When developing a social media strategy for your business, one of the first and most important steps is selecting the right platforms. With new channels emerging regularly and others evolving in popularity, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the options. The key is choosing platforms that align with your goals, content style, and target audience.
In this guide, we’ll break down today’s top social media platforms, categorize them by marketing goals, and help you find the best fit for your brand.
Overview of Social Media Options
With dozens of platforms available and new ones emerging regularly, choosing the right social media channels for your business can feel overwhelming. Each platform offers unique opportunities to engage with your audience, but not all are created equal when it comes to aligning with your brand’s goals, content style, and target demographic.
Facebook allows users to create a public Facebook Business Page that hosts business information like services offered, contact information, location, and a business website link.
Facebook Business pages allow businesses to communicate with their audience members, share important business announcements, promote sales and special offers, and can often help brands feel more human. The business pages can also be connected to Facebook Shops and Facebook Ad Accounts.
Facebook also offers Audience Insights, which illuminates demographic information relating to a specific audience, which type of content that does the best among that audience, frequency of activity, and purchase activity, if applicable.
Instagram allows users to create an Instagram Business Account, which can also be linked to a Facebook page, making cross-posting (posting simultaneously across platforms) possible. Important to note, having a Facebook to link your Instagram to is actually a requirement of the Instagram Business Account, but this is something that can make for a more seamless social presence overall.
Instagram Business Accounts offer similar analytics to Facebook, giving businesses a better idea of how the people who are interacting with their social profiles are behaving, their preferences, and what they respond well to.
Businesses are also able to promote certain posts and create ads via Instagram Business Accounts with direct links in their posts that users can immediately purchase from, known as Instagram Shoppable Posts.
Instagram is also the home of “Reels”, short-form videos that can be up to 3 minutes long. These can show up in a user’s feed or there is a dedicated “Reels” only feed someone can view.
LinkedIn is a great resource for businesses and professionals to use to connect with each other. Its professional nature allows for brands to establish industry expertise by sharing accomplishments, sharing exciting awards and milestones, and releasing shoutouts to other industry professionals they work with regularly.
LinkedIn allows users to create a LinkedIn Business Page that can be connected to and linked from a business owner’s personal page. Again, LinkedIn is a great platform to share certifications, degrees, volunteer history, or for a business, tell the story of why and how you do what you do, which all speaks to your business’s credibility.
LinkedIn allows other connections on LinkedIn to “endorse” users for certain areas of expertise, and connect with people in a more professional, and potentially more legitimate, capacity.
Pinterest operates as a visual discovery engine, making it ideal for brands focused on lifestyle, design, DIY, fashion, food, and more. Businesses create Pinterest Business Accounts to share pins, images or videos linked to external content like blogs, product pages, or tutorials.
Pinterest users often browse with intent to plan projects or purchases, meaning content here has a longer shelf life compared to other platforms. Rich Pins enhance posts by adding real-time pricing, availability, or recipe information. Pinterest also offers robust targeting for promoted pins, allowing businesses to reach highly specific interests and behaviors.
YouTube
YouTube is the world’s largest video platform, perfect for brands ready to invest in long-form video content. A YouTube Business Channel allows you to publish tutorials, behind-the-scenes content, testimonials, and thought leadership videos that build authority and trust over time.
YouTube’s searchability and integration with Google make it a key driver for organic discovery. Businesses can also monetize content, create playlists for easy navigation, and engage viewers through comments and community posts. Its advertising options support precise targeting based on viewer interests, behaviors, and demographics.
TikTok
TikTok is a fast-growing platform centered around short-form, highly engaging video content. Known for its algorithm that promotes discovery beyond followers, TikTok offers brands the chance to go viral with creative, authentic content.
TikTok Business Accounts provide access to analytics and advertising options, making it possible to reach younger, trend-savvy audiences. Brands that embrace the platform’s playful, informal style can build strong connections quickly through challenges, trends, and influencer collaborations. It’s especially effective for storytelling in a fun, visual way that drives brand awareness and engagement.
X (formerly Twitter)
X is a platform built around real-time conversation and trending topics. Businesses can create a public profile to share updates, join relevant conversations, and engage directly with customers. While its character limit encourages brevity, it’s a powerful space for thought leadership, timely news, and customer support.
X also offers robust advertising options, including promoted tweets and trend sponsorships, and its algorithm favors content that sparks engagement. It’s especially valuable for industries that benefit from regular updates, strong opinions, or active engagement with trending topics.
Reddit is a massive forum-based platform where users gather in niche communities called subreddits. These spaces allow for highly targeted engagement based on shared interests or topics. For businesses, Reddit isn’t about direct promotion, it’s about providing value, building credibility, and participating authentically.
When used well, Reddit can help brands understand their audiences more deeply and build trust over time. However, the community-first culture means overly self-promotional content is often downvoted or removed, so a thoughtful, service-first approach is essential.
Reach the Right Audience
Before you choose your social media platforms, it’s important to understand how your brand will use those channels to engage with your target audience. Social media marketing is a great way to retain your current customer base, but it should also be leveraged to find new prospects to help your business grow.
There are over 5.2 billion users on social media, meaning these platforms are giant opportunities to reach your current and potential customers. It’s critical to meet your client base right where they spend their time.
Professional Networking
One of the most popular uses of social media for businesses is professional networking. Social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn provide users with the opportunity to search for, follow, and engage with businesses. Users who want to learn about local or popular organizations may consult these channels for company information, events put on or attended by the business, or other consumers’ views on products and services.
These social channels are also an excellent place for business-to-business, or B2B, connections. Most often, you will see photos, articles, or text posts on these social channels.
If you’re looking to network with business professionals, Facebook and LinkedIn are the ideal social media platforms to leverage. Professional customers are already utilizing these platforms to network and conduct business, so it’s a good idea to meet them where they are. Plus, Facebook and LinkedIn have great opportunities for both organic and paid social posts.
Here are some practical ways to network on Facebook:
- “Like” pages that may relate to your business
- Engage in Facebook Groups that relate to your business
- Ask customers to leave a review on your business page
Try these professional networking strategies on LinkedIn:
- Share industry-related blog posts on your LinkedIn page
- Comment on or “like” posts that relate to your business
- “Connect” with other users who are affiliated with your business
Lifestyle & Community
Some social media platforms are best used to establish brand identity and create more informal relationships with an audience. On these channels, users are more likely to seek out content that appeals to their day-to-day lives, inspires them in some way, or impacts them emotionally. The type of content on these types of platforms may be geared toward a certain kind of “aesthetic,” theme, or could relate specifically to the originality of a particular individual, business, or ideology.
On Instagram and Pinterest, social media posts and pages are typically centered around a certain lifestyle or community. Businesses can use this to their advantage by curating content that champions those things.
If you want to create community and establish more personal relationships with your audience, Instagram and Pinterest are the perfect social media platforms to achieve it. High-quality images and short-form videos do best on these channels.
Here are some examples of how you can build community on Instagram:
- Post an Instagram Reel with a trending audio that highlights your products, services, or brand identity
- “Like” and comment on posts that use a hashtag related to your business
- Create an Instagram Story with a poll or question that engages your followers
Implement the following tactics on Pinterest to convey your “brand lifestyle”:
- Post aesthetically pleasing “lifestyle” pictures of your products or services with a link to your website
- Post a short video that links to one of your blogs
- Create a Pinterest board with a collection of posts featuring your products or services
Video-First Engagement
Although many social media platforms have the ability to house video, some social sharing services were created specifically for video content. According to HubSpot, short-form and long-form video content currently has the highest return on investment (ROI) compared to other post formats.
Social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and even Instagram have become some of the most popular (and sometimes most effective) places to increase brand awareness. The audiences across these channels tend to be younger, congregating around Gen-Z and millennials.
Businesses that want to reach new audiences can leverage these social media platforms with short-form or long-form video content. TikTok and Instagram are currently the champions of short-form, portrait-oriented content, with most “TikToks” or “Reels” lasting anywhere from a few seconds to 3 minutes long.
Similarly, YouTube has “YouTube Shorts,” which are their own version of TikTok-style video content. However, YouTube is still most commonly known for its long-form content. As with many other platforms, a major key to success on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube is consistency in the frequency of posting.
Try these strategies on TikTok or Instagram Reels to create short-form videos to increase brand awareness:
- Use a popular audio that is currently trending
- Replicate a viral trend in a TikTok or Reel relating to your business or industry
- Add hashtags related to a viral trend in your TikTok or Reel (if it’s relevant to the trend)
Use these ideas on your business’s YouTube channel:
- Recreate a TikTok or Instagram Reel as a YouTube Short
- Create a YouTube video that answers a question or problem your target customer may have
- Title your YouTube video something enticing and relevant to the video’s content to grab attention
Discussion Forums
While articles, photos, and videos can be incredibly effective forms of content on various social media platforms, some channels are not content-focused at all. Instead, these platforms prioritize discussion and community between users over everything else.
On Reddit and Twitter, users will often look to discuss certain topics, have questions answered, or stay up to date on current events or news. Posts are often short, adding to conversations or supplying relevant information to the topic of discussion.
These social media platforms offer businesses the opportunity to interact with prospects in a more engaging, conversational way. Organizations can provide users with valuable information, business updates, or general customer service in quick, to-the-point responses without the pressure of creating a formal post.
Users who want to take part in discussions or learn about various topics will often use these platforms as a search engine, so businesses can leverage them for general brand awareness, value, and community. However, organizations should be careful not to focus too heavily on a specific business or product in these conversations; Twitter and Reddit users are not looking to be “sold to,” but conversed with.
Implement these tactics on Twitter to get involved in discussions:
- Comment on popular Twitter threads related to your industry or business
- Post an engaging question or idea to your followers
- Be active in hashtags that are relevant to your industry
Try some of these strategies on Reddit:
- Provide valuable information on posts that relate to your business without overtly “advertising” your business
- Be active in Subreddits that relate to your industry
- Comment on posts with issues that your product or service can solve
Incorporating Social Media into Your Strategy
Spoiler alert: You don’t need to be on every platform.
Trying to maintain a presence everywhere can quickly drain your time, budget, and energy. Social media takes consistent attention, not just to post, but to monitor engagement, respond to followers, and stay ahead of trends.
Whether you’re managing it in-house or partnering with an agency (like us!), it’s important to determine how social media fits into your overall marketing strategy and how much you’re prepared to invest in doing it well.
So, Which Social Media Platforms Should You Leverage?
The world of social media may seem overwhelming, but don’t stress! You don’t need to be on every social media platform to see success. The right social media platforms for your business come down to your business goals and your target audience. Consider which platforms your clients are already on and the type of people you’d like to reach. For many businesses, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are great platforms to start with.
At PHOS, our team is dedicated to staying up to date on the latest developments and strategies in social media marketing. If you’re looking for help in your digital marketing strategy, we would love to talk with you! Contact us today to see how we can serve you and your business.
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