Social media is a key marketing tool for businesses of all sizes. Each platform offers its own unique tools that can help brands engage with followers online. When deciding how to use social media for your business, it’s important to consider your specific goals and the resources you have to dedicate to creating content and maintaining a social media calendar.

If you want to maximize your reach by using social media to market your business, these five platforms can help you attract new customers, grow your audience, and drive sales.

1. Facebook

Facebook is the leading social networking site, boasting more than 2.7 billion global users and 80 million small business pages worldwide. The popular platform offers entrepreneurs a wide variety of user-friendly tools to build community and drive new business opportunities, including photo and video galleries, custom polls, event pages, job postings, contests, and much more. With such a broad user base, it can be hard to make an impact on the site without added investment. For this reason, many businesses opt to run paid advertising campaigns to amplify content in a targeted way.

2. Instagram

Instagram’s strong focus on images and videos makes it a popular choice among Millennials and Gen Z audiences interested in fashion, travel, food, beauty, and other lifestyle content. Branded content and influencer ambassadors are a big part of the Instagram eco-system; 90% of users follow a business on the platform and many look to the app to help inspire purchase decisions. Florists, restaurants, designers, and retail brands can turn their accounts into a digital storefront by using video-based features like IG Live, Reels, and Stories to tease new products, give behind-the-scenes tours, or answer frequently asked questions. You can also make content shoppable with e-commerce product tags, curate IG Guides for seasonal collections, and set up Instagram ads to reach new and existing customers.

3. LinkedIn

A go-to social platform for business-minded folk, LinkedIn is where more than 750 million employees, owners, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers come together to network and share ideas. The platform operates in a more formal manner than other social networking sites and is ideal for organizations that specialize in professional services, consulting groups, and B2B organizations. If you want to position yourself as an industry expert, use LinkedIn to share timely research, insightful blog posts, and other thought-leadership-inspired content. The social media platform is extremely valuable for businesses when it comes to recruitment and allows you to create targeted job postings to reach the right candidates and attract talented new hires for your company.

4. Pinterest

Pinterest’s visual search engine is all about discovery and inspiration. Users are drawn to the platform for the latest trends in fashion, interior design and home renovations, recipes, weddings, arts and crafts projects, party planning, and more. As of 2021, Pinterest has 400 million users per month, with over 60 per cent women. Signing up for a Pinterest Business account is free and will provide you with access to additional insights and analytics, and exclusive content formats that allow you to drive traffic to your other digital channels. Built-in e-commerce features give merchants the ability to create catalogues with beautiful product photos that inspire real-time shopping and produce targeted ads based on user demographics, geography, keyword searches, and interests.

5. YouTube

If you have the resources to produce videos on a frequent basis, YouTube provides businesses with a host of opportunities for meaningful audience engagement. Create a free YouTube channel and start uploading video content that will entertain and educate your followers, such as instructional guides, product reviews, and customer testimonials. Businesses can also use the platform to create YouTube video ads that are embedded directly into videos uploaded by other users. This lets you reach people who are searching for content directly related to your businesses’ product and service offerings.

Overwhelmed by managing your business’s social media presence? Yellow Pages Social Media Management Solution can help.

Find out more by visiting Yellow Pages for Business, and connect with a Yellow Pages expert today by calling 1-877-553-6883.