Like most marketers, you’re facing the challenge of squeezed advertising and marketing budgets and limited manpower. While you face these challenges in many areas of your business on a regular basis, many people with entrepreneurial dreams wonder what is the best social media site for their business. With hundreds of social media sites, deciding on the right social media marketing channel for your business can be tricky. First focus on core understanding — who you’re trying to reach, what you’re trying to accomplish, and how you want to engage your target audience.

According to Pew Research, on a total U.S. adult population basis 69% of Caucasians, 63% of African-Americans, and 74% of Hispanics use at least one social media site. For many users, social media is part of their daily routine. Facebook and Instagram have the most daily users.

1. Facebook

Facebook is the most widely used of the major social media platforms, and its user base is the most broadly representative of the population as a whole. Marketers can target their audience by location including country, state or region. Forty-seven percent of Facebook users only access the platform through mobile. Americans spend twenty-two percent of their internet time on Facebook. More than likely your company is already using Facebook for business.  The question you’re asking yourself is how can you get better results and drive more traffic to your website. According to Shareaholic research, Facebook drives 25 percent of all referral traffic (Twitter, StumbleUpon, Reddit, and Google+ each refer less than a 1% share of the market.) Discover Facebook marketing tips and tactics the pros use to boost engagement on Facebook.  Some of the top brands on Facebook with likes include KFC, Converse, Samsung, Oreo, Red Bull, Disney, MTV, McDonald’s and YouTube.

2. Pinterest

Over 150 million people head to Pinterest on a monthly basis. According to Shareaholic research. 5% of all referral traffic to websites comes from Pinterest. More than 2 million users save shopping pins on a daily basis. 87 percent of Pinners have purchased a product because of Pinterest, according to research released by Millward Brown. They also found that 93 percent of Pinners have used Pinterest to plan a future purchase. Over 81 percent of all users are females, but the number of male users has grown 120 percent in 2017. While the median age for a Pinterest user is forty, 67 percent of Pinners are under the age of forty. Over 50 percent of all Pinterest users make more than $50,000 a year.  If your business sells products in fashion, home décor or food, then this should be your go-to destination. L.L. Bean, Nordstrom, Lowe’s, Whole Foods Market, Hillshire Farm are using Pinterest as pat of their marketing strategy. If your customer is on Pinterest, here are 18 tips Pinterest for business marketing tips to help you engage them.

3. Twitter

Just 21 percent of the US uses Twitter, compared with 68% of the population using Facebook. There are over 313 million monthly users that send over 500 million tweets each day. Twitter and LinkedIn are two networks where there are more male users than females. 84 percent of shoppers use the platform to search for deals, products and gift ideas. Twitter users shop online twice as much (3.6 timers per month) as non-Twitter users (1.9 times per month).  67.2 percent of U.S. companies are on using Twitter for marketing purposes. According to a joint study by Twitter and Annalect, Twitter users report 5.2 times increase in purchase intent when exposed to promotional content from influencers. Brands like HP, Burt’s Bees, Miracle-Gro and J.C. Penney are using influencers in their marketing.

4. Instagram

Over 400 million people get on Instagram at least once a month. Over 68 percent of all Instagram users are female. Active users are more likely to live in the city than in rural areas. Most users are between the age of 18 and 24 on Instagram. Engagement with brands is higher on Instagram than with any other type of social media. Instagram is used by 48.8% of brands—a number that is expected to rise to 70.7% by 2017. Forrester evaluated 11.8 million user interactions on 2,489 posts made by 249 branded profiles and found that the average number of Instagram followers for a top brand is now over 1 million—almost five times higher than in 2015. Top brands now post 4.9 times per week on Instagram. Want to see how top marketers are using Instagram? Follow Airbnb, Tesla, Adobe, Nike Lab, Reuters, Flowers for Dreams, Clarity Water, Paris Opera Ballet and Staples to see how they visually represent their brands and keep top-of-mind in users who scroll their Instagram feeds daily. Since the site offers no clickable links, many executives may discover that social media for business on this platform is very challenging if they do not already have a large following.

5. LinkedIn

Over 467 million people have created a LinkedIn account, but only 106 million people head to the site monthly. Of those users, almost 40 percent go there daily. 50 percent of B2B buyers use LinkedIn when making purchasing decisions. 70% of professionals describe LinkedIn as a trustworthy source of professional content. While the average user just graduated from college, LinkedIn is the most popular social networks used by CEOs. 68 percent of CEOs engage through their company web pages as self-publishes of news and information. The top 50 companies on LinkedIn represent brands we know and love — Allergan, Salesforce, Starbucks, Uber and Netflix. If your company is marketing B2B, LinkedIn can help you generate better leads and close more deals. These tips will help you set-up your company page on LinkedIn. 

Determine the Best Approach for Your Company

Social media is unlike any other communications medium your company has ever used. It has tremendous power to grab the hearts and minds of your customers. If you need help to make it work, Customer Insight Group’s Social Media Navigator can help get your company up to speed, and competitive, in all things social media in the shortest possible time. In just a few short weeks, your company will go from social media newbies to pros.