Choosing the Right Social Media Platforms for your Business Based on Features, Uses, and Target Audience

Ultimate Guide to Social Media Platforms:

Social media platforms have become very popular nowadays and are utilized for many different ways by people online. Those that stayed afloat and the most popular are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Youtube, Pinterest and Tiktok. Each are built different from the other in terms of features, their uses and the type of audience or users they are most followed by.

The common notion that people think when building their online business presence is that they need to be in every single one of these platforms just because they are popular. The answer is: Not necessary. When planning your social media presence, you first need to reflect and consider the identity of the business that you are building and which platform(s) will be the most effective for you to step on and do marketing. Doing this is so important so that social media management does not become very exhausting for you and steal the energy that you should be putting on your other important business operations. Unless you are delegating the digital marketing work to somebody or an expert and that is another topic.

So how do you know which social media platform do you need for your business? Your clue is in your answers to these questions:

1. Audience:
   • Who is my target audience?
   • What social media platforms are they most active on?
   • Which platforms do they use to engage with businesses or similar products/services?
2. Goals:
   • What are my business goals for using social media (e.g., brand awareness, lead generation, sales)?
   • How do I envision using social media to achieve these goals?
3. Content Type:
   • What type of content am I planning to create and share (e.g., images, videos, articles)?
   • Which platforms best support the type of content I want to create?
4. Competitors:
   • Which social media platforms are my competitors using?
   • How successful are they on these platforms, and what strategies are they using?
5. Resources:
   • What resources (time, budget, skills) do I have available to manage social media?
   • Which platforms align best with my available resources?
6. Engagement:
   • How do I plan to engage with my audience on social media (e.g., responding to comments, running contests)?
   • Which platforms offer the best features for engaging with my audience?
7. Analytics:
   • How important is data and analytics to my social media strategy?
   • Which platforms provide the analytics tools I need to measure my performance and adjust my strategy?
8. Trends:
   • What are the current trends in social media, and which platforms are leading these trends?
   • How can I leverage these trends for my business?
9. Integration:
   • How will social media integrate with my overall marketing strategy?
   • Which platforms offer the best integration options with my other marketing channels?
10. Flexibility:
    • How flexible are the platforms in terms of changing strategies and adapting to new trends?
    • Which platforms offer the best flexibility for my business needs?
      
      Every business have a different perspective when it comes to choosing their social media platform(s) and also what they prioritize amongst the factors mentioned above. For example, for a sole business owner with limited hands to do the work, resources can influence their decision more. 2 or 3 social media can be more manageable. Engagement and type of contents you post also weighs on a choice of platform.

To help you more, I included the popular social media platforms here, together with their features, best use and the target audience they are most concentrated with so you can match this with the platforms that out stands from your list.

Photo by Jonathan Robles