Best Social Media for Business: Which for Yours? [infographic]

Wondering the best social media platforms for your business?

Love it or not, social media is an integral part of promoting your business online.

It’s a key way to make connections with potential customers, drive traffic to your website, and even network with other businesses.

But there are so many social media sites now – a small business owner can’t possibly be on them all.

Where do you start? How you do pick the right ones for your business?

A great way to do that is to think about the personality of the social media site, and how that matches up with the personality of your business or brand.

Of course, user stats are important too, so we’ll include the highlights, and wrap them up on an infographic at the end of the article.

Let’s dive in!

Do you really need social media for business?

I bet there’s a part of you thinking “but do I really need social media for my business anyway?”

The answer is definitely yes. Apart from the potential these sites have, there’s a degree of expectation from customers.

They might expect you to have a Facebook Page, or that they can send you a tweet.

They may think it strange if you don’t have an Instagram account, or that you don’t have a profile on LinkedIn.

You don’t have to be everywhere, but you do need to be somewhere in the social media world.

The key is to pick the places you’ll best connect with your audience, and focus your attention there.

Let’s look at the features of the the main social media sites, and who hangs out on each. We’ll also consider the personality of each platform, because if you don’t fit in, and you feel like a fraud, you’ll turn off more people than you’ll attract.

Facebook

Despite many ups and downs in terms of reputation, Facebook remains the largest social media network in the world.

It passed 1 billion users back in 2012 and now has around 2.85 monthly active users on the platform (Q1 2021).

Further, some 3.45 billion people used at least one of their core products which include Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.

User growth has slowed down in recent times – mostly because almost everyone already has an account!

But it remains one of the most important places for your business to be.

Facebook business features

Facebook offers features for small businesses of different types.

Facebook Pages are the basic starting point: a place for your business to exist online.

Because you aren’t meant to share business content from your personal profile, Pages are the main place for your business on the platform. If you use your personal profile as a business hub, you’re breaking Facebook’s Terms of Service and may have it shut down.

Anyone can start a Facebook Page, and you can use the built-in scheduler to schedule Facebook posts free, or use third-party tools. FB Pages also include analytics – Facebook Insights – that help you understand your audience better.

You can also help to drive traffic to your website with link thumbnails from your web pages or posts.

Facebook Groups are a popular way to build an audience and network. Anyone can start one and decide the rules, who gets in, and what happens inside.

Groups can be private or public, and you can set criteria for entering the group.

They can be very popular to showcase your business, but there’s a big element of community needed, too. It can’t be 100% promotion.

That sense of community can be priceless though. You’ll likely find more blog readers, subscribers, customers and clients from your Facebook group.

Facebook Shops are a newer feature that allows you to create a shop on your Page.

It isn’t available for all types of products – digital products aren’t currently accepted.

But if you sell physical products, it’s worth considering.

Facebook Ads can be laser-targeted and are known to be one of the best advertising options available to businesses.

Facebook demographics

• 74 billion monthly active users
• 73% of users check Facebook daily
• 34 minutes average daily use
• 93% of users check Facebook weekly
• 63% of US adults over age 12 use Facebook
• 24% of Facebook users are aged 18-24
• 4% of Facebook users are 45-54
• 56% of global users are male
• 40% of meaningful Facebook groups are created by women

Facebook personality

Facebook is the elder statesman of social media, and that means almost any business personality will find an audience there.

While the younger age groups have gone off it a little, people still turn to it when they want to find a business or query something.

Even TikTok has a Facebook Page!

So regardless of what kind of audience you have, consider having a presence here.

Is Facebook good for your small business?

Finally, let’s take a look at how Facebook might benefit your business.

These types of business generally do well on Facebook

Since so many people are active Facebook users, most businesses have a high chance of finding their audience here.

But here are some that will succeed most (or least):

• B2C companies (business to consumer).
• Brands with a broad appeal that crosses demographics.
• Businesses that sell to solopreneurs or microbusinesses.
• But businesses that need to target a high-level decision maker should try LinkedIn instead.
• If you sell products or services that people may not want their Facebook friends to know they’re interested in, you may find success on Facebook elusive.

Facebook is good for:

• Building a community (especially Groups).
• Providing an online base (Pages).
• Selling products (Pages + Shops).
• Traffic to your website, though it takes consistent posting on Pages. Groups can be easier (I get FB traffic from unknown people posting my articles in Groups!).

Not so good for:

• Building a community from a Page alone (create a Group for that).
• Business owners without a lot of time or a VA, since consistency is needed.

Instagram

Instagram arrived on the scene with a bang back in 2010, and was scooped up by Facebook in no time.

Now it has more than 1 billion users each day, so it’s a strong contender for a crucial social media platform to use.

The big thing to remember with Instagram is that every post has to have a picture or video. Images are the core of what the platform is about.

Instagram business features

Instagram is a mobile-based app, but business accounts can also post to IG from desktop with an approved third-party scheduling tool. This frees you from being online at the best time to post on Instagram, which may not sync with your office hours!

They have also added some ways to grow your business on Instagram that offer more reasons to use the site.

Business and Creator Accounts offer expanded features to a standard account including advanced analytics.

This means you can get a better idea of what kind of posts are working, who your audience is, when they’re using the app, and more.

Instagram Shops are similar to Facebook shops. They offer the chance to showcase products on the platform with advanced features to promote sales.

Stories, IGTV, and Instagram Reels are all extra ways to make connections with your audience and build a following.

They can also be a good way to cleverly repurpose content from other platforms. For example, Instagram Stories can also be shared to Facebook for their version.

Instagram demographics

• 2 billion unique monthly visitors
• 500 million accounts view Instagram Stories each day
• 90 million people tap on IG tags each month
• 90% of users follow a business account
• 67% of users are 18-24
• 60% of users are 25-34
• Largest user bases: US, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Russia
• 37% of US adults use Instagram
• 51% of users identify as female

Instagram personality

• Creative
• Hip
• Visually savvy
• Adventurous

Is Instagram good for your business?

These types of business generally do well on Instagram:

• Brands that have good visuals to use in their posts.
• E-commerce businesses as opposed to those looking to target local markets, as location-specific posts are harder (but not impossible!).
• Content creators, especially if you take your own photos.
• Brick and mortar businesses that can showcase their products or service with photos, like restaurants or clothes boutiques.

Instagram is good for:

• Building a following.
• Becoming an influencer to get paid for sponsored posts.
• Selling physical products.
• Targeting audiences with Instagram hashtags.

Not so good for:

• Businesses without high quality visual content, or a way to produce it.
• Driving traffic to your site (unless you get extra features for passing 10K followers).
• Sending people directly to landing pages for services or products.
• People without a lot of time, as consistency and engagement are needed.

Twitter

Twitter calls itself a ‘microblogging platform’ as opposed to social media. But most of us know it as a social media platform.

It’s one of the original ones, and while it hasn’t seen the growth of Instagram, it’s remained a favorite with many.

The limited number of characters per update or ‘tweet’ makes for an interesting and active platform.

Because it is limited in the number of characters, you can also take advantage of images for more visibility. Just use the correct Twitter image sizes as they’re different from other sites. You don’t want an awkward cropping where your part of your text (or head) is cut off!

Twitter’s a popular place to share news stories, updates, and even funny snippets and memes.

Twitter business features

For business users, Twitter doesn’t have a business account as such. Nor are there special features for business users.

But you can create a profile using your business name, and add information about your business – such as your website link – in your profile.

There are also Business Insights which helps you see information about the best times to post on Twitter, what content does well, and which hashtags are working.

Twitter demographics

• 166 million monetizable daily active users (people, organizations, and others who can have ads shown to them)
• 340 million total users
• 10% of users account for 80% of tweets
• More than 80% of users are outside the US
• 33 million US users make up the largest user group from one country
• Most popular ‘western’ social media site in Japan
• 30 million+ users in India
• 19% of users are between 25-34 and male
• 16% of users are between 35-49 and male

Twitter personality

• Informed
• Conversational
• Direct and to-the-point
• Quirky

Is Twitter good for your business?

These types of business generally do well on Twitter:

• Businesses with lots of content or information they can tweet about.
• Brands that can create a variety of content such as polls, images, videos, and links.
• Companies that don’t always have the most visual products or services (as not every tweet needs an image).
• Brands with a strong brand voice and content style that can create attention.
• Businesses with a little time or budget to engage on the platform.
• Businesses that want to offer an online customer service option via the platform.

Twitter is good for:

• Building a following.
• Sending people to your website (links can be added to any tweet).
• Engaging with followers.
• Targeting audiences with hashtags.
• Checking up on what people are saying about your business or niche.
• Finding and addressing issues users tweet about, if they @mention you or use a niche hashtag.
• Answering customer service queries.

Not so good for:

• Not as many advanced business features.
• High-speed nature means it is harder to get people to see your content.
• Businesses with little content, as one tweet a day won’t work.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is always seen as the professional social media site. It is where business owners, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and professionals hang out.

That means if you are targeting a B2B audience, this is a great place to consider. However, people spend less time here for shopping or entertainment.

It tends to focus on work hours, with the best times to post on LinkedIn reflecting that.

LinkedIn business features

LinkedIn Pages are similar to Facebook Pages. But because there’s no rules about posting to your main profile about your business, they aren’t as necessary.

LinkedIn Groups are also similar to Facebook Groups, and allow you to get together with others in your niche or your audience.

You can also pay a monthly fee to have advanced account features.

LinkedIn demographics

• 675 million users worldwide
• 303 million monthly active users
• 9% of US users visit the site more than once a day
• 12% of US users visit the site at least once a day
• 30+ million companies use LinkedIn
• 20+ million jobs advertised on the platform
• 57% of users are on mobile (compared to 88% on Facebook for example)
• 37% of users are aged 46-55
• 34% of users are aged 36-45
• 57% of users worldwide are male
• 70% of users are outside the US
• The top regions for users are the US, India, China, and Brazil

LinkedIn personality

• Professional
• Business-forward
• Educated

Is LinkedIn good for your business?

These types of business generally do well on LinkedIn:

• Any business that creates content about the business.
• Companies that product content such as blog posts or video content.
• Solopreneurs looking to make network connections and reach clients.

LinkedIn is good for:

• Business-to-business niches.
• Driving traffic to your website.
• Republishing blog content to extend its reach.
• Finding a job or an employee.

Not so good for:

• Building a brand.
• Non-business niches.

Pinterest

Just as Twitter sees itself as a microblogging platform, Pinterest sees itself as a visual search engine.

That makes it more closely related to Google than Facebook, but it still ends up grouped with the social networking sites.

Pinterest is often listed as the top ‘social media’ site in terms of the traffic it drives to websites – relative to the energy expended on it. But there are some social elements to the site, which have increased in recent times.

Pinterest is also a good place to go if you sell products, as people do research and look for inspiration there.

While it was traditionally seen as somewhere that women went, nearly 40% of new users are now men, so the demographics have become quite mixed.

Pinterest business features

As a business, you need a Pinterest Business Account under their terms – but this also comes with enhanced features.

You can claim your website and enable Rich Pins, which give extra emphasis to Pins from your site.

You can get dedicated analytics and access to their paid ads platform.

More recent features include Idea Pins which are a lot like Instagram Stories, so they offer opportunities for repurposing content. Idea Pins drive viewers to your profile, so they help get more followers on Pinterest.

You can publish directly on the platform or use scheduler apps like Tailwind for Pinterest to post your content throughout the day or night – whenever is the best time to post on Pinterest for your account.

Pinterest demographics

• 459 million monthly active users
• International users grew by 46% in 2020
• 14th largest social media platform
• 98 million active monthly users in the US
• 60% of users are women
• Gen Z users grew by 40% in the last two years
• 82% of people use Pinterest on mobile
• Users watch 1 billion videos a day on the platform
• 95% of the top searches are unbranded

Pinterest personality

• Positive
• Inspirational
• Fashion-forward

Is Pinterest good for your business?

These types of business generally do well on Pinterest:

• Industries such as DIY, fashion, beauty, exercise, food, and photography that have naturally good visuals.
• Brands that can create different content types including video.
• Businesses that don’t need to capture local traffic, such as e-commerce sites with worldwide delivery options.
• Companies that can create inspirational content alongside sales content.

Pinterest is good for:

• Driving traffic to your website.
• Selling products.
• Increasing brand awareness.
• Increasing ad revenue and affiliate sales (through traffic to your site).
• Email sign ups.

Not so good for:

• Building an audience.
• Sponsored posts.
• Branded content partnerships.

YouTube

If you love to create video, or your audience loves video content, then YouTube is virtually a compulsory part of your business marketing.

With over 2 billion monthly active users, it’s the top video site and the second largest search engine after Google itself (who owns it).

While video rules this platform, you’ll also need great YouTube thumbnails to catch eyes and pique interest.

YouTube uses search engine optimization to rank YouTube videos in a similar way to Google, so keywords are important to get your YouTube video ideas found in search.

YouTube business features

As a business, you can create your YouTube channel with playlists to showcase your content.

There’s more information in the analytics, including who is watching your content and when, to help refine your posting plan.

With comments for every video, you can also grow your email list by using call-to-actions in the video notes.

YouTube demographics

• 2 billion logged-in monthly users.
• 74% of US adults use YouTube.
• 77% of 15-35 years olds use it.
• 4% of traffic to the site comes from the US.
• Second most visited site in the world after Google search.
• 56% of users are male.
• 1 billion hours of video watched every day.
• Over 18 users spend an average of 41.9 minutes a day on YouTube.

YouTube personality

• Personable
• Friendly

Is YouTube good for your business?

These types of business generally do well on YouTube:

• Brands that can create video content!
• E-commerce and similar companies not seeking a local audience exclusively.
• Businesses that can create educational videos.

YouTube is great for:

• Driving conversions and generating leads.
• Brand awareness.
• Content that can be repurposed in different ways.
• Embedding into blog posts to help with overall SEO.
• Or generating ad income on its own, once you get enough subscribers.

Not so good for:

• People who don’t like making video.
• Anyone without the time to plan and create video.
• Driving traffic to your website.

TikTok

TikTok is the new kid on the block and has become very popular, very quickly, especially with a younger audience.

The app has seen over 2 billion downloads in a short time. But more and more brands are learning to use the popularity of the site to reach new people.

It is a video-sharing site that’s a bit like YouTube, but much less organized and structured.

You’ll want to use TikTok hashtags heavily to get content seen.

People share short videos, often things like singing and dancing. But there are also a lot of content ideas for business.

From educational content to how-to tutorials, there are a lot of ways a business can use it.

TikTok business features

As the new kid on the block, TikTok hasn’t developed a lot of business perks yet.

You can have a Business account that gives you access to some advanced analytics.

This also allows for things like brand takeovers, branded effects, and hashtag challenges.

TikTok has also established a generous Creator Fund to help TikTokers turn their creativity into a career.

TikTok demographics

• 2 billion downloads worldwide.
• 7th most used social media network.
• 690 million active global users.
• Available in more than 200 countries.
• 100 million monthly users in the US.
• 48% of users are 18-29.

TikTok personality

• Youthful
• Casual
• Irreverent

Is TikTok good for your business?

These types of business generally do well on TikTok:

• Brands targeting a younger audience.
• Companies that can create fun videos that fit with the vibe of the platform.
• Businesses that can create some educational content in video form.
• Companies that don’t rely on local-only traffic.

TikTik is good for:

• Building an audience.
• Brand awareness.
• Being the personal face of your business.
• Tutorials and how-to content.

Not good for:

• Driving traffic to your website.
• Email signups and lead generation.
• Anyone not comfortable making video content.

Finding the right social media platform

With social media, you rarely find the perfect fit where you can ignore all others.

Each platform has its own slightly complex personality, and audience that uses it. All offer various business features to help make things more successful.

Part of picking the right one for your business is knowing your audience, and where they like to hang out.

And sometimes, it’s a case of trying something different to reach someone new.

It’s all part of creating a social media strategy that works to build your business.

If this has helped you figure out the best social media for your business, please share! You can save the infographic from Tech.co to Pinterest for reference.