Which Social Media Platform is Right for Your Business? (Part II)

In Part I we explained the perks of using Facebook and Google+ for your business. Here, in Part II, we will explore more social networking platforms and reveal what benefits they hold for business users.

Instagram
Purchased by Facebook for a measly $1 billion two years ago, Instagram harnesses the power of the picture and now boasts 150 million monthly users. As a photo-sharing application most effective on smartphones, Instagram is perfect for publicising photogenic products, exciting events, or to offer your followers a real insight into your company culture.

Approximately 70 per cent of Instagram’s users are female, aged between 18–35, something to bear in mind when considering if Instagram is the social media platform for your business.

Twitter
With 271 monthly active users and 500 million tweets being sent per day, Twitter has its finger on the pulse of events all over the world. With its defining trends feature, people are able to monitor and discuss a whole array of topics as they happen in real time. The immediacy of Twitter sees that it is tailored for companies who conduct important live events and want to attract external interest from around the world. This also means that if a customer is unhappy with your service, he/she can complain immediately on Twitter and thus give you the opportunity to demonstrate your customer service with a speedy, tactful response.

Twitter is essential for companies who aim to set trends and be at the forefront of their industry.

Pinterest
With 70 million monthly users—a number which is steadily growing—Pinterest is similar to Instagram in being a picture-based social media platform. Pinterest specialises in the sharing and re-sharing of visual content which is typically creative and looks to give ideas and inspire its users. From recipes to DIY projects and the inevitable waves of cat images, Pinterest focuses on individual ‘pinboards’ which, like a Twitter hashtag, group images under certain categories and can spark a lot of ecommerce, thus being great for online sales companies.

Again, similarly to Instagram, 80 per cent of the Pinterest community is female, aged between 25-45, so keep this in mind.

We hope that this gives you a better picture of the social network landscape and the options available to your business. The crucial thing is to do your homework: figure out who your target audience are, and understand on which social network/s these people are most likely to be active.

Whichever option you decide will market your brand most effectively, Point and Stare has the tools to boost your online marketing. For more information, contact us today or follow us on Twitter, or LinkedIn.