I remember the early days when I started my brand’s social media journey. Like most people, I jumped straight into Facebook and Instagram because everyone said they were “must-haves.”
It wasn’t until a few months later, after countless hours spent creating posts and minimal results, that I realized something was off. It wasn’t that my content was bad (well, mostly not bad), but I was spreading myself too thin across platforms that didn’t really align with my audience or goals.
That was my lightbulb moment—realizing that choosing the right social media platforms for your brand isn’t about what’s popular; it’s about understanding where your audience hangs out and how your content fits into the platform’s strengths.
It took some trial and error, but once I started matching the right platforms to my brand’s needs, things finally started clicking. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed trying to figure out where to focus your social media efforts, you’re not alone. Here’s what I learned that can help you choose the best platform for your brand.
- Some inspiration: Who are the 10 most social media networked companies?
- So, which social media platforms should you choose from?
- Step 1: Get to know your audience
- Step 2: Be clear about your goals
- Step 3: Understand what type of content you have
- Step 4: Research your industry and competitors
- Step 5: Be honest about your resources
- Step 6: Get help with social media management (Optional)
- Step 7: Finally, be patient
- Wrapping up
Some inspiration: Who are the 10 most social media networked companies?
Playing in the schoolyard as a kid often meant comparing how many friends you had to measure your influence and importance in the pecking order. Fast forward 20, 30, or even 40 years, and now you can gauge your influence through social media metrics.
NetProspex took this idea and expanded it to companies, quantifying the top 50 companies with the most connected employees. They developed the NetProspex Social Index (NPSI) to measure social network activity by scoring companies based on:
- Average number of connections across major social networks (friendliness)
- Average number of tweets
- Number of followers per employee (Twitter score)
The top 10 most social media networked vompanies in 2024:
- Microsoft – Still dominating with a massive presence across LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, Microsoft remains the most connected company, with an updated NPSI score of 340. The company’s deep integration with LinkedIn, especially after acquiring it in 2016, has solidified its top position.
- Google – With an NPSI score of 330, Google continues to thrive across platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where its employees and content drive immense engagement. Google’s role in shaping social media and digital advertising further boosts its online presence.
- Amazon – Scoring 315, Amazon has grown exponentially in its social media networking, with employees active across platforms and a powerful brand presence in online commerce, reviews, and customer engagement.
- Apple – Apple moves up in rank with an NPSI score of 298. Their visual presence on Instagram, combined with their tech-driven discussions on Twitter and LinkedIn, makes Apple a social media powerhouse.
- Meta (Facebook) – With a score of 290, Meta has retained its influence on social media, especially with its platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Employees are highly engaged on these platforms, contributing to Meta’s dominant presence.
- Tesla – Scoring 275, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has made Tesla synonymous with Twitter, driving discussions around technology, innovation, and future trends. Tesla employees are also highly active on LinkedIn.
- Walt Disney – With a score of 260, Disney thrives on social media thanks to its vast entertainment ecosystem. Employees share content across Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, keeping the brand front and center in conversations about entertainment and media.
- Netflix – Scoring 250, Netflix’s focus on content marketing across Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok has allowed it to stay socially connected. Its employees and brand accounts drive constant engagement around shows, movies, and global events.
- Salesforce – Salesforce scores 245 and has seen immense growth in its social media presence, particularly on LinkedIn and Twitter, where its employees and the brand promote B2B insights and business technology discussions.
- Adobe – With an NPSI score of 240, Adobe excels in the digital content space, with a strong presence on Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Its employees are engaged in creative and technical conversations, fueling Adobe’s social media strength.
So, which social media platforms should you choose from?
Facebook has over 2.7 billion users—more than the population of China! With such a vast audience, it’s important to recognize how people primarily use Facebook: to maintain relationships and stay connected with old friends. This makes it an ideal platform for fostering loyalty among your existing customers. However, one drawback of Facebook is that reaching a new audience can be challenging; the sheer size of the user base means your posts may have limited visibility, even within your own network.
When considering Facebook as a platform for your business, think carefully about your objectives. If your goal is to attract new customers, Facebook may not be the best option. But if you’re focused on building a strong, loyal following and staying connected with your current customers, it could be a great fit.
Twitter is a great tool for raising awareness of your brand. It leverages hashtags, which help organize discussions around specific words or phrases. By exploring trending hashtags, you can see what people are talking about and tailor your tweets to join in on popular topics. Why is this important? Because Twitter often provides insights into current trends, and news outlets frequently use the platform to identify stories. Twitter is also commonly used to provide real-time updates, so many brands pair their Twitter activity with offline events for greater engagement.
Pinterest is widely used for digital “scrapbooking,” where users save content by “pinning” photos or videos to virtual boards. The platform is dominated by female users, with popular pins including recipes, style inspiration, eye-catching photography, and DIY projects. Since Pinterest is highly visual, strong graphics are essential to engage users. Businesses that have successfully utilized Pinterest often see a direct correlation with increased retail sales.
YouTube
YouTube may have 2.3 billion registered users, but its influence stretches even further since users don’t need an account to access its content. Consequently, YouTube has become one of the most popular search engines. Many of its searches revolve around “How To” videos, making it a great platform for service-oriented businesses that can provide such content. It’s also effective for lifestyle and educational video content.
LinkedIn is distinct in that it’s the platform most frequented by older users, particularly those between the ages of 30-49. Its niche focus is another standout feature. People typically use LinkedIn for job hunting and professional networking. As a result, it’s particularly useful for B2B lead generation, professional networking, and recruiting new talent.
Instagram is rapidly expanding, especially among younger users. Like Pinterest, it’s centered on photos and videos, making it ideal for visually driven businesses like art, food, retail, and beauty. Due to the platform’s rapid growth, there is less saturation than on Facebook, which provides greater opportunities to reach a wider audience and generate leads.
TikTok
TikTok is renowned for its short-form video content. Similar to Pinterest and Instagram, it’s most effective for visually focused businesses such as art, food, retail, beauty, and select service industries. TikTok’s demographic skews young, making it a valuable tool for engaging the 18-24 age group and boosting brand awareness.
But, how do you decide which social media platforms best serve your brand’s needs? Here are 7 easy steps:
Step 1: Get to know your audience
The online habits of social media users have evolved significantly, and it’s essential to understand where your audience goes after leaving major platforms to optimize your marketing efforts. Recent data and trends show how different platforms influence where users spend their time and attention.
Facebook:
Facebook remains one of the most widely used platforms, with over 2.7 billion users globally. Today, Facebook users’ exit traffic often leads them to the following categories:
- News – 30%
- Tech – 8%
- Celebrities and Entertainment – 10%
- How-To/DIY – 12%
- Community – 18%
- Shopping – 10%
- Other – 12%
Twitter:
Twitter, known for its fast-paced, real-time updates, has over 368 million monthly active users. Users frequently engage with news and trending topics, and the exit traffic from Twitter typically heads toward:
- News – 48%
- Tech – 11%
- Celebrities and Entertainment – 9%
- Movies – 7%
- How-To/DIY – 4%
- Other – 21%
Instagram:
Instagram, with over 1.4 billion users, is highly visual and popular among younger audiences. The platform’s exit traffic is often directed to:
- Shopping – 25%
- Travel – 15%
- Fashion – 18%
- Beauty – 12%
- Celebrities and Entertainment – 10%
- How-To/DIY – 10%
- Other – 10%
Pinterest:
Pinterest, which thrives on visual discovery and idea-sharing, has 450 million monthly active users. Exit traffic from Pinterest primarily focuses on:
- How-To/DIY – 35%
- Recipes – 25%
- Fashion – 15%
- Home Decor – 10%
- Shopping – 8%
- Other – 7%
YouTube:
YouTube, with over 2.3 billion active users, is a top destination for video content, with users often navigating toward:
- How-To – 45%
- Entertainment – 20%
- News – 12%
- Lifestyle – 10%
- Tech – 8%
- Other – 5%
LinkedIn:
LinkedIn, used primarily for professional networking, has over 930 million members. Exit traffic often flows into:
- B2B Services – 40%
- Tech – 15%
- Career Advice – 20%
- News – 12%
- Other – 13%
TikTok:
TikTok, which boasts over 1 billion active users, particularly among Gen Z, focuses heavily on short-form video content. Exit traffic from TikTok typically leads to:
- Entertainment – 30%
- Shopping – 20%
- How-To/DIY – 15%
- Beauty – 15%
- Lifestyle – 10%
- Other – 10%
These insights show how each platform has its strengths, whether you’re targeting audiences who crave news updates, shopping experiences, or DIY content. Social media users’ exit patterns can help guide your marketing strategy, allowing you to choose the right platforms based on the interests and behaviors of your audience.
Step 2: Be clear about your goals
Before dedicating your resources to a social platform, it’s important to define some goals. Your company’s goal might be:
- More traffic.
- More sales.
- More inbound links.
- A viral marketing campaign to increase visibility.
Of course, you might want to achieve all of these things, which consequently work hand in hand: a viral marketing campaign can lead to more inbound links, which subsequently leads to more traffic for your site and ultimately to more sales.
A typical scenario might look like this: Your company produces a viral marketing campaign with clever, humorous YouTube videos designed to subtly advertise your products or services. The goal? More inbound links, more traffic and more sales. This is exactly what Levi’s did with their famous viral marketing campaign, in which they uploaded YouTube videos of people backflipping and leaping into a pair of jeans. Estimates indicate that this campaign reached out to nearly 100 million people, undoubtedly increasing denim sales for Levi’s.
Step 3: Understand what type of content you have
If your company already has a media library in place, that’s fantastic—you’ve got visual content ready to be repurposed for social media. You may also have blog posts written, which is another valuable source of content that can be adapted for social media channels.
Take inventory of the content you currently have and assess whether you’ll be able to create additional content moving forward. But also consider who will be responsible for producing that new content. Will your social media manager double as the photographer, or will you need to outsource video production?
There are five primary types of social media content: videos, images, text, stories, and live videos. The content you choose to create or curate will influence which social media platforms you should prioritize. For instance, if you have the capability to upload a substantial amount of video content, then platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram should be at the top of your list. While TikTok may be appealing, if you can’t produce the required video content consistently, then it might not be the right platform for your brand.
It’s important to be practical, as content creation and curation require time. When you’re beginning on a new platform, ensure you have the right type and volume of content to maintain consistent posting.
Step 4: Research your industry and competitors
While Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are some of the most popular social media platforms for brands and consumers, that doesn’t necessarily mean they should be your default choices.
The popularity of each channel can vary across different industries. Although these benchmarks offer a good starting point for general brand and consumer behaviors, it’s essential to conduct research specific to your industry.
To understand your industry’s presence on various networks, begin with a competitor analysis. Follow this up by reviewing industry benchmarks to see what typically works on each platform. For instance, companies in the sports industry publish an average of 42 posts daily across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
They also receive around 227 messages per day, which gives you a rough idea of potential engagement levels and can help you plan your staffing needs. If you’re just starting out, you may not have such high numbers, but these benchmarks can help you set specific social media goals.
Take the time to investigate your competitors’ social media profiles. Where are they active, and what content are they posting? Which types of posts are performing well for them? What are their audience’s comments like? Answering these questions will provide valuable insights into your competitors’ performance.
Social media is a powerful tool for competitor analysis. Two of the most common ways marketers use social data are to gauge customer loyalty and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of competitors’ products or services. If your competitors are thriving on a particular channel, it’s a strong indicator that your brand should consider being there as well.
Step 5: Be honest about your resources
Let’s be real—social media requires both time and effort. From crafting content to scheduling posts, there are various strategies to develop and new features to stay on top of.
Consider these key questions:
- Do you already have a social media team in place? If not, who will be responsible for forming and managing this team?
- Do you have enough staff to oversee all the social channels you plan to utilize?
- How much time can you realistically dedicate to each platform, including the time needed to get familiar with any new channels?
- Who will be responsible for creating your social media content, and who will oversee their work?
bio will do. Twitter can require more ongoing maintenance overall, since your image on this social media platform is largely dictated by your tweets as opposed to a profile page.
Step 6: Get help with social media management (Optional)
You can greatly reduce the time required for social platform marketing by utilizing social media management tools. Some of the best include:
Spredfast or Google Analytics for metrics and analysis such as determining ROI and whether you’re reaching your target audience.
HootSuite for identifying followers and fans that are worth further engagement.
TweetDeck for simultaneously updating multiple social platform statuses and monitoring interaction across multiple accounts.
Step 7: Finally, be patient
Regardless of the social platform you choose for your company, building a large group of followers will take time and patience. There are two exceptions:
1. Your company is so large and successful already that a social media presence is merely icing on the cake.
2. Your first attempt at a viral marketing campaign absolutely blows up, leaving you with more traffic than you can probably handle.
This can actually be dangerous if you don’t have the resources necessary to keep up with huge traffic and high demand for products and services.
Wrapping up
In the end, choosing the right social media platform for your brand doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s all about knowing where your audience hangs out and matching that with the content you can create. Start small, test a few platforms, and focus on quality over quantity.
Remember, every brand is different. What works for one might not work for you. But by following these steps, you’ll be well on your way to finding the perfect platform to build your online presence.
So, take a breath, dive in, and start growing your brand where it matters most. You’ve got this!
Guest Author: David Murton