Deep Dive into Social Media Platforms: Choose the Right Ones for Your Business
In our recent blog post, “Which Social Media Platforms Does My Business Need?”, we touched upon the importance of including social media in your marketing toolbox and provided suggestions for deciding which platforms to use. In this post, we’ll take a deeper dive into some of the most popular social media sites to help you determine which may be the most appropriate for your business.
Ready to learn more? Let’s dive in!
As one of the world’s oldest (it turned 17 this year) and most widely used social networks, Facebook has nearly 2.8 billion monthly active users. That’s a lot! It’s also a great platform to reach people who already know your business.
When developing an effective Facebook marketing strategy, businesses must understand two main things: 1) Who is on the platform and 2) How they are using it.
So, who makes up Facebook’s billions of users? They come from all over the world and represent all age groups. Here are some interesting statistics:
- In Canada, over 72% of the population has access to Facebook. The number of Facebook users in Canada reached 27.35 million in 2021 and is expected to reach 36.2 million by 2026. (Source: Statista)
- 83% of Canadians have a Facebook account, making it the top social platform in our country. (Source: Hootsuite)
- Many of Facebook’s users are between the ages of 25 and 34. (Source: Statista)
- Two-thirds of Facebook users visit a local business page at least once a week. (Source: Sprout Social)
- Facebook ads are among the most cost-effective advertising options for small businesses, and its marketing features extend into Instagram (which Facebook owns) and Messenger. (Source: WordStream)
Instagram has expanded tremendously over the years and continues to do so. The photo-sharing app has evolved from being a favourite place for people to share their holiday, food, and family photos into a platform that appeals to a wide range of influencers, advertisers, and brands. Instagram is an excellent platform for humanizing your company, showcasing your values, and elevating your brand through eye-catching images and videos.
It’s probably safe to say that your target audience is on Instagram. In fact, your ideal customers are probably scrolling through their Instagram feeds right now! Check out these numbers:
- Instagram is estimated to have 1.074 billion users worldwide in 2021 (Source: eMarketer), and it’s the fastest growing social media platform in Canada.
- The average Instagram user spends at least 7 hours per week on the platform. (Source: Sprout Social)
- 71% of the billion monthly active users on the Instagram app are under the age of 35; The single most popular age range is users between the ages of 25–34, followed by users between the ages of 18–24. (Source: Statista)
- Even though Instagram is most popular among those aged 18 to 30 (Gen Z and Millennials), 71% of B2B companies now have an Instagram account. (Source: Social Media Examiner)
- 50% of Instagram users follow at least one business, meaning that businesses have a great opportunity to increase their reach through Instagram. (Source: mention). One appealing option for brands is they can add contact information to their Instagram Business pages, which isn’t an option for personal profiles. This includes a business phone number and physical address.
LinkedIn is a powerful business-oriented network and the most popular social media platform for professionals. The content shared on this platform is primarily designed to improve a company’s profile, connect with other businesses, and encourage job recruitment.
Although it’s not the biggest social network, or the one with the largest reach, LinkedIn is still a great site to be on, whether your business offers B2B or B2C products and/or services. Here are some statistics to consider:
- LinkedIn has 722 million members; 57% of the platform’s users are men, and 43% are women. (Source: Hootsuite)
- 1% of all Internet users in Canada use LinkedIn each month, and 44% of all Internet users in Canada have an account on this social platform. (Source: eMarketer). LinkedIn reports a total of 17 million users in Canada.
- 9% of LinkedIn’s users are between 25 and 34 years old. (Source: Hootsuite)
- 55 million companies are on LinkedIn. (Source: Hootsuite)
- LinkedIn is only second to Facebook as the most popular social media network for B2B marketers. (Source: HubSpot)
Whether you love the platform or not, Twitter can be an extremely effective tool for expanding your company’s online presence. If you’ve spent any time at all on the platform, you already know how fast-paced and chaotic it can be, so It’s vital to be able to stand out as a business on Twitter these days if you want to succeed. Here are a few numbers to help you decide whether tweeting may be worth your while:
- There are 554,750,000 active users on Twitter. (Source: Rival IQ)
- 24% of people check their Twitter feed more than twice a day. (Source: Rival IQ)
- 70% of small businesses are on Twitter. (Source: Rival IQ)
- 33% of Twitter users follow a brand. (Source: Rival IQ)
- 79% of Twitter users are more likely to recommend brands they follow and 67% of Twitter users are more likely to buy from brands they follow. (Source: Rival IQ)
YouTube
Does your business create a lot of video content? When it comes to traffic, revenue, and a vast user base that can’t get enough of video content for any brand’s target audience or budget, YouTube’s effectiveness for a business is beyond compare. Even better? It’s not too late to start a YouTube account for your business if you haven’t already, and the process isn’t complicated.
Having a business YouTube channel can help you reach a larger audience, expand your business, and further establish your brand. Check out these statistics:
- YouTube has 2 billion monthly active users worldwide, making it a very close second to Facebook. (Source: Foundation)
- There are YouTube users in over 100 countries. (Source: Foundation)
- YouTube is not just for the teens and millennials. Surprisingly, the fastest growing demographic currently on YouTube are Baby Boomers and Generation X. (Source: Foundation)
- Google recently revealed that Generation Xers (ages 39–53) now account for over 1.5 billion views per day on YouTube, with 75% of that group viewing YouTube at least once a month. (Source: Foundation)
- 90% of users say they discover new companies or products on YouTube, which could mean that video is becoming a more common way to get your brand’s name out there. (Source: Foundation)
Are you ready to make your business stand out on social media?
There are even more social media platforms available than we have covered above — and new ones pop up almost every day it seems. Either way, social media networks are exciting marketing tools to have in your toolbox and managing them and engaging your customer base is one of our areas of expertise. Your business is unique and the social media activity you choose needs to be aligned with your needs. Let’s talk about the options!