spend up to 34.8 minutes scrolling their feeds. The biggest age group using Twitter is, of course, millennials aged between 25-34 years old, who make up 38.5% of Twitter’s user base.

   While not every one of these users send out their own tweets, they can still see tweets from other accounts – even those they don’t follow. With X’s “For You” tab, users can see content that’s relevant to their interests. As a marketer, you should take advantage of sponsored Tweets and hot topics floating around the Twitter space.

   X’s 2021 report showed it earned $1.41 in ad revenue, but engagement rates decreased and ad spend increased. Understandably, the recent changes impacted X ability to generate revenue through its platform. This may be seen as an opportunity to break into the Twitter sphere and gain traction while many big players are still weighing whether Elon Musk’s changes are good for their business.

   If X new account verification scheme works as intended, bots and troll accounts are expected to be thrown out the window while more real users are going to Twitter. That allows your business to gain more unique (and meaningful) interactions with your audience. Do consider X for your next marketing campaign.

2. TikTok. TikTok is where Gen Z likes to play. It currently has over 1 billion monthly active users, with Gen Z making up nearly a quarter of that amount. The average TikTok user also spends 95 minutes per day on the app. Notably, 55% of users admit to having made a purchase after hearing about a product on the platform.

   By and large, TikTok is the best at generating engagement from its users. Its average engagement rate is pegged at 4.25%. In comparison, the second highest engagement rate was Instagram at 0.60%.

   Bytedance, TikTok’s parent company, reported its most recent ad revenue to be $38.6 billion. Not a lot of marketers are aware of TikTok’s increasing influence in the online sphere, however. Be among the market leaders and promote your business through one of the hottest platforms available.

3. WhatsApp. WhatsApp is also becoming a force for online marketing. It has just under 2.5 billion users worldwide, with India having the largest demographic at 390 million users.

   It has already expanded its features to become more than just a messaging platform. You can search for nearby businesses and chat through their WhatsApp account to purchase goods or, more importantly, get access to customer service.

   Throughout 2022, it generated $906 million almost solely from WhatsApp for Business. Users from other countries are starting to see why it’s the most popular messaging app to date, and expect to see significant growth in the future.

4. Twitch. If you’ve heard of live streaming, you might have heard of Twitch at one point or another. While most Twitch streamers play video games, others just simply play music or produce podcasts. Some streamers even do tutorials on computer programming!

   Twitch, and its streamers, make bank off of advertisements that play while their streams are live. In fact, Twitch earned $2.8 billion in revenue for 2022. That’s all off the back of 22.4 billion hours of content consumed on the platform – an average of 95 minutes per day.

   Twitch also has a very young community, with 41% of users aged 16-24 years old, and 32% of users aged 25-34 years old. Moreover, 65% of Twitch’s user base is male.

   Aside from Twitch’s live chat, streamers also often use other social media platforms to interact with their own communities. Marketers can sponsor Twitch streamers, who basically act as influencers within their circles, to promote products and services. Who knows, maybe working with an influencer can be a good marketing strategy for you.

Focus on what works for you

The better approach would be to observe how they’re connecting with their audience, and how they’re keeping their brand identity consistent. Your users can easily see if you’re straight-up copying another business’ marketing strategy, and might shy away from your pages.

Again, it’s all about creating meaningful content that resonates with your audience. That’s how you get organic views and interactions from loyal customers.

Key takeaways

Fair warning: social media can be tricky. You should be aware that you have to use it responsibly, and keep your posts in good taste. Otherwise, your business will fail before you even start.

That said, here are three key takeaways to choosing the best social media platforms for you:

• Understand your audience. You can look at user demographics and then build marketing personas for each of your target demographic. This helps you understand how to better promote your product to them.
• Identify the social media platform that your demographic uses the most. This gets you closer to your target demographic, since they’ll be more likely to see your advertisements on their preferred social media platforms.
• Focus on your own path. Don’t simply copy from your competitors. Build your brand identity and voice, and stick to it. You’ll resonate better with your audience.

If you have any other questions, send us a message via our Facebook, X, or LinkedIn accounts.

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