As of mid-2018, Facebook was far and away the most popular social network in the United States. More than 50 percent of all Americans — and upwards of 65 percent of American adults— have Facebook profiles.
Facebook is not the only social media property worth targeting, though. These five social networks (yes, including Facebook) all have big audiences, impressive visibility in organic search, and household-name cachet. If you don’t yet have personal and business profiles on all four, what are you waiting for? Here’s the case for each.
1. Facebook
Facebook is where the magic happens. Statistically, it’s more likely than not that you have a personal profile already. Pro tip, though: if your personal profile is, well, really personal, it’s best to create a separate, “clean” profile specifically for professional connections and content. Pseudonomize your “real” profile and up its privacy settings if you’re really concerned about your public-facing digital footprint.
Facebook company pages, like this page for Nike, are virtually guaranteed to rank on the first organic results page for your company’s exact-match search term(s) — as close to a freebie as it gets in the woolly world of SEO. If your company has multiple divisions or product lines, consider making a page for each, particularly if their name ID is as high as the parent brand’s.
2. Google Plus
Google Plus is a no-nonsense platform for companies and entrepreneurs for whom sharing concise, factual content is crucial. The Google Plus profile for health entrepreneur Steve Dorfman’s company reads like a business directory listing, and that’s okay — that Dorfman’s company appears in Healthcare.gov’s circles lends it more credibility than any dashed-off Yelp review could.
3. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is all about connections. If you don’t yet have a company page, focus on fleshing it out and connecting as many of your employees to it (via workplace mentions in their personal profiles) as possible. Don’t overlook LinkedIn’s potency as a publishing platform, either: your personal and company pages are great places to post original content that positions you or your organization as a thought leader.
4. Instagram
Find a social media manager you can trust and task them with posting a mix of professional and “fun” content from your company profile: new product close-ups, team-building candids, obligatory office pet shots, and so on. Use your personal handle to cultivate an “entrepreneur about town” image, complete with selfies and panoramas taken at meetups, mixers, and tradeshows.
What’s Your Go-To Social Media Property?
Every entrepreneur has a favorite social media property. For many local retail businesses, it’s Facebook, which many consumers use in place of search engines like Google and Bing.
For B2B companies, LinkedIn is king. LinkedIn’s thought leadership density is unmatched, at least in the United States. If you’re looking for a digital space to see and be seen, there’s nowhere you’d rather be.
For savvy marketers, Twitter and Instagram rule the roost. They’re great for blasting out last-minute deals and promotions — and responding in near-real-time (respectfully, of course) to customer feedback.
Then again, the old saying applies here: “the more, the merrier.” Unless your company has a compelling reason to steer clear of any of these social media properties, it’s best to target them all.