Top 11 social media sites: Convert your Business into a Brand

In this age of digital media, marketing has got a whole new face, and social media is a dominant part of it. A majority of businesses have already jumped into this ocean and made their presence on social media. You might definitely be familiar with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, but there are a lot of other social media sites in the top list that you should consider in order to build a strong social presence.

Social media is one of the cheapest forms of marketing available today, and therefore is it quite beneficial to have a presence on the maximum sites possible. But, keep in mind not to overwhelm yourselves. 

Here is a list of the Top 11 social media sites on which your brand can have a presence. Find out where your target audience is, and start developing your business profile over there. You can prioritize and give importance to different sites on the basis of the activity of your target audience. 

1. Facebook – 2.6 Billion monthly active users

Well, the number is almost one-third of the entire world’s population! Being the top social media site, Facebook is a platform where a huge proportion of your target audience is present. More than 6 million advertisers are actively promoting their business using Facebook, and are getting great results in return.

Without any doubt, you should start making the most out of it. Try to have meaningful conversations and interact with your audience through creative posts and stories. 

There is a lot of competition too, but you can attract the right people using the right strategies. 

2. YouTube – 2 Billion monthly active users

The number of users active on YouTube is very close to Facebook. For even little things, people tend to jump to the app to see tutorials on how to do and what to do. Users watch a total of a billion hours of videos every day. So, if you, as a business, have content to share through videos, YouTube is the platform where you should stay active.

Even if you do not want to run your own channel, you can consider advertising on it. Pick up the videos that are related to your industry and have high engagement rates, and run crisp ads of about 15-20 seconds.

3. WhatsApp – 1.5 Billion monthly active users

Whatsapp started off as a personal chat platform, that people use to have conversations with their friends and families. But considering the number of active users, some businesses took it as an opportunity to promote their products and services.

Now, you can also convert your WhatsApp account into a Business one. Thus, people know when they are receiving messages from a business. When you already have a customer base, you can send them messages about discounts and festive offers, as the traditional text messages are already replaced by WhatsApp. This is a great way to retain old customers.

4. Instagram – 1 Billion monthly active users

This statistic was last released a long time ago, and we are pretty sure the numbers might have increased drastically. Instagram is the hot favorite social media site currently, especially among teenagers and youngsters. 

On an average, a person spends about an hour scrolling on Instagram daily. You can promote your brand and make it visible to your potential customers by making optimum use of the posting features – Stories, posts, IGTV videos, live videos, and targeted advertising.

Also, as it is now integrated with Facebook, you can manage all your ads of both the platforms from the Facebook Ad Manager itself. 

5. Twitter – 330 million monthly active users

Sometimes, you might think that it is difficult to promote your business using the limited character space of a tweet. But, if you play smartly, you can build a huge customer base using Twitter. Find out what your competitors are doing, and then develop your unique strategy.

Keep updating people about the things happening in your industry, which can be important to them. Share links of valuable articles and news. Make use of twitter cards to collect information about people and build your email list. You can also tweet on the trending topics to grab the attention of a majority of people.

6. Tumblr – 321 million monthly unique visitors

Tumblr is basically a microblogging site where people share text blogs, videos, links, photos, and audios. From pictures of dogs to fashion updates, you can find everything on this platform. It is a bit complicated to use as compared to other social media sites, but it is quite an interesting one.

There are more than 200 million blogs on Tumblr. It also allows you to personalize the color, theme, and layout of the blogs! 

A Tumblr Header Image, or Banner, is the main top-of-page image of a Tumblr blog. The Header Image serves as a way to welcome a visitor to a blog and is independent of any posts. Whatever you design, make sure that your Tumblr header size is to the point & connects readers to your blog.

When you want to use it as a brand, you need to develop slightly different content. Creativity and humor are much appreciated on the platform.

7. LinkedIn – 294 million monthly active users

When Linkedin came into the market, it was used majorly as a job search site. But now, it is much more than that. It is now used as a top professional social media site with focus on sharing expert content, networking with people, and building a personal brand. It acts as a platform to showcase your accomplishments.

As a business, you can create your own page and establish your authority in the industry by sharing knowledgeable and valuable posts. You can also make use of the unique advertising options available on the platform.

8. Pinterest – 250 million monthly active users

Launched in 2010, Pinterest is a platform where people go to discover new ideas and find inspiration. From quotes to clothing hacks, you can find every kind of information here. Pinterest has surveyed that about 78% of users say that content from brands is useful for them.

Out of the total users, 81% are females, 93% have pinned posts in order to plan for purchases, and 87% have claimed that they have made a purchase after seeing something on Pinterest.

Thus, it is an amazing opportunity to showcase your brand on such a platform! Especially, when your business falls into a creative industry, Pinterest is one of the top social media platforms you would want to be on.

9. Telegram – 400 million monthly active users

Telegram is a relatively new social media site but has still managed to hold its place in the top list. In very less time, it has unfolded a new way of marketing for businesses. Since it is a cloud-based messaging application, contacting people is quite easy irrespective of the device on which you use it – iOS, Android, or Windows. 

It supports multiple message formats – Text messages, photos, audios, videos, MP3, Doc, and zip files – which makes it very easy to communicate. There is also a feature of telegram bots that systemize core marketing processes and handle a lot of tasks without human interference. Small businesses are taking huge advantage of this app lately.

10. Snapchat – 360 million monthly active users

This social media platform is very popular in teenagers and youngsters because of its temporary nature of posts and quirky filters. But, it has now evolved and offers more than just sending pictures between friends.

It has become an amazing marketing platform if your target audience falls anywhere in the age group of 13 to 34. These people primarily use Snapchat for its filters, and businesses can now create sponsored ones! It is a great step you can take to create brand awareness in a fun way. 

Continuously post stories and feature user-generated content to build engagement. Snapchat also offers paid promotions, so you can even take benefits of it.

11. Medium – 100 million monthly active users

There are many ways in which people recognize this platform – a blogging site, an online magazine, a blended publishing site, an upscale content farm, etc. Anyone can publish their articles on Medium for free and anybody can read them for free too. Only some articles are reserved for paid members.

Along with publishing original content, brands also republish their website’s blog posts to reach more people. Here, posts are shown on the top on the basis of their quality and not according to the date posted, which is indeed great.

Medium gives you the feature of accessing key metrics from which you can know how people are interacting with your posts. Try to create content based on a particular theme that reflects your business. If you manage to craft out outstanding content and engage with readers, it will help you generate incredible traffic for your website.

Takeaway

The key to perfect social media marketing lies in how you can communicate with your target audience on different sites. 

Set goals for each site and decide how much time and money you will invest. 

Learn how to gain followers and eventually turn them into customers. 

Focus on providing value and not just repeatedly posting promotional stuff. 

Working on these top social media sites smartly will gradually turn your business into a brand! So, tell us, which social media platforms will you use for promoting your business?