Over the past decade social media has changed our perception of the world, altered the way in which we communicate and with an estimated 3 billion Internet users worldwide, it is too good not to take advantage of. The multitude of social media platforms have made it possible to raise our opinion on issues we feel strongly about, allowed access to breaking news, connect with people from around the globe and, of course, completely transformed the way in which we do business.

With so many social media platforms available, it can feel like a daunting task to select the one/s that work best for your business. Social media can be very time consuming and so it is important to do extensive research in order to select the option best suited for you. Trying to use as many platforms as possible is not advisable either. This may result in your business goals being missed due to the fact that you only partly know each platform. To avoid this, get to know the best platforms for your business inside and out and utilize these to their full potential.

In part one of this two part series we look at Facebook and Twitter.  See part two here where we look at Pinterest, Instagram and LinkedIn. Here is a brief breakdown of some of the most popular social media platform available today:

Facebook

According to Statista, Facebook currently has 1.79 billion users, making it the biggest social media platform in the world. It tends to serve as the centre of your social media universe and can be used for just about any business. Businesses and clients have the opportunity to connect on an interactive level by commenting on posts, answering questions and sharing what they find interesting.

As mentioned before, social media needs proper human resources due to its time consuming nature and this is especially true of Facebook. Posting content on a regular basis is essential and an ideal Facebook page should have between 1 and 3 posts daily

Twitter

Twitter has gained a reputation for being the number one platform for breaking news and has proved that 140 characters are all you need make a statement. Clients often use Twitter to comment on services or products, allowing you as the business to respond directly to them and publicly displaying the quality of your customer service.

Another great feature is the hashtag. Hashtags are amazingly useful for keeping up with trends and news, making it a very valuable marketing tool. When sharing content and using hashtags, it is always a good idea to put proper thought into what it is you are sharing. Ask yourself whether it is relevant to your business and interesting enough for people to what to share.

In next week's edition of this series on choosing the best social media platform for your busines we look at Pinterest, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Malindi is a Digital Media Project Manager at Sound Idea Digital Sound Idea Digital | malindi@soundidea.co.za