Social media… where do you start?
It’s 2023, and social media is and will continue to change constantly, whether that be the trends that are EVERYWHERE, the way the algorithm is working or just the newest platform that’s currently popular.
Social media is not just a place to post cute pictures of dogs or share the ‘top 3 funniest football fails of all time’. We are talking about Social Media Marketing, the one factor that should be a no-brainer when planning your marketing strategy for your business.
So, here are the best social media platforms you should use to promote yourself this year:
Instagram is a great place to grow brand awareness and stand out from competitors. With Instagram having over 2 billion active users per month, there is plenty of opportunity to find your audience and build your brand’s identity. Many businesses use Instagram in different ways – it can be a place to show the personality behind the team and brand, or you can keep your approach more professional and show why your business is the best at what they do by strictly promoting your products and services and utilising the Instagram shop tool. It really is a platform for every business.
TikTok is the place to be if you want to grow your user-generated content and social proof, especially if you have a physical product to sell. If you were looking at TikTok back in 2020, you would scroll for hours watching endless dance videos; however, it has progressed a lot since then. Brands now use TikTok to promote product releases, create challenges with their products and show behind the scenes on shoot days and life in the office. From ‘try-on hauls’ and pickle-eating challenges, there is a lot more opportunity to grow your brand awareness and drive sales through this platform. You just have to be quick with the trends – or create your own! (You can also now create your own TikTok shop for customers to buy your products directly through the app with access to exclusive discount codes!)
Facebook is old school, but it still works, and that’s why so many businesses use it. Facebook is great for customer interaction, with the likes of messaging and creating groups. It also has incredible analytics and is great for targeted advertising. With over 1 billion daily active users, Facebook allows you to reach various people and create a long list of cold, warm and hot audiences to boost your brand awareness and create conversions.
Twitter is a tool to use if you want to drive traffic to your website, blogs, or other channels however isn’t always the best tool for creating sales. Twitter can be used to promote your business using tags and hashtags organically and has an excellent reputation for building brand awareness and engaging followers. Utilise Twitter for promotional posts and building brand awareness however, keep in mind that Twitter loves to see multiple tweets per day! Twitter would be a great place to advertise to those colder audiences and build trust with your customers.
LinkedIn is the go-to networking tool for businesses and professionals looking to promote available services, job opportunities or general updates. Building a strong connection and follower base can be crucial for future opportunities. It will allow you to grow a long contact list to not only promote to but also go to for other needs you may require for your business.
Pinterest is where people go for inspiration and to find out what others are doing/wearing/eating etc. Use this as your tool to build brand awareness and drive people to landing pages on your website, whether that be a blog article or a collection of ‘new in’ products. On Pinterest, tag items to shop that will automatically be added to a user’s ‘shopping list’ as and when they like/save your posts. As well as promoting your products/services, build a profile your customers go to for inspiration too!
Youtube is most often used to share information about services through long-form or short-form video content however brands also use influencers on this platform to promote their products to varying audience sizes. Most recently, YouTube has taken an approach similar to TikTok and Reels with shorter form content being promoted on the main feed and profiles under ‘YouTube Shorts’ – these are very useful to use if you have prerecorded content captured on TikTok and Reels that you can easily repurpose and post on shorts as well as using shorts to promote other content in the future. Videos tend to drive more conversions and are a perfect way to show the personality behind the brand. These videos can also go hand in hand with other marketing materials you use, like blog articles. Just keep in mind that if you are creating long-form content for your channels, these can take a while to produce, edit and upload therefore plan ahead and make sure you have a team able to produce the content to the high quality that YouTube favours.
Social media platforms will help you find new audiences, drive traffic and often, create sales; therefore, there really isn’t any business out there that couldn’t be using these platforms for marketing in some form or another.
Holly brings a wealth of experience in both print and digital publishing. As Modern Retail’s Content Editor, Holly is passionate about helping independent retailers to thrive in today’s ever-changing market.
