March 8, 2023 
Which social media platform is the right choice to grow your business? How do you choose?
When it comes to social media, it can be tough to determine where to focus your efforts. With so many platforms, how do you know which social media platform is best for you? Well, that can be determined by your audience. In this blog, Tomo360 describes the most popular social media platforms used in business and identifies the best business use for each.
Find more statistics at Statista
Facebook is the most dominant network on the web, both in terms of name recognition and the total number of users. With over 2.93 billion active users, Facebook is a great medium for connecting with people worldwide. Facebook allows users to post text, links, photos, videos, online events, list items for sale in its Marketplace, and SO much more. Facebook is part of Meta, which also owns Instagram, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Seventy percent of the world’s active online community is a Meta user on one or more of these platforms.
American women and men between the ages of 35-44 call Facebook their favorite app. If your company targets this age group, Facebook is the platform to use. Facebook could be especially valuable because it encompasses the largest blend of demographics of any social media platform AND users spend almost 20 hours a month on the platform (all statistics shared here can be sourced to Hootsuite in the article linked above).
Best Business Use:
- If your target customers are American and mid-adult age ranges
- A large blend of demographics works if your business has multiple customer profiles
- Powerful advertising engine for targeting customers
- Facebook ads deliver high ROI
YouTube
YouTube is a global online searchable video database, offering everything from news, how-tos, entertainment and advertising. It is owned by Google and is the 2nd most visited social media platform, and the 2nd most visited website after Google. YouTube boasts a huge audience of 2.5 billion (1.5 billion daily active users) and 23 million paying subscribers. Another amazing statistic is that 62% of online users visit YouTube daily.
55% of users on YouTube are male. In terms of age, the audience has a pretty even spread across all ages, so really, any age group can be found on YouTube. This platform has something for everyone, from movie studio releases to content for tweens, comedy, news, how-tos, seminars, and much more. Customers on YouTube are usually actively searching, as they know what they want to see. Over 70% of users on YouTube say they purchased from brands they saw on YouTube. This is why paid marketing and organic marketing on this platform can be so powerful.
Best Business Applications:
- One of the largest platforms, and longest-standing platforms in social media
- A huge worldwide audience that can be targeted in any region, and most age groups are active users
- Short Ads that are skippable are very effective for drawing customers to a website
- Long-form videos, like 10 minutes, are considered an ideal length which can be great for in-depth content, like a how-to product video
Instagram is a mobile, video and photography-sharing social media platform. Instagram, launched in 2010 and features 2 billion users worldwide. This platform does change its features at a dizzying speed, making things challenging for marketers. At the moment, Instagram features a newsfeed for users, Reels which are videos that are shown to accounts beyond followers and are considered public, and Stories, a 24-hour either video or enhanced photo. The Direct Message feature is one of the most active streams on Instagram, with most videos being shared in DMs. Instagram is attempting to make DMs a space that more businesses and users can leverage, by allowing them to DM a community of people or a group of customers. Another challenging aspect of Instagram is that you can’t share links in regular newsfeed posts. However, there are other ways to share links on Instagram, and links are used in paid media.
As a marketing and sales tool, it still ranks 
as highly useful because of its popularity (the most downloaded app in the world), large and diverse audience, and strong ability to sell products.
That being said, Instagram is a good resource for reaching an international audience, considering 80% of its users are outside of the U.S. The majority of users are between 25 and 34 and 57% of Gen Z consider Instagram to be the most important social network. In conclusion, Instagram is most useful as a brand development tool for companies with a younger target audience.
Best Business Applications:
- Will find a large cohort of 25-34-year-olds, and potential for Gen Z teens as well
- Image and short-form videos platform allows for use of organic video, Stories, and paid campaigns
- Most useful for brand development and product sales
Twitter focuses more on text (now up to 280 characters), but also allows users to share images, videos, links, and polls. As a favorite of journalists and the media, it has maintained somewhat of a reputation for being a good news source, although misinformation concerns abound on all platforms.
It is made up of a “stream” of short posts that users can reply to by mentioning usernames in their posts with an @ sign, known on most platforms as tagging. Users can also use hashtags (#) to search for posts about similar topics, for example, #tomo360.
Twitter became privately owned in 2022, and despite many misgivings about mounting financial pressures, misinformation concerns, layoffs, and damage to the platform’s reputation, Twitter has experienced a growth of users from 366 million to almost 436 million. It is the 14th most popular social media platform in the world but ranks 3rd for worldwide daily engagement with over 34 minutes a day.
Most Twitter users are male, and the largest group (almost 40 percent) are between the ages of 25-34. If your customers are adults, in the USA, Japan, and India, then Twitter might be perfect for your business! Visit this Sprout Social article to dig deeper into statistics about Twitter.
Highlights for Businesses:
- Primarily Millenial audience (25-34)
- Great for Start-ups to develop an online presence, also considered the #1 platform for discoverability
- Strong tool for customer service
- Recent concerns with ad ROI, and many canceled campaigns in 2022-23
This is the platform to tap for marketing (either paid or organic) if you are trying to connect with or influence business professionals. LinkedIn is the ultimate social media platform if you are targeting business professionals (any industry) or education clients. It has over 875 million members, 29 million paid subscribers, and 36,000 newsletters. Lastly, it is a very profitable organization that has been around for 20 years.
You can target your organic or paid campaign on Linkedin by industry, title, company, job search and recruitment, and much more. LinkedIn has 106 million active monthly users and 40% of users sign in daily. 70% of users are from outside of the United States, but only 13% of users are between the ages of 15 and 34. Also, there are almost 300,000 educational schools with a presence on Linkedin so if higher education is a segment you’d like to target, try marketing on Linkedin.
Highlights:
- Ideal for B2B businesses and Higher Education
- Younger users have surpassed older users on this app, with 60 percent in the 25-34 age group
- LinkedIn Groups allow professionals to connect by niche or industry
- Marketers see up to 2x the conversions rates on Linkedin
Snapchat
Launched in 2011, Snapchat is a mobile-only social media platform that experienced massive growth in the US, then surprisingly stagnated in 2019. However, it continues to attract users in other countries and grow its overall user engagement every quarter worldwide. It originally featured “disappearing” photos and videos, and now allows users to create Stories (available for 24 hours, posted to a user’s public feed or direct send); and Spotlights, videos that are served publicly (not just to followers) and comparable to TikTok’s For You Page.
Users can choose from over 1 million AR (augmented reality) filters, called “Lenses” on the app, varying from animal faces to frames for events or announcements. Snapchat’s dedication to AR Lenses could lend itself to the burgeoning AR future. They support creators in the AR space with Snap AR, which enables Creators to develop lenses for recreational and business applications like trying on clothes, measuring interiors, and games. Snapchat edited its features and now offers Spotlight, Stories, Chat, and Snap Map. Snap Games, although popular, was recently removed.
This is the go-to platform for teen and young-adult users. 82 percent of teens use it once a month (minimum) and 36% say it is their favorite social media platform. There are over 319 million users on Snapchat consuming 30 minutes of content every single day. Advertising search volume for information about Snapchat was noticeably larger in 2022 with YoY growth. ROI on Snapchat has been
Best Benefits for Business:
- Mobile-only app with photos and videos, stories that last 24 hrs, and many AR filters
- Focus on AR (Augmented reality) creating the unique potential for sales applications online like “trying on” products
- Targets Gen Z and young Millenials (under age 24)
- Popular in US, France, and India
Still not sure which social media platform is right for your business? Tomo360’s social media managers can help with that. To learn more about our services and how we can help, please see our social media marketing services page. We’ve helped a variety of brands in many industries find the best social media platforms for them.
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