Social Media Platforms You Should Target for Small Business Marketing

Think social media campaigns are only for the big brands with thousands, if not millions, of followers and fans? Convinced you need massive internal resources to even get started? Think again!

Not every social platform makes sense for every business, so it’s important to understand which ones to target for growing your small business, while offering also customers an outstanding social media experience.

Leverage Social Media to Grow

Nearly 15 years after MySpace first came on the scene, social media is now an established part of how people get and deliver information. Consider this: in 2008, less than a quarter of consumers in the U.S. had a social media profile. Today, over 80% have one, and the number continues to grow.

People use social media to keep in touch with family and friends, stay on top of the latest news, and even further their careers. For small businesses, the top 5 social media platforms, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram, serve as channels where they can interact with customers on a deeper personal level.

While the overwhelming majority of small businesses have used some form of social media, most concentrate on Facebook. And not everyone who has a company profile has figured out how to use social media marketing for small businesses as an effective tool.

From Linked-In's more business-focused pages to image-heavy platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram, the good news is small businesses now have a huge amount of options at their disposal. Here’s a brief overview of how the “Big 5” can help you increase your reach and ROI.

• In spite of recent headlines, Facebook is still the most popular social media network in the world. Small businesses can use it to talk one-on-one with their customers and advertising can be highly targeted.
• One of the best ways Twitter provides value to small businesses and puts them on a level playing field with larger brands is by allowing them to respond to customers in almost real time. It gives the small brands that use it actionable insights on what people are saying about them, and it keeps them current on what’s trending which they can use to stay ahead of the competition.
• Instagram (owned by Facebook) has more than 600 global users and over a million monthly advertisers, most of them small businesses. The platform continues to introduce new features that brands can use to share products as well as user-generated content via hashtags, etc.
• Typically seen as a specialized platform, Pinterest is actually a valuable resource for small businesses. Small brands can use pins to build strong relationships with followers and influencers that will increase their reach. And as everyone knows, more reach equals more success.
• LinkedIn is geared towards careers and is most well-known as a social media platform for professionals. That makes it an ideal tool for B2B businesses. It also offers small business owners the opportunity to write articles relevant to their industry, raising their profile and establishing them as a brand to be reckoned with.

Growing Your Small Business With Social Media

If you’re a small business owner who’s put off developing and implementing a social media strategy because you’re just too busy running your business, an inbound marketing agency can help you increase traffic, conversions, and sales while building a solid customer base. Hands down, it can be the most bang you get for your marketing buck.

Schedule a free consultation with us to find out how you can use social media to grow your business.