Social Media is everywhere, almost everyone has used it and millions log-in daily. As an online business you can use social media to interact with customers and prospective customers, ultimately increasing traffic and sales to your website.

Social media is a must for most online businesses. It is a way to communicate and build trust with customers and build a positive brand image. There are various platforms that you can use but not all are suitable for every business. Here we have broken down the 5 main outlets, so you can decide which would work best for your business and bring you the best return.

We would advise not spreading yourself too thinly across all the platforms. Social media is great, but it can’t be done intermittently, and it won’t be a quick win either. This is a slow and steady process but with potential great long-term gains. Pick 1-2 sites at first and master them, build a following and really submerge yourself into their online communities.

Facebook – everything & everyone

Audience: Almost everyone 13-65+

Broadcast: Everything!

Facebook is the platform people immediately think of when you say social media. One of the first and arguably the biggest and most used by all demographics.

It is reported that the average user spends around an hour a day on the site- which is a lot of potential attention and interaction from people (and prospective customers). With the average person sleeping for 8 hours, this means that people are choosing to spend at least a 16th of the day on the site!

Facebook is rather limitless with regards to what you can post and share if you comply with their guidelines. You can post updates, photos, videos, polls, links and adverts.

If you are posting adverts on Facebook, ensure you have read their latest policies

Twitter – the world’s conversation

Audience: Average age 18-29, a favourite for celebrities and World Leaders

Broadcast: Written content, photos and videos.

People are addicted to Twitter; the character limit makes posts more thoughtful and to the point. World leaders, celebrities and your next-door neighbour all love to tweet.

A very fast pace fleeting site where trends change in a second and a new retweet star is made in a heartbeat.

Twitter is one big conversation, it allows you to be transparent and offer advice and share your knowledge. Marketing tweets will more than likely be ignored, instead, this is a platform to show your dedication to customer satisfaction and to show everyone how knowledgeable you are in your field.

With this in mind, everyone loves a funny post, a competition or a good meme.

Instagram – photos for instant growth

Audience: Ages 18-49, with 17% of teens saying Instagram is the most important social media site.

Broadcast: Photos & Videos

Instagram has grown at an incredible rate – it is fun, on trend and with almost everyone having a camera on their phone they are able to snap and share a part of their day.

Although the age demographics are 18-49 years, most users are under 35 years old, so this is worth keeping in mind if your products are for a more mature audience.

Don’t worry if you do not have products that photograph well, this does not mean that Instagram is off limits. Instead, use the platform to show behind the scenes of your company – people like to see the people who make the brand!

Instagram posts do take quite a lot of planning, you need to be consistent and put together an effective strategy for the platform.

Pinterest – the beautiful things

Audience: 81% are female users however 41% of new users are male

Broadcast: Photos, videos and other images

If you have products that are visually pleasing, then Pinterest is for you. Strong images get people talking and sharing naturally.

Keep in mind that females are the main users so if your products are aimed at the ladies then you should be posting beautiful images here.

Although Pinterest is instant gratification for users, they like the image so they ‘pin it’ to their boards, 87% of pinners have purchased a product because of Pinterest with 97% of active users saying they plan to purchase because of something they have seen on Pinterest.

LinkedIn – a place for professional networkers

Audience: Professionals and entrepreneurs

Broadcast: Mainly text content

380 million users make LinkedIn the largest ‘niche’ audience on social media.

LinkedIn is a networking site and a complete ‘non-sales’ platform. This is the place to go to build connections, to make your mark in your industry as someone who is knowledgeable.

This platform is not a place to boost your sales or to gain customers – unless you are selling Business to Business services really. You can be on LinkedIn if you sell B2C, but this would not be your most ideal place to focus your social media plan.