Whether you’re building a social media marketing strategy or you need to finalize a social media platform that can help you reach your target audience – this guide will help you find the best fit for your business or brand.
Telegram
After the row over the privacy policy of many top instant messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook, Telegram soon became one of the favorite social apps for texting. Owing to its user-centric privacy policy, Telegram has managed to increase its user count gradually. It is safe, secure, and reliable; that is why it stands out among its competitors.
Telegram is also suitable for businesses who want to implement digital marketing by connecting with every user possible. For example, companies can build chatbots using the platform to broadcast messages to several users at one go.
Key Features of Telegram
- Messages are self-destructive and secured with Encryption
- It is free to use that too without any ads
- You can turn the notifications off, preview messages, and lock selected conversations
- Personal cloud-based storage
- Completely free without any ads
- Offers scope to create groups of up to 2 lakh users
With a whopping active user base of 2.8 billion, Facebook is dominating the world of social network websites. It is considered an excellent platform for businesses in terms of paid and organic social marketing. Moreover, 78 percent of US-based consumers have discovered products through Facebook.
Facebook is also used to catch up with near and dear ones and stay updated on the latest trends and news. Facebook uses different forms of shared content, from published posts to live content videos and stories.
Brands that are constantly active on Facebook utilize organic content for enhancing their brand awareness and CRM (Customer Relationship Management). With data analytics, marketers can use Facebook’s user data to expand their reach to new customers.
Key Features of Facebook
- Share your best memories
- Search for local events to plan out with friends
- Play games with your Facebook contacts
- Follow your favorite artists, organizations to stay updated on their news
- Use Facebook Marketplace to buy and sell
YouTube
Monthly active users: 2.29 billion
With active users hitting 2.29 billion, YouTube has quickly ranked high as one of the world’s most preferred social media apps. In addition, it can be considered both a video platform and the second-largest search engine in the world.
For brands already established, ads featuring on YouTube videos won’t fetch many benefits compared to ads run on TV. But, at the same time, businesses that are just beginning their YouTube journey need to work in tune with the YouTube algorithm.
It requires skill, an eye for opportunity, budget, and luck. Nearly 70% of viewers have decided to buy a product after seeing it on YouTube.
Key Features of YouTube
- Access to subscribed channels and feeds easily
- Users can manage videos according to their choice
- Improved live streaming of video content
- More comprehensive screen option and dark mode
- YouTube TV available that streams 40+ cable channels live
LinkedIn is the trademark social media app for professionals and people looking for employment all across the world. Be it promoting your business or advertising openings etc., and it makes the task easy.
LinkedIn is also used as a social media platform for digital marketing and attracting potential candidates for their organizations.
Key features of LinkedIn
- Building a professional profile that highlights your talents and skills
- Finding employment and recruitment openings for people
- Make your articles and posts reach professionals
- Offers marketing opportunities to promote products and services
WhatsApp comes 3rd on the list of social media apps with the highest user base and 1st in messaging apps. Although Facebook bought WhatsApp in 2014, it kept it simply a messaging and calling app. Nearly 175 million users daily message one of the 50 million businesses in 180 countries on WhatsApp.
Facebook recently declared that brands using WhatsApp Business App can now easily create Facebook and Instagram ads that will let users “click to WhatsApp” to initiate conversations on the app.
Key Features of WhatsApp
- Video call, voice call, and group video call options available
- WhatsApp Web lets you use the app on a PC
- Backup for media, offline messages, and chat
- Send and share contacts, locations, and documents
It is another popular social media app in terms of the user base, which Facebook owns too. Initially, Instagram was launched as a photo-sharing app, but soon it transformed into the world’s most popular platform regarding social commerce.
From engaging content to viral posts, the focus of Instagram has shifted towards videos, Stories, Reels, Instagram Live, and IGTV. Brands on Instagram should emphasize posts and stories related to shopping as well as on targeted ads.
Key Features of Instagram
- Photos and video sharing available, along with stories with added effects
- You can connect with your friends live
- You can send private messages to your friends
- Discover videos, photos, and stories you might like in the Explore tab
Twitter, a public microblogging platform, is a popular social media app that constantly updates its followers with the latest happenings in the world. Due to its limited word length feature, it is widely accepted and valued by most audiences.
Twitter focuses on providing real-time information and current news worldwide, making it one of the best social networking platforms. Twitter is also the first choice amongst people for its excellent service to its customers. As per data collected from different advertisers, the platform has more than 80% of customer service requests are served on Twitter
Key Features of Twitter
- The “Go Live” feature lets you watch premium and exclusive live streams
- Find out more about your favorite sports, news, entertainment, etc.
- Check what is trending and viral on the internet
- You can have a private chat with your friends & followers
- You will get recommendations and suggestions by following influencers
Snapchat
Snapchat is one such social media app that attracts not only the youngsters but also the older generation. Snapchat is attractive as well as offers unique features like self-destructive snaps and filters.
Moreover, it provides its users’ features to click and send pictures or short videos as messages that automatically disappear after a few seconds. In addition, Snapchat launched the concept of ‘Stories’ later adopted by other social media apps like Instagram.
Key Features of Snapchat
- You can add filters, lenses, 3D Bitmojis to your pictures
- Users can chat live (messaging and video) with up to 16 friends simultaneously
- View Stories from friends, top publishers, and creators
- Check out snaps shared earlier with free cloud storage
TikTok
TikTok has taken the world of the internet by storm, an app for music video sharing. It broke records by becoming the most downloaded app in the world in 2018. The concept behind Tik Tok is the same as that for Instagram.
However, it also lets users record videos for up to 60 seconds and offers editing, adding music, and special effects before publishing them to the wall. Recently, TikTok took over Musical.ly, another app with a similar concept to Tik Tok.
Key Features of Tik Tok
- Engaging and straightforward user interface
- Good editing tools having with AR functionality
- Users can make duet videos with anyone having a profile on the app
- Compatible with other social media platforms
- Integrated music library with multiple language support
WeChat is a non-North American app on this list since American social media apps are banned in China. However, WeChat is the most popular social networking platform in China. As per the Hootsuite survey, 73% of Chinese respondents had used WeChat in the past month.
Moreover, in the year 2020, roughly 88% of American-based businesses in China believed that Donald Trump’s plan to restrict WeChat could negatively impact their business operations. In addition, 42% predicted they’d lose revenue if the ban went through. Well! That did not happen.
Businesses targeting their reach in China need to make use of WeChat marketing, influencer campaigns, app-based e-commerce, or creating a mini-app within WeChat. This social media app for Android will serve the purpose.
Key Features of WeChat
- Users can message and video call
- Shop using WeChat Pay
- Use government services
- Call rideshares
Play games
Many social media apps are gaining popularity and a tremendous subscription rate now. However, this doesn’t mean that you need to be active on every platform mentioned above. Instead, you should choose social media apps that suit your target audience demographically and from a business perspective.
Extensive social media platforms, like Twitter, have diverse users, which makes them the best portals for advertising common brands. Your branding and marketing strategy curate a plan that offers you long-lasting benefits and improves your organic reach.
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Author
Bhavik Soni is a Creative Writer at Auto Monkey. We provide an original analysis of the latest happenings in the social media industry. Connect with Latest Social Media Trends and News plus tips on Twitter, Facebook and other social tools on the web.
