Social media can be confusing if you don’t have a strategy in place. What platforms should you be using? How often should you be posting content? What demographic are you reaching on that platform?
It’s important to know the basics of the different social media platforms so you are using the ones that are best suited for your industry. You don’t need to be on every platform, because chances are your audience isn’t either. We recommend choosing 1-2 platforms that are best suited for your business and go all in!
If you’re unsure what platform to start with we recommend Facebook. With it’s over 2 billion ACTIVE users it’s a staple for social media no matter what industry you’re in. Facebook has an array of features for your business including, groups, pages, personal profiles, paid ads, TV, events, promotions, and a built-in scheduling feature!
- Hashtags: Don’t use any! Unless it’s a heavy-hitting hashtag, for example, event-specific or a national holiday, hashtags are not necessary on Facebook.
- Content-Length: Although posts on Facebook can exceed 60,000 characters it is recommended to keep your post less than 100 characters for optimal engagement.
- Image Size: 1200 px x 630 px
Twitter is known for being a quick-paced platform where content is short. The majority of users are 25-34-year-old males and 18-24-year-old females. While this is a great platform for C2C conversation it is also a great way for brands to communicate quickly with their consumers.
- Hashtags: 2-3 per post
- Content-Length: 280 characters or less
- Image Size: 1200px by 675px
Linkedin is your staple B2B platform. If your target demographic is B2B you should have a Linkedin page setup and active.
- Hashtags: Linkedin recently implemented hashtags into their posting functionalities so start with 1 per post.
- Content-Length: About 140 characters
- Image Size: 1200px by 1200px
Instagram users are primarily female with 64% being between the ages of 18 and 29. Instagram leans towards a much younger audience than that of Facebook, appealing to teens and young adults. Unlike other social media platforms, Instagram is simplistic with a scrolling feed and story option.
- Hashtags: 5-10 hashtags, although you can have up to 30
- Content-Length: 138-150 characters per post
- Image Size: 1080px by 1080px
While most people see Pinterest as a social media platform it is actually being considered by some to be a hybrid search engine and social platform. This is because 90 percent of weekly users use Pinterest to make purchasing decisions. Pinterest reaches 83 percent of US women aged 25-54. If your business model revolves around selling a product you should be using Pinterest.
- Hashtags: Up to 20
- Content-Length: 500 characters
- Image Size: 2:3 aspect ratio
YouTube
Youtube is the primary hub for video content. Currently, YouTube has more than 30 million daily visitors. Nearly 500 hours of video are uploaded every minute, with more than 2,400 channels that reach in excess of 1 million subscribers. The platform was purchased by Google in 2016 and currently ranks No. 2 for global and domestic web traffic, according to Alexa.
- Hashtags: 2-3
- Content-Length: On average the most-watched videos are between 2-3 minutes long. However, if you’re looking to maximize your monetization your content should be around the 10-minute mark.
Tik Tok
Tik Tok is the newest platform on this list and although it gets a reputation for having a younger audience, 26% of their audience is between 18 and 24. Tik Tok started out as a platform for dance videos and lip-syncing but has quickly evolved into a space for brands and business owners to share short bits of information relating to their industry.
- Demographic: 16-24 years old, B2C
- Hashtags: 1-2 per video
- Content-Length: 15 seconds
Google My Business
Although Google My Business is a tool used to optimize your SEO they offer a feature called “posts.” This feature acts in a similar way as a Facebook post or Linkedin post would except that you can only have one post live at a time and they expire after a certain time-frame (typically a week) unless it is an offer with a specific date. This feature is beneficial if you are a location-specific business. Learn more about how to begin implementing posts into your GMB strategy.