Best and Worst Social Media Platforms for Growing a Business

Social media platforms are an essential part of any business operating today. They help you connect with customers, increase sales, and reach new audiences. Personally, I have used social media to help build eight separate multi-million dollar companies. 

However, not every platform is the right fit for your business. In this article, we’ll explore some of the most popular social media sites and explain why each one may or may not be the one that can grow your brand.

Choosing the Right Social Media Platform for Your Business

Content marketing on the right social media platform is one of the most effective and affordable means of growing your business. Conversely, if you choose the wrong social media platform, you stand to waste valuable time or even damage your brand. First, consider your target audience. Think about the people you want to reach with your content and where they spend their time online — are they spending most of their time on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn?

Next, consider how much time and money you have available. Each social media site offers different levels of access, from Facebook’s free accounts, allowing basic posting privileges, all the way up to LinkedIn’s premium plans providing additional features and benefits. If budget constraints are an issue, consider getting started with one free account. You can always invest resources into a more expensive site later.

Some of the Best Social Media Platforms for Growing a Business in 2023

Facebook

Facebook is the world’s largest social media platform, boasting 2.96 billion monthly active users at the end of 2022’s third quarter. If you want to reach a massive audience and capitalize on the benefits of social media advertising, Facebook is an excellent choice. In fact, anytime a business owner comes to me and wants more leads and sales, I almost always start them on Facebook. It provides a wide range of features that make it easy for you to engage with customers and build your brand. You have access to a variety of targeting options for reaching different audiences, a newsfeed to alert followers to what you’re doing, and the ability to host live video events or create custom ads leading to your website.

Instagram

Instagram is another tool that can grow your business. It is primarily a visual platform, allowing you to share photos and videos of the products, services, or events that you offer, and boasts an audience of over 2 billion active monthly users who will see that content if you post it in an appealing way.

Given these numbers, Instagram is ideal for building brand awareness and generating leads since it allows businesses to showcase their products in an artistic way and generate attention with catchy hashtags. Because users engage with each other through comments or likes on posts, it’s also a great place to build a community around your business, generate customer reviews, and sell products.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is an excellent platform for B2B businesses that want to find leads, boost sales, increase brand awareness, and network professionally. This social platform has 875 million users worldwide and 310 million monthly active users. The platform allows users to create profiles and connections based on their specific industry role or level of expertise. To get started on LinkedIn, ensure your company page is filled with relevant information about what you do and why people should hire your services or buy from you. The more complete your profile, the better your chance to grow your business.

YouTube

YouTube ranks as the world’s largest video-sharing platform and second-largest social media platform. It has over2.6 billion users and over 122 million active users each day as of 2022’s third quarter. YouTube also makes up a huge part of Google’s revenue, making it an important platform for any business that wants to reach people globally.

The key to growing your business on YouTube is generating creative content that engages viewers. The more engaging your content is, the more likely people will watch it and share it with their friends.

Some of the worst social media platforms for growing a business in 2023

Twitter

Twitter is a popular social media platform that provides an opportunity for businesses to connect with customers on a non-business level. This can be useful in strengthening relationships, although Twitter doesn’t offer the same level of personalization that social media platforms like Facebook do. 

Twitter may help you get your business’s name out there, but it’s not a good platform for growing your business. The platform has so many users that it can be hard to get noticed if you aren’t already well-known. It’s essential to understand how Twitter can be used in combination with other platforms rather than trying to use it alone.

Snapchat

Snapchat is not an ideal platform for business growth. Each month, the platform’s Spotlight feature sees125 million active users, and its Snap Map feature sees 250 million. In terms of social media reach, that is a small user base. In addition, Snapchat primarily appeals to younger users. As of July 2022, users aged 13 to 17 made up 20.5% of Snapchat’s total audience, and users18 to 24 accounted for 39.1%. Given these demographics, Snapchat may not be the best place to advertise if you’re trying to reach older audiences.

TikTok

TikTok is a video-sharing app that allows users to create short videos for followers. The platform boasts 1 billion active monthly users, making it less popular than Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. In addition, the majority of people viewing a post on TikTok will only watch the first 15 seconds before scrolling away. Before your business puts a lot of time and resources into video creation for this platform, be sure it is worth your investment. 

Each social media platform comes with its own audience and its own set of pros and cons. The goal of using any medium is to reach new customers and grow your audience through content marketing. No one social media platform is best or worst for everyone, but some will be better suited for your business needs than others. It all depends on your audience, the time you can invest in social media management, and your business goals for the marketing content. Investigate each platform and make an informed decision about which ones work best for you.