Which social media platforms do I need for my business? In a world of social media, you may be thinking a lot about this question. We all know socials take up time, but which will really pay off?
Our recent YouTube video briefly explored this topic, but this blog is a more comprehensive overview of our thoughts.
Which social media platforms do I need for my business?
Social media is vital in this day and age; Meta has such a good online presence that you should at least consider Instagram and Facebook. But should you commit to TikTok too? Is Twitter/X going to be useful? What about Instagram Threads? It’s a minefield! Don’t devote your time to something that won’t pay off for your business.
Firstly, know your customer, and which social media platforms THEY would use. Work out who your ideal audience is, and who would buy from you – then you know where they would look for a business like yours!
Secondly, make sure your products are shown off optimally, meaning high-quality photographs and videos of the things that you’re selling.
The 4 places to be seen:
1. Instagram
Instagram is essential for any business! Click here to read why. It essentially acts like a magazine, a visual aid for your customers to see what you’re selling.
You can add links in your bio to multiple places; both your shop and also website, plus your mailing list to nurture future customers too.
Instagram has a wide audience demographic of all ages, and multiple types of people and shoppers will engage with this platform, so it’s important to be seen there!
An extra note on Threads –
Small businesses seem to be seeing success with Threads, as Instagram is pushing this feature as one of their offshoots. However, at this moment not many people seem to be using it in day to day life BUT we have to please the Meta algorithm sometimes!
2. Facebook
For full disclosure, the Pedddle team aren’t super-fans of Facebook BUT it can be useful! Meta has great SEO, so it’s worth at least adding a page for your business to Facebook, as it could help you in search engines.
The downsides to Facebook are that you can get lost easily in a feed, as they show most recent posts first, and generally it has an older audience. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it depends who your audience are! But usership for this platform is generally going down.
3. TikTok
For now, TikTok is a relatively new platform, and generally attracts a younger user.
However, it is gaining increasing popularity with small business owners due to its functionality.
Do you feel confident making videos (or Reels for Insta)? If so, you can really see success on TikTok, with short-form video content being exactly what you need. You can even cross-share between Instagram and TikTok’s platforms and maybe even post Shorts to YouTube too, so if you’re making one short video, you can use it in multiple places! Consider creating your videos by a different app, so that you can easily upload it in these multiple places. However, if you prefer posting static images and product photographs, then Instagram or Facebook might be your place instead of TikTok’s video-based outlet.
4. X (formerly Twitter)
Again, it totally depends on your end user but X could be useful, depending on what you want to post. You may see more success on this platform if you offer a service, as opposed to a product (Pedddle actually grew a large Twitter following when we started out, before realising better functionality with Instagram), and we have a service-based business model, so there’s an example!
See you on socials!
Whatever platforms you choose to use, social media is really important for your business, so pick at least one and stick with it! Overnight success on any platform is very rare, but with time, effort and research into what works, it can really pay off.
Good luck!
Blog written in June 2024.