The most popular form of marketing is social media marketing and no market can question this. However, it can be done with a different purpose. It could be because a marketer is looking to venture into social media marketing or when a business owner is looking to leverage on social media. In all these situations, it’s very important to know the popular social media networks around. Indeed, this will not only allow you to maximize the reach of your brand on social media platforms but also in engaging with the right and in achieving your social media goals.
In order to understand which social media site would be most appropriate, it is important to do enough research. The topics of concern should be the size of the social media sites and whether the selected social media site(s) is the right fit for your business and its image. The company should be clear about its brand image, target audience and most importantly, its budget.
It isn’t necessary to be on each of these social media sites. Making an impact is that matters the most. So, the list of the most popular social media sites are as follows:
- Facebook: Monthly Active Users- 2.4 Billion
The reason why Facebook is the biggest social media site around is that it has more than two billion people using it every month. All the numbers related to this social media site are huge. More than 65 million businesses are using Facebook Pages and more than 6 million advertisers actively promoting their business on Facebook are few statistics. It is very easy to promote on Facebook as you can use any content formats. Be it textual, images, videos, going life or putting 24-hr stories. It is important to know that the Facebook algorithm prioritizes content that sparks conversations and meaningful interactions between people, especially those from family and friends. This can be put to good use! (Talk about Facebook ads)
- YouTube: Monthly Active Users- 1.9 Billion
YouTube is a video-sharing platform wherein users watch billions of videos on an everyday basis. It is as simple as creating a YouTube channel and then uploading videos for your subscribers to view, like, comment, and share. YouTube is another subsidiary of Google and is known as the second largest search engine after Google. You could upload videos or use YouTube ads for promotion. This is the second-best way to increase your reach to a wider audience using this platform.
- WhatsApp: Monthly Active Users- 1.5 Billion
WhatsApp is a messaging app that is being used by people in over 180 countries. It was started with the purpose that people could communicate with their family and friends. Eventually, people started communicating with businesses via WhatsApp. Now, it has been building out its business platform to allow businesses to have a proper business profile. It could either be to provide customer support and/or to share updates with customers about their purchases. Some new versions of this app are also in process with a business point of view.
- Facebook Messenger: Monthly Active Users- 1.3 Billion
Facebook separated its messaging feature by launching a standalone app, Messenger in 2011. It is a messaging app and marketing platform. Businesses can now advertise, create chatbots, send newsletters and do so more. These features have given businesses a myriad of new ways to engage and connect with their customers at the ease of a few clicks.
- Instagram: Monthly Active Users- 1.3 Billion
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social media app. This one also allows you to share a wide range of content such as photos, videos, stories, and live videos. Recently, it has also launched IGTV for longer-form videos. It is easy to create a separate business profile on Instagram which will provide you with rich analytics of your profile and posts. It also gives an option to schedule Instagram posts. This is a platform that is gaining popularity on an everyday basis.
These five are the most popular and widely used social media platforms for advertisements and promotions. The cost of promotion is much lesser and far more effective than any other mode of advertisement.
