As the number of social media users continues to rise and marketing options become more sophisticated, excluding social media platforms from a marketing strategy is becoming increasingly difficult. However, despite the numerous opportunities social media marketing presents, the competition is often intense. As a result, you can easily spend a lot of money on advertising on the wrong platform, leading to a low return on investment.
But, there are ways to avoid the pitfalls. In this blog post, we will explore the best social media platforms for marketing in 2023, as well as key factors to consider when determining which platforms will be most effective for your brand.
Social media platforms come in many variations. In fact, there are over hundreds and hundreds of them. Of course, you're already familiar with the bigger ones, like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. There are also many less-known social media platforms. For example, some are relevant based on geographical position, some target a specific topic, and some enable people with similar interests to share their passion.
Depending on your business, some social media platforms are naturally better for marketing purposes than others. In many cases, it’s beneficial to look broad and wide, as well as local and niched. Some platforms offer the possibility to do exactly that and are therefore frequently used by marketers across the globe:
These platforms have a massive user base and offer the opportunity to use sophisticated targeting options for both B2C and B2B. As a result, marketers have the possibility to reach a high amount of people, as well as filter out specific target users.
Even though the bigger ones offer many opportunities, you can also benefit from looking into smaller and more local social media platforms. They can serve an additional purpose if you’re very niched or limited geographically.
Marketing on social media opens up plenty of businesses to reach their ideal audiences, with outcomes such as increased sales, generated leads, higher website traffic, and greater brand awareness. However, each and every social media platform has its pros and cons when it comes to marketing.
When figuring out which channel is the best for your marketing strategy, you need to understand how it’s used. So, let us have a look at the most frequently used social media platforms for marketing in 2023:
Facebook is a powerful tool for connecting with people worldwide, with around 2,958 million users active every month. Facebook allows users to post and share content, such as texts, photos, videos, articles, and much more. There are also extensions, such as Facebook Marketplace, which enable users to list and buy items for sale.
Key Stats:
Source: Statista
Instagram is a highly visual platform, ideal for video and photo sharing. Active users per month are around 2,000 million people, and many use Instagram to seek inspiration, discover trends, and research products and brands. Instagram offers several main features, including a newsfeed, reels, and stories.
Key Stats:
Source: Statista
Cons:
LinkedIn is known as a social media platform for professionals. It's an ideal platform for marketing within B2B and other professional contexts. One appreciated feature among marketers working with LinkedIn is the ability to target organic or paid content by industry, title, company, job search, and more.
Key Stats:
Source: Statista
YouTube is a massive online video platform with a global reach. It's the world's second most visited website after Google. As many as 2,514 million are monthly active. Some of the most popular videos on the platform are how-to guides and tutorials.
Key Stats:
Source: Oberlo
TikTok is known as the social media platform of Gen Z, with around 1,051 million active users every month. However, its popularity is growing daily, with no indication to be limited to Gen Z. TikTok is a platform where users can post, share, and react to short-video content. Popular content is often quirky and relatable and tends to follow current trends.
Key Stats:
Source: Data Reportal
Note: TikTok does not provide audience data for users under 18.
Pros:
Twitter is a social media platform focusing on short texts of 280 characters or less. Users can also post and share links, polls, images, and videos. There are currently around 556 million active users on a monthly basis. Twitter is a favorite among people working within the news sector.
Key Stats:
Source: Statista
As a rule of thumb, you should only use the social media platform that serves the purpose of your marketing goals. Therefore, the best platform for social media marketing for businesses depends on several factors. Here are some key aspects you could consider when determining which channels serves you the best:
By looking at your target audience from an overall perspective, you can understand which platform to use. And notice that it's the overall perspective that is key here. Combining different insights about your target audience lets you see which social media platforms check most of your boxes.
You could, for example, ask yourself:
Example of audience insights you can get in BrandBastion Lite
Each social media platform has its strengths and weaknesses. Different platforms are more effective for specific goals. Here are a few examples of common goals and objectives related to social media marketing efforts:
If you, for example, want to increase brand awareness and boost sales, Instagram could be a good choice. According to a Meta survey, 83% of surveyed say Instagram helps them discover new products or services.
If you, on the other hand, want to generate leads within B2B marketing, LinkedIn is most likely a top choice. It's known as a social media platform for professionals with great potential to generate high-quality leads.
Advertising costs vary widely between platforms. Before deciding which platform to use, it's essential to have your marketing budget all set up. With the marketing budget as your foundation, it's easier to determine which social media platform gives you the most value for the money.
Then, you can look into the costs of running ads and campaigns across different platforms:
In addition, ads, campaigns, and content require internal resources, such as time, competence, and budget. Therefore, it's crucial to evaluate if you're able to meet what's needed to reach your target audience on the chosen platform successfully.
For instance, if you'd like to do marketing on YouTube, you need to create marketing material that meets the platform's content. Since it's a channel with video content, you should consider making advertisements in video format.
Consider the following:
Depending on your social media marketing strategy, you can determine which platform has the most significant potential to help you reach a specific goal. It's usually better to choose a few platforms that create real value rather than go with all the platforms. However, sometimes you could benefit a lot from using more than one or two, as long as you know there's actual potential.
Look at the potential of the platform in relation to the goals of your social media marketing efforts:
In addition, consider what type of advertising showcases your product or service the best. For example, if you're considering sponsored tweets on Twitter, you need to create a short and engaging copy that showcases your intention.
Example of sponsored ad on Twiter
Finally, it's important to consider the level of competition on each platform. Some social channels may be more crowded and competitive than others, which could affect the effectiveness and costs of your advertising efforts.
But, if you have a solid social media marketing strategy and use your resources wisely, you could still succeed. It's all about reaching the right people and creating paid social media content that resonates with them.
Consumer behavior changes quickly on social media. Therefore, you must continually analyze the performance across platforms to understand which gives you the most value for money. One of the easiest ways to do this is by using a tool. There are a lot of tools available which provide you with valuable data and insights, such as:
Would you like to explore some top tools available? Read more about some of the top tools available for social media marketers here. Or, you can jump right into trying BrandBastion's Lite Platform for free!
All in all, to be able to choose the best platform for your social media marketing, you need to understand your target audience, your marketing goal and budget, as well as the platform's potential and limitations. You do also need to consider the competition across platforms.
In addition, it's important to continually analyze and evaluate the performance of your social media marketing efforts. To do so, you could use a tool that provides valuable insights and data. BrandBastion offers the Lite Platform for businesses that would like to efficiently analyze, monitor and manage social media conversations across platforms. Try our Lite Platform for free here!
