Top 20 Social Media Platforms for Your Small Business - Part 1

Whether you are starting a business or trying to re-vamp your brand by getting on social media, the chances are you aren’t really sure where to begin. Well, as usual, Nola Virtual Solutions is here to help! Social media and digital marketing are everywhere and not just for big business! With its cost-effectiveness and the potential reach to customers and clients, its past time for your business to get on board with social media! Here are the top 20 social media platforms that your business should be on and why you should integrate them into your business plan. There is a lot of information to consider but, as we say, knowledge is power.

Tips for starting your social media campaign:

Keep consistent profiles. No matter what platforms you choose to use for your business, continuity is important for your brand.
Know your audience and what you want to convey to them; determining your target will help you know what platform you should be using and the platform drives the content.
Create natural and organic content. Your business’ content needs to be original to grab attention and ultimately get links back to the business’ website. This creates leads that can turn into ROIs and that is the point, am I right?
Having goals and creating a schedule is the only way to stay consistent on social media and continuity is important. *See first tip!
80/20 rule: only spend 20% of your time on social media promoting your business and 80% of your time networking, connecting and conversing. Make your business’ presence known without overbearing your audience.

Social Platforms for Networking

1. Facebook – Let’s start with an oldie but a goodie. Facebook seems to have started it all, doesn’t it? While you may have just started your personal Facebook journey just a few years ago, Facebook has really been around since 2003. There are many reasons that your business should be on Facebook, last but not least is digital marketing.

2. Twitter – By bringing a condensed platform to social media, Twitter started the mini-post and allowed businesses to connect to customers in 140 characters or less. If you’re into minimalism and brevity, Twitter might be for your business!

3. Google+ – Although other platforms are more established, it is hard to ignore the easy-to-use interface and networking ability that Google+ can give to your business’ social media connections. By creating virtual “circles,” you can include clients/customers, vendors and even competitors in your real networking circles.

4. LinkedIn – The social media platform for businesses, LinkedIn has a lot of things going for it. The trick is to use the site consistently so that your business creates connections that you could not make on your own.

5. Plaxo – Paired with Pulse, Plaxo has a lot going for it. As a platform for address books that meets with Pulse, you’re allowed to see what your contacts are sharing on the web. This can be an ingenious tool for your business to stay on top of clients and competitors alike.

Social Platforms for Blogging

6. Tumblr – Tumblr invented the term “micro-blogging” and as a social media platform, stands by it. While Tumblr is a millennial generation platform, businesses have begun using their profiles on Tumblr to reach the younger generation while creating and sharing content to the “cool kids.” It is an amazing tool to learn what your new target audience will be interested in and also how to research what type of digital content your business should be creating to keep up with the times.

7. Blogger – A blogging community, Blogger is a great way to create a following that can reach through various platforms with organic content. Having a foothold in a community of bloggers can give your website things like back links and guest bloggers that will keep your website fresh and new. Keeping a steady influx of new content can help your website increase its standing in search engines and really get new leads that turn into revenue.

8. Joomla or 9. WordPress – Joomla and WordPress have a many differences, but they both will put some fierce SEO practices integrated with your blog to give your website a helpful boost in search engines. The importance of your website’s rank in search engines determines whether you are on the front page or the fifth; and really there is no second page of Google to a user.

10. Typepad – Used for shared passions and hobbies, Typepad is a blogger’s dream. For business, however, it is not as widely used as other blogging sites and therefore not as effective in networking or sharing.

Look out for the next installment of our Top 20 Social Media Platforms for Your Small Business – Part Two that will include email marketing platforms as well as image and video sharing platforms!