Which social media platforms are right for your business? We have compiled a few pros and cons of the main players in business related social media, from which you should be able to assess which platforms are best suited to your business (and your objectives).
Twitter is a micro-blogging site which limits posts (Tweets) to a short and snappy 140 characters. It also allows users to upload imagery and videos, all of which appear in the feeds of your followers. There are currently around 300 million monthly active Twitter users. Pros:
- Business-centric – Twitter is the most popular Social Media platform for businesses as, unlike Facebook, the majority of tweets reach followers. Recent stats suggest that 49% of businesses would rather engage with companies over Twitter than any other platform.
- Concise – The 140 character limit means users can only read or deliver small snapshots of information. Twitter provides a place to drop the punchy headline and link to a business’s website or chosen piece of content.
- Huge! – Even the smallest, most niche businesses can find useful people to follow and engage with on Twitter because of the large and diverse audience.
Cons:
- Twitter is very busy – With the huge audience comes drawbacks. With over 350 million tweets sent per day, finding the tweets and accounts that are relevant to you can be difficult initially.
- Messages are transient – The high volume of tweets means your message will very quickly be consigned to history. This is why Twitter accounts need to be very active, ideally with Tweets going out every day.
- Concise – Both a negative and a positive. It can be hard to convey a point or feedback to followers within the 140 character limit.
Facebook encourages user interaction. With “Share” and “Like” functions, content is shared quickly. With 1.35 billion monthly users, Facebook is a Social Networking giant and always needs to be considered. Pros:
- Word of mouth – People will share interesting and relevant content, so businesses can reach thousands of people very quickly.
- Direct contact – Businesses can converse directly and easily with their customers without the 140 character restriction of Twitter.
- Easy to create a community of followers – Through the use of Fan pages and groups, Facebook can be very effective at creating a community of people who like your brand.
Cons:
- Much more Consumer than B2B- Facebook tends to be used by people wearing their home hat rather than their work hat, making it a perfect medium for businesses that sell to consumers. It is however, less useful for B2B companies.
Pinterest is an image sharing platform, allowing users to share their images and videos in specific circles (known as boards). Pinterest has 30 million monthly active users Pros:
- Picture perfect – Pinterest is a platform suited for businesses that naturally generate lots of imagery. It allows users to showcase themselves on a platform specifically designed for images.
- Linked images – Every image on Pinterest is linked to its original sources. Therefore, traffic to business websites is high. Pinterest referral traffic outstrips both Facebook and Twitter
Cons-
- Niche – Pinterest attracts a very specific type of user and cannot be used alone to reach a whole target audience. Google recently stated that 80% of Pinterest users are female, so be sure you consider who you are targeting before deciding to use this one.
- Maintenance – Articles and blog posts can be generated much easier than quality image content that is needed to maintain a Pinterest account. Therefore it is important to understand that a consistent steam of image content is require for a good Pinterest account.
The ‘Big-boy’ of B2B, LinkedIn has 374 million monthly active users. It is the professional platform, designed for businesses and employees to connect and share content. It is often considered to be the “Professional Facebook” Pros:
- Professional – LinkedIn is designed for professional, business minded people. This means that that businesses and their employees have a more focused audience on LinkedIn, without “personal” users.
- Content focused – LinkedIn has an abundance of content relating to companies and individual employees details. This means a business can research a company or individual quickly amnd at little or no cost.
Cons:
- Cost – As with much software, the free version of LinkedIn has less functionality than the fee-based LinkedIn Pro. The Pro version weighs in at £27 a month – though 2012 figures from LinkedIn suggest that well over 99% of users stick with the free account!
- Individually focused – As LinkedIn is a platform made up of professional individuals, it can be tricky to promote a company brand. The focus is more on the individual than on company pages.
YouTube
YouTube is a video sharing website. It is a giant! With 1.5 billion active users, it is considered a must for anyone wanted to showcase visual content. Pros:
- Free – For the service you get, YouTube is a great free platform. As it makes its revenue through advertising, YouTube does not charge for usage. This means businesses can upload and store videos on their own channel at no cost to them (this is also a drawback though – see below).
- Length – Videos of up to 15 minutes in length can be uploaded to the site, with the potential for more upon verification.
Cons:
- Adverts – In order to make money, YouTube overlays adverts at the beginning of videos. Therefore, viewers of your video will be forced to watch a completely unrelated advert beforehand (though if you get a lot of views – and I mean A LOT! – you can make decent money directly from YouTube)
