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What Social Media Platform Should You Learn First?

This article is more than 7 years old.

Social media is important. There’s no denying it. Facebook alone has over 1.6 billion users, and these users can’t be ignored. But if you’re just starting out with your online presence, it can be difficult to know where to start.

Each social network reaches different demographics with different engagement levels for different types of content. A Facebook post won’t necessarily work on LinkedIn, nor will the same images succeed between SnapChat and Instagram.

Which social network provides different benefits and ROIs for brands? Here’s what you need to know to get started on each social network. We’ll start with the greatest of them all.

Facebook

Although Facebook is the largest social network, it doesn’t mean you need to be on there. Eat24 famously deleted its Facebook page of 70,000 followers and gained tons of business while saving money.

Businesses looking to integrate Facebook features into their website or introduce a new product/service to consumers will get the most out of a Facebook presence. It’s also a great place to provide customer service. American Express, Red Bull, and PetCo have all found success using Facebook.

LinkedIn

B2B marketers largely agree that B2B social media marketing is best done on LinkedIn. The business-oriented social media network has 450 million users who are seeking professional connections, employment, and other business-related opportunities.

A great way of building your LinkedIn following is through groups. Creating and growing a LinkedIn group is a subject I’ve covered previously on my blog if you’re interested. If you’re a B2B business, you can’t afford to not be on LinkedIn. I’ve used it personally with great results for years.

Twitter

Twitter is a microblogging site with over 310 million mostly mobile monthly users. It’s used by both B2B and B2C businesses with equal measure to raise brand awareness and share useful information.

Like a regular blog, microblogging is a useful way to share blog content, press releases, pics, and other useful information. Twitter is also a great place to participate in conversations with your customers, clients, the media, and general public.

Oreo, Wendy’s, and other brands have found success marketing on Twitter, and Samsung is responsible for the most retweeted tweet ever. Check out CrazyEgg to learn more about growing your Twitter conversions and generating an ROI.

Tumblr

Tumblr isn’t often mentioned among social media sites, but Pew Research found 10 percent of Internet users frequent the blogging social network.

A blend between Facebook and Blogger, brands like the Today show, Life magazine, and the Smithsonian have found incredible success on Tumblr by using vibrant images, focused tagging, videos, blog posts, and more.

Owned by Yahoo, Tumblr content is made accessible to search engines, and the platform has a loyal user base that actively engages with compelling content.

Instagram

Owned by Facebook and boasting 300 million active users, Instagram is a popular mobile image platform that many businesses have found great success on.

An actual Instagram account isn’t as necessary as utilizing influencer marketing on the platform. Instagram influencers like Kim Kardashian can help raise brand awareness and provide a much better ROI than simply marketing one’s own Instagram account.

Birchbox successfully used influencer marketing on Instagram by partnering with Emily Schuman and other influencers to show off its curated boxes on their account (or even letting influencers take over Birchbox’s own account).

Vine

Although it’s much newer than many other social networks, Vine still draws an impressive 200 million active monthly users. It also has high engagement numbers due to the video-only nature of the site.

Vine is often used for animated and stop-motion how-tos, unboxing, and other short messages similar to TV commercials.

Lowes, AirBnB, Oreo, and Honda have all found success marketing on Vine. Low-budget video (i.e - filmed on your phone) is welcome, and creative visuals are the way to go on this social network.

SnapChat

The new kid on the block, SnapChat has over 100 million users, 7 out of 10 of which are Millennials. The service draws people interested in temporary video and picture messages that aren’t permanently archived online like other social networks.

Hillary Clinton used SnapChat in her 2016 Presidential run to connect with younger voters and troll Donald Trump. Marketers are still learning what works and doesn’t on SnapChat, but I put together a pretty comprehensive guide of how to drive sales using SnapChat.

Conclusion

Social media is important in the digital age. Everyone is used to social media and every generation is on a social network.You should be too, but before jumping in, it’s important to understand the basics of each social network.

Different crowds with different wants, needs and expectations can be found on any social network, but you can’t be active on all of them without serious dedication.

Before getting started on building a social network, be sure to take a look at successes and failures from other brands to see what worked and didn’t (and pay close attention to why).

What social network have you found the most success on?