Which Social Media Platforms Work Best For Promoting New Businesses?

Social media are tools used to share user-generated content with others on a social network such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Digg. Social media include blogs, micro-blogging, user-generated content websites, and social networking sites like Foursquare, Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook. Social media can refer to these sites collectively or specifically. It is generally accepted to refer to any website where users can create and share content with the intent of increasing their online influence and to interact socially.

In this digital age, consumers spend most of their time on the internet, so it only makes sense that companies should spend time there too. In order to reach customers online, companies must use the power of social media platforms to connect with them, listen to them, and respond to their every need. By doing this, companies can create a strong consumer brand through a consistent sales message. Social media advertising is all about creating a relationship with consumers, a relationship that creates buying intention. Consumers will buy from companies that they feel they can trust, a feeling that is fueled by a consistent sales message that comes from established, trusted sources.

There are various platforms available to a company when it comes to social media advertising. The most popular social media platforms for businesses are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest. Here are some examples of how each platform serves the purpose of building a strong social media presence.

With Facebook, a company can create an official page, which has the look and feel of a blog, allows unlimited ads and has the same functionality as a website. The page is designed to be more engaging and specific to the business. Business can set up business specific functions like asking fans to join a fan club or asking fans to “like” a page. This type of social advertising is a good way to gather leads and attract potential customers who are interested in the products and services of the company.

Twitter is another great place to advertise using Facebook advertising. It is not a page, but a mini-site within Facebook. Twitter has recently launched Twitter Cards, which is a great way to attract attention to your sales message by displaying creative graphics, links to blogs or articles and a landing page. The landing page is a streamlined solution to capture email addresses and convert them into leads. Since there are no subscription fees or ongoing fees to use twitter, it is a low cost opportunity for a company to advertise their product. Monthly users shines ad on Facebook who have expressed an interest in the products and services provided by the company has seen dramatic increases in sales.

YouTube is a well established social media platform with millions of active users globally. Unlike Facebook, it does not allow business to directly connect to their customers. Instead, they must rely on advertising campaigns that include paid placement on video sharing websites. Businesses must register for free to access the video platform and create videos that can be viewed by everyone in the world. Monthly users who have expressed an interest in the products and services provided by the company has seen dramatic increases in sales.