In today’s world, everyone relies on social media for connectivity and effective communication. This makes the presence of social media so indispensable to our lives. It is a valuable communication tool, which aids the transfer of messages and data from different corners of the world to the other, locally and internationally, because it has extraordinary traction universally.
The impact of social media in our life are felt in diverse fields, such as communication, business, food, lifestyle, entertainment, welfare, marketing, and education. It does not only connect loved ones, it also provides a wide range of information to people in different locations.
The term, social media refers to an internet-based platform of communication that permits the users to have conversations, and share information and ideas among themselves in virtual communities and networks.
With the importance of social media, everyone has access to unlimited pieces of information and resources, because of its capacity to connect and share information with many people simultaneously.
It doesn’t matter the location of the different users, it is a community that connects the audience of different races, different opinions, different beliefs, and knowledge.
Billions of people across the world use social media to build relationships, either on a personal level or on a professional level. Even business owners expand their targeted audience through social media and get their online customer reviews, this is a way businesses get elevated nowadays.
Generally, a lot of people are familiar with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn as the only social media, the truth is we have different social media sites.
Knowing the differences between the various types of social media and the users’ interaction with them can make you engage more effectively with prospective customers. Also, it will help you build up loyalty in your existing customers.
Below are some of the common types of social media:
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter
These are the social media sites that help individuals associate with themselves, and also offer brands tons of ways to attract people. While they help users to share their thoughts, curate content, and upload photos, and videos, they contribute to business branding, awareness, building connections, customer service, and conversion of prospective customers.
You can pitch your services to diverse audiences with advertisements and persuade influential people with the right targeting metrics.
WordPress, Medium, Tumblr
These social media sites provide a community where you can publish your thoughts on your job, business, career, events, hobbies, and many more. You can choose them for publishing, discovering, and commenting on articles, you could also find new readers from the multitude of people on the network who are looking for interesting content.
As a business owner, you may consider writing creative blog posts on how to effectively use your product, because these networks are important for businesses that want to market their content online. With the blog posts, you create a niche for your business that becomes irresistible to your audiences
Quora, Reddit, Digg, Clubhouse
These are channels that help people to share ideas and news, they are used for finding, sharing and discussing various helpful topics and information. Your credibility increases on the forum when you answer questions correctly, this credibility can lead to conversion, thereby leading to an increase in visits to your profile or website.
If your business needs customer research, these sites are the most suitable for your business, because they help businesses by being an exceptional resource for perfect market research.
Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat, Flickr
These networks allow people to share and find photos, videos, live videos, and other related content on the web. They create a platform to start conversations, communicate creativity and make products more attractive. They help you boost your brand awareness and lead generation because sharing useful media with the targeted audience can increase conversion convincingly.
Before you decide to use these networks for your business, try to consider your targeted audience. You can channel well-planned campaigns to increase your audience using these networks.
Pinterest, Flipboard, Pocket, Feedly
These networks are platforms that help users save a variety of the latest content and trending media for later use. A lot of people also share links to lists of online resources on the platforms. They are very useful in pushing your brand awareness, running adverts on these sites will help you generate traffic to your website and customer engagement. You can influence people’s opinions by sharing your own content to bookmark.
Google My Business, Yelp, TripAdvisor
These are networks that display customers’ reviews of businesses, they help you find out different useful information about a ton of products and services. In today’s business world, it is important to have positive reviews on these sites, because these reviews can allow you to improve your products and services.
If you promote good reviews and handle negative ones thoughtfully, your brand can be ranked higher, and your business will become more popular. It is expedient to say each review posted online is a form of advertisement for your business, these platforms are important because of the positive and productive outcomes they can bring to your business.
Youtube, TikTok, Snapchat
These networks allow filmmakers and content creators to find a way for their audiences to stream videos with ease online. It allows brands to reach new customers through ads when they ask influencers to use and publicize their products in order to reach a larger audience.
Global accessibility to the internet is obviously one of the defining phenomena reshaping the globe in these present times, on a consequence of this, you need to know that more than half of the world uses social media (58.4%).
For context, the recent data suggests that the number of social media users around the world now equates to almost 75% of the eligible global population.
In addition, reports in January 2022 revealed that 17 social media platforms have at least 300 million active users. According to data reported, the world spends more than 10 billion hours using social platforms every day, which is the equivalent of nearly 1.2 million years of human existence.
The importance of social media in communication nowadays cannot be underestimated for both individuals and businesses. Digital and internet marketing are necessary daily activities, business owners, coaches, and entrepreneurs, carry out their activities on social media and reach a higher audience.
The fact that social media has come down to a simple basic human desire makes it uncommon for individuals to go a day without the use of social media. It helps bridge the gap of distant relations through instant communication, thereby deepening relationships, it can also be for the purpose of learning, information, or decision making.
A lot of individuals use various social networks to access career opportunities and also connect with people across the world with like-minded interests. Individuals share their pictures and their accomplishments on social media for people to see and pass their comments. Also, in this age, individuals stay updated with news and current events, thanks to social media.
However, social media presence makes it possible for individuals to express their opinions about their political leaders, protest against injustice and drive community changes.
During the time individuals had no access to social media, it was difficult to learn or know how to do many things themselves without visiting places they could learn these things. With social media, individuals can be a part of micro-groups with their most specific interests or hobbies, learning new things from the comfort of their homes, just with their internet connection.
Social media sites have grown exponentially beyond individual use, businesses now thrive on social media ever than before. One simple fact for businesses is that social media is an essential piece of every business marketing strategy, every business needs a social media presence. Apart from being an effective way to reach targeted new audiences with engaging content, it increases awareness of your brand and boosts your leads and sales.
Consumers have thousands of choices to search for online, and they need more transparency and conviction before making a purchase, that is why your presentation should communicate this information to them as a business owner. The ability to create real connections is one of the most significant importance of social media for business
Furthermore, businesses could use social media for advertising, promotional giveaways, and even mobile applications. There is a way these build your marketing receptiveness in the minds of potential customers, especially when they see how your product works for your existing customers.
However, the relevance of social media is going nowhere, therefore, it is imperative that every business takes the advantage of its social media presence to the full extent. It’s just important to ensure your business has an irresistible touch on social media to generate leads and sales.
As a business owner, social media marketer, or marketer with the intention of leveraging social media for your social media marketing strategy, these top social media websites will help you maximize your brand reach.
There are countless social media sites available today, we have helped you choose the top 10 to consider for your business growth based on their monthly active users.