Every year, consumers present new buying habits, particularly influenced by the surrounding social and technological norms. In particular, social media has been a major contributor to the change in consumer habits. For a company, it is impossible to ignore a presence on social media. These platforms are vital for businesses, regardless of their size.
Indeed, 87% of buyers are influenced by social media and their content in their purchasing behavior. A social media strategy can be integrated to the development and communication strategy of your online store.
With TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, … the list of social networks is large but remains exclusive. However, to take full advantage of the potential of these platforms and optimize your chances of success, it is necessary to understand each network, because they are not necessarily adapted to your business, its needs and your products.
In this article, we make a list of the most popular social networks in the world, and we will give you all the figures as well as all the keys to choose, but also, to use the most adapted social media for your online store.
Why use social media to sell?
Social networks attract 4.62 billion users in 2022, or 58.4% of the world’s population. Among this flock of users, your marketing target, which includes your typical customers, is present.
As mentioned before, these media have clearly changed the way consumers behave towards an offer as well as towards brands. Product and brand discovery processes have changed, which has introduced new strategies.
Social selling
Social selling is a strategy of using social media to sell, with the goal of growing your business and consumer base. The objective is to detect consumers who could correspond to your buyer persona, and to convert them into potential customers.
It is a process of researching, selecting and interacting with prospects on social networks.
So, we see more and more E-commerce features on these social platforms. It is now possible to promote and sell your products directly on the platforms, thanks to dedicated features and adapted advertising campaigns.
The border between online stores and social media is becoming more and more blurred.
Gain visibility through social media
Social networks give you the opportunity to make yourself known to the general public. This helps to develop the visibility of your brand, which improves its notoriety. It is an opportunity to present your products and attract new potential customers.
If you share the right content on social platforms, at the right time, on the right platform, with the right tone, you will have all your chances to attract qualified prospects.
Moreover, it is an excellent channel to develop traffic to your online store. The more people talk about you on social networks, the more visible you are, the more people will share your content, the more possibility there will be to reach new customers.
Be closer to your customers with social media
Social networks are an excellent platform to get closer to consumers and potential customers through qualitative targeting. You will be able to get in touch with them directly, answering their questions, thanking them for their interest, or keeping them informed of your news. In short: by interacting with them.
In addition to that, through the feedback of your customers, you will have the ability to improve your products or services. Social media is a mine of information to do media monitoring, competitive intelligence, …, and to know the needs of consumers in your industry.
Social media helps you to federate a community that will be able to meet your expectations regarding purchases, feedback, but especially that can act as a group of ambassadors for your brand.
List of the main social media platforms
Here’s a list of the social networks you need to be on, with some information that can help you target the right types of consumers and gain insight.
Beware, this information is general and not necessarily true for all industries.
Facebook, the leader of social media
Facebook is the number 1 network in the world. Even if it is not the origin of social platforms, it is one of the pioneers that has managed to survive the test of time, despite all the attacks it has been subjected to.
The Facebook group recently got a makeover, renaming itself Meta. This new name refers to the metaverse, an extension of the internet as we know it today. It is the social media of reference, especially for B2C companies, offering their products to individual consumers.
Today, the network has 2.912 billion followers (number of monthly active users in January 2022). This is mainly due to the power of the Meta group, which requires interconnection between its different applications such as Instagram, WhatsApp or Messenger.
Audience
Facebook users are loyal to the platform which leads, as mentioned above, to interconnections between its different applications. 79% of monthly users log on to the platform every day.
The most represented part of the population on Facebook is: men, from 25 to 34 years old, at 18.4%. Overall, the gender distribution is 56.3% men and 43.7% women.
Goals
- Build community and loyalty
- Take advantage of an additional online sales channel, responding to the usage or consumption habits of a part of your marketing target
- Generate additional traffic on your online store
- Highlight your products and generate more sales
- Set up targeted marketing campaigns thanks to the advertising network
Top pages
Here is a list of some of the most important brand pages on Facebook. These are, of course, managed by big brands, but you can take inspiration from the strategies implemented on the network to develop your own community.
This can give you inspiration and help you grow faster with an effective social media strategy.
- Samsung: 159.82 million of fans
- Coca-Cola: 106.96 million of fans
- YouTube: 84.35 million of fans
- McDonald’s: 79.85 million of fans
Tools to use
- Facebook Ad Center: This ad network offered by the Meta group on Facebook allows you to precisely target Internet users (age, location, gender, etc.)
- Facebook Shops: E-commerce platform offered by Meta, facilitating the sale of products on the Facebook platform
- Page Insights: Tool allowing you to choose your KPIs for your Page and track them
- Facebook Pixel: an advertising and analytics tool that allows you to measure the effectiveness of your advertising by tracking the actions taken by visitors to your online store
- Facebook IQ: a tool offered by Meta that provides data and analysis on user behavior, as well as marketing tips that you can apply to Facebook
Tips to apply
- Prefer to publish visual content (videos and images), these are the types of content that have the most potential for sharing
- Seek to create a reaction among users, thanks to short, impactful and even humorous messages
- Use Facebook’s visibility and targeting tools
- Use Facebook Live to create appointments and interact with the community
Instagram, the 100% visual media of Meta
Instagram began in 2010 and was acquired by what is now known as the Meta Group in 2012. This visual platform is particularly popular with a young audience due to its functionality.
The mobile platform has 1.478 billion users each month (January 2022 figures). Every day, there are 500 million users.
Audience
As mentioned, the Instagram population is younger than the Facebook population. One reason for this is the platform’s highly visual content-oriented features. Information is communicated more efficiently and quickly, not requiring a lot of concentration as well as engagement.
Once again, men are the most represented on Instagram. They are between 18 and 24 years old at 17.9%. Overall, there is a distribution of 51.6% men and 48.4% women.
Goals
- Highlight your activity and create a universe around your visual identity
- Reach out to a young audience
- Promote your products
- Create links with your community
- Adopt an influencer marketing strategy
Top brand profiles
Brands have an opportunity to highlight their products easily through a platform like Instagram. The big brands then naturally take advantage of the features to offer content adapted to their community, especially towards the younger ones.
- Nike: 205 million followers
- Victoria’s Secret: 71.8 million followers
- Huda Beauty: 50 million followers
- Chanel: 49.4 million followers
Tools to use
- Instagram Shopping: Tool proposed by the platform that allows you to add a link directly to your product, on your photos (advertising being managed on Facebook, you will have to upload your catalog there first)
- Instagram Business: linked to your Facebook account, this allows you to advertise on the platform. There are 2 types of ads on Instagram: the publication format (image or video), or the story format. You must have at least 10,000 followers to add links in your posts
- Favikon: This tool helps you target, evaluate and contact influencers
- Mojo: tool to create original and creative stories to differentiate yourself from other accounts
- InShop: mobile software that allows you to easily edit your videos
Tips to apply
- Dramatize your offer by putting your products in situation
- Build a strong visual identity + propose quality images
- Show authenticity and spontaneity by using the Story and Live features
- Study the most relevant hashtags and add them to your publications to gain visibility and virality (focus on quality, not quantity)
- Organize contests with prizes to increase your viral potential
- Study influencers and use them
LinkedIn, the professional platform
LinkedIn is one of the first social platforms that emerged in the early 2000s. The network, specialized in professional activities, was made public in 2003, after the creation of the company a year earlier.
In January 2022, the platform attracted 808.4 million users. 40% of these users connect to LinkedIn every day.
Audience
By its nature, LinkedIn’s audience is older than other social networks. At its core, this platform allows professionals to share their resumes with each other. Since then, the usage has mutated to become a place to exchange on various professional issues from various industries.
Thus, the most represented population is between 25 and 34 years old, at 59.1%. Regarding gender distribution, 43.4% of LinkedIn users are women and 56.6% are men.
Goals
- Do commercial prospecting and develop your network
- Develop personal branding and employee advocacy
- Promote your activity and show your expertise in your field
- Increase the visibility of your company
- Share the life of the company and put your employees in the spotlight
- Monitor the media and the competition
- Exchange with the community
- Recruit
Top brands profiles
The nature of LinkedIn means that people tend to follow influential companies in major industries. To that end, GAFAMs can be found among the most followed brands on the platform.
- Amazon: 24.5 million followers
- Google: 24.1 million followers
- Microsoft: 16.5 million followers
- Apple: 15.8 million followers
Tools to use
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator: commercial tool that allows you to prospect and quickly find the most interesting prospects
- Campaign Manager: advertising management tool that provides 5 types of advertising from Text Ads to sponsored publications
- Waalaxy: automated sales prospecting tool and processes on LinkedIn
- Shield: monitoring and analysis tool that will provide you with complete analytics for your LinkedIn account
Tips to apply:
- Use hashtags in your publications, between 3 and 5 maximum. They should be adapted to your target and to the community’s interests
- Prefer the publication of visual content (images, videos, PDFs) in order to stand out and gain visibility
- Build your publications with the objective of creating engagement and comments
- Pay attention to your taglines (the first 3 visible lines) in order to attract attention
- Identify the people involved in your publication, this will allow you to have an additional reach
- Have a good frequency (several posts per week)
Twitter, the news and microblogging network
Twitter is the social network of real time and micro-blogging, limited to 280 character publications. In January 2022, the platform had 436.6 million active users, of which 206 million logged on every day.
Audience
Men between 25 and 34 years old represent 38.5% of the population present on Twitter. The gender distribution on the network is 70.4% male and 29.6% female.
Goals
- Apply media monitoring and control your e-reputation
- Share content, news and build an expert image in your field
- Get closer to the community and interact with users
- Improve your visibility and take advantage of the virality potential of this social media
- Improve your brand image
Top brand profiles
The most popular brands on Twitter have managed to adapt to the particular communication of the network. Posts are very short and must be effective, with substantial information. Moreover, humor is very important on the network, which also requires an adaptation to the user culture.
- PlayStation: 24.3 million followers
- Xbox: 17.9 million followers
- Chanel: 13.3 million followers
- Samsung Mobile: 12.4 million followers
Tools to use
- Twitter for Business: tool to create and distribute advertising campaigns through its advertising network
- Tweetdeck: a tool that allows you to manage most of the elements of your Twitter account
- Buffer: tool that allows you to schedule your tweets, publishing them at the time you want
- Audiense Connect: a tool that allows you to develop a customized chatbot to interact with your followers on the platform, automatically using private messages
- Talkwalker: social media monitoring and analysis tool, helping you control your e-reputation
Tips to apply
- The platform can be used as an additional customer relationship support
- Use popular hashtags to gain visibility
- Be concise, you only have 280 characters
- Use visual content to stand out
- Keep a high frequency of publication
- Familiarize yourself with the “culture” on the platform, and adopt the appropriate tone
- Avoid commercial publications*
Pinterest, pins for social media
Pinterest was born in 2009 and launched in 2010, and is a social media prioritizing visual content. Today, the platform has 431 million unique users.
Audience
The gender distribution of the platform is 76.7% female and 15.3% male. This is not to say that Pinterest does not cater to men, as the number of Gen Z men has increased by 40% over the course of the previous year. Regarding Gen Y people, the number of users has grown by 35%.
Goals
- Drive traffic to your website and improve your SEO
- Give visibility and highlight your products with quality visuals
- Target a female clientele
- Take advantage of the very high retention time
- Sell thanks to the numerous e-commerce features
Top brand profiles
The most popular brands on the platform understood what their target audience wanted: visual and inspiring content. On Pinterest, users only consume when they fall in love, which is why visuals need to be neat and brands need to use the platform’s e-commerce features.
- Harper’s BAZAAR: 6.4 million followers
- Nordstrom: 5.2 million followers
- L.L.Bean: 5 million followers
- April and May: 4.3 million followers
Tools to use
- Pinterest Business: tool for running ads on the platform
- Tailwind: scheduling tool that saves you time and gives you information about your audience
- Shop The Look: feature that allows users to click on the product they want, then proceed directly to purchase
- Try On: try-on feature using augmented reality
Tips to apply
- Insert the most important keywords for you in the name of your table
- Pin content regularly on your profile
- Create inspiring visuals of good size and quality
- Create collaborative boards to reach new visitors
- Create rich product pins
- Offer video content
YouTube, the video platform
YouTube seems unstoppable since its creation and its acquisition by the search engine Google. Content creators are attracting more and more users, offering diversified videos, especially driven by brand interests and partnerships. The video platform is the second most visited site in the world, behind Google, with 2.562 billion unique users per month, as well as 122 million unique daily users.
Audience
YouTube is particularly popular among the youngest segment of the population, especially the 25-34 year olds who represent 21.2%. The gender distribution is as follows: 46.1% women and 53.9% men.
Goals
- Founding and federating a community
- Gain notoriety and virality
- Enhance your SEO strategy and drive traffic to your website
- Dramatize and show your products in video
- Get closer to the consumer with video
- Find new customers
Top brand profiles
The most popular brands are those offering content tailored to the needs of the platform’s users. The most popular brands are those that offer content adapted to the needs of the platform’s users, particularly the fun brands, aimed at a young audience, sometimes nostalgic for the first two. These brands have developed content strategies that are now recognized by all professionals in the field.
- LEGO: 14 million subscribers
- PlayStation: 14 million subscribers
- GoPro: 10.6 million subscribers
- Red Bull: 10.4 million subscribers
Tools to use
- YouTube Analytics: a tool based on Google’s YouTube Analytics, which provides detailed statistics to evaluate the success of your videos and adopt appropriate strategies
- TubeBuddy: diagnostic tool that examines your video to see if it is well configured and optimized for organic search to generate views
- VidiQ: a tool that allows you to manage and optimize your presence on YouTube
Tips to apply
- Promote your visual identity and authenticity
- Invest in the right material
- Work on your keywords, titles and descriptions so that your channel and videos are easily found
- Grab the viewers’ attention from the very first seconds
- Work on your thumbnails
- Structure your videos
Snapchat, 100% mobile
Snapchat is a social network dedicated entirely to mobile use. That’s why it’s aimed at the younger parts of the population, who tend to spend more time on their smartphones. In January 2022, the platform attracted 557.1 million active users, with 319 million daily unique visitors.
Audience
The majority of the application’s users are young: the most represented part of the population on the network is the 18 to 24 year olds. The gender distribution is as follows: 54.4% women and 44.6% men.
Goals
- Connect with your community
- Reach a young target
- Create and share viral content
- Propose creative content
- Highlight your products
Top brand profiles
Brands present on Snapchat take advantage of the platform’s e-commerce features to offer their products to a young audience. This allows them to extend their reach and increase their traffic.
- NBA
- Toyota
- Ben & Jerry’s
- L’Oréal Paris
Tools to use
- Story Studio : Snapchat tool that allows you to edit your videos
- Snapchat Trends : tool to find the most popular themes of the moment on the application
Tips to apply
- Snapchat has a lot of filters available to its users, so take advantage of them!
- Snapchat content is time-based, so don’t hesitate to post several times a week.
- As on other social networks, videos generate more engagement than other formats.
- Advertise to promote your business
- Use influencers
TikTok, the little one who became big
TikTok is the social sensation of the last few years. Despite a solid foothold from the leaders in this space, the Chinese platform has taken the world by storm and caters to a younger audience, like Snapchat. The difference is marked by its user base: in January 2022, TikTok had 1 billion active users.
Audience
The social platform has 3 billion downloads. 60% of the app’s population is between 16 and 24 years old. Regarding the gender distribution, there are 60% of women and 40% of men.
Goals
- Propose relevant challenges to create links with your community
- Get closer to your youngest customers
- Create and share viral content
- Benefit from a very high engagement rate
- Offer creative and humorous content
- Humanize your company
Top brand profiles
Brands take advantage of the platform to offer two types of content: organic content, highlighted by challenges and short videos, and paid content, represented by the advertising interludes found between the videos in our feed.
- Gymshark: 3.5 million followers
- Chipotle: 1.7 million followers
- Target: 1.6 million followers
- Amazon: 542.5 thousand followers
Tools to use
- TikTok Analytics: a tool to track the performance of your account, and better understand your subscribers to adapt your content
- TikTok Shopping: E-commerce feature in partnership with Shopify that allows you to buy products directly on the platform
- TikTok Live: feature that allows you to create live formats and allow real-time interactions
Tips to apply
- TikTok offers a lot of effects, so take advantage of them to create quality videos.
- Make contests: it is possible to offer gifts on the network. So attract new members to your follower base by this way.
- Don’t be too serious, the social network is meant to be entertaining.
- Follow the trends, especially popular music and hashtags, to gain virality.
- Interact with influencers
WhatsApp, the world’s first instant messenger
WhatsApp is an instant messenger currently offered by the Meta group. The platform is used worldwide, by 2 billion monthly active users. Every day, 100 billion messages are sent.
Audience
20% of adults (over 18) use the platform. In total, 5 million companies use WhatsApp Business.
Goals
- Get closer to your customers
- Use the application as a customer service
- Answer your customers more quickly and customize the conversation
- Relay your information
- Highlight your services and products
Top brands using WhatsApp
WhatsApp gives you the opportunity to manage your customer relationship, while getting closer to your customers and communicating around your universe.
- Adidas
- BMW
- Hellman’s
- Unilever
Tools to use
- WhatsApp Business: application designed for small business owners. It allows you to easily interact with your customers and showcase your products and services
- Landbot: this tool allows you to create a chatbot for WhatsApp, helping you automate your customer relationship, for example
- Polls for WhatsApp: tool that allows you to create polls
Tips to apply
- Share all relevant information about your business (name, logo, contact details, news…) on WhatsApp business.
- Create an e-commerce website with Catalog via Whatsapp Business application to showcase your products.
- Promote your loyal customers by sending them customized offers and tips.
- Share your news with “Statuses”. A kind of story that appears in a tab next to conversations and lasts 24 hours.
- Segment your directory to send customized messages and offers.
Twitch, the #1 streaming platform
Twitch took the world by surprise when it developed the concept of live streaming, so much so that tech industry giants have been eyeing the company for acquisition. Now part of Amazon, the streaming platform is attracting 140 million monthly active users as of January 2022, with 31 million daily active users.
Audience
Twitch is particularly oriented towards video games, attracting a young audience. Brands have understood this, and apply adapted strategies to communicate with the right target. Thus, 75% of the platform’s users are between 16 and 34 years old, and 65% are men.
Goals
- Reach a young and connected target
- Stand out from the competition
- Show inventiveness and innovation
- Strengthen the relationship with your customers and interact directly with them
- Make your company more human and authentic
- Highlight your expertise
Top brand profiles
Brands on the streaming platform are particularly comfortable with younger consumers and speak the same language as them. It is indeed necessary to understand the codes of this part of the population, as well as those of the platform, in order to propose adapted and attractive content.
- Alienware: 115,000 followers
- Wendy’s: 113,000 followers
- Porsche: 22,900 followers
- Burberry: 4,200 followers
Tools to use
- Twitch Advertising : Twitch’s ad network to broadcast your ads
- Open Broadcast Software (OBS) : A streaming software that allows to capture your screen
- StreamLabs : Live streaming software that allows to manage with viewers interactions, chat management and donations
- NightBot : A bot that allows to do moderation on Twitch
Tips to apply
- Have the necessary equipment (powerful computer, camera, microphone..) and a very good connection
- Have regularity and know the language used on the platform
- Do online events to gather your community
- Have a real project and be creative
- Advertise through an influencer
- Test your new products
- Create entertaining content
Discord, the community platform
Discord is a specialized messaging system for gamers. The application is the personal penchant of Slack, which a large number of companies use. The goal is to communicate directly with its 150 million monthly active users. In all, the platform has 390 million registered users.
Audience
The platform is widely used because it is very practical, allowing the creation of various servers fulfilling various objectives. Users have a great ability to customize their space, as well as companies that can offer various features to their community members. The average user spends 9 minutes a day on the platform. Concerning the features, 12,000 bots are available on the platform’s store.
Goals
- Get closer to your customers and interact directly with them
- Reinforce the feeling of belonging to the company thanks to private servers
- Servers that group together customers and allow them to communicate with each other
- Gather feedback from your customers
- Regular promotion of images and products with the community (private sales etc.)
Top brand servers
Brands can then create their own servers to communicate with their community and expand their universe.
- Wendy’s
- Spotify
- Lego
- Gucci
Tools to use
- Discord Nitro: paid subscription service with over 1 million users
- Bubble plan : to be used in parallel with Discord as a freemium software for managing tasks in project management
- Patreon : participative financing website for creators
Tips to apply
- Create a server for a club and community
- Set up different channels:
- “idea box” dedicated to customer feedback and suggestions
- promotions of good deals
- customer advice
- Create roles for the moderators of the server: they will have the power to manage the community
- Promote strong values and exclusive content
- Animate exchanges with your community around your favorite domain: games, webinars, podcasts
- Promote your server by advertising on other servers
Other social platforms
While you need to have a presence on the major social platforms, you can also look at more specific networks. There are several such as:
- Wechat, the Chinese instant messenger offering a variety of services
- Tumblr, the blogging network that promotes creativity and allows exchanges
- Flickr, a tool for sharing photos on the Internet, which also has an image bank
- We Heart It, another network based on visual communication, it reminds Pinterest and Instagram
- Medium, this platform mixes blogging and exchanges between users, like Tumblr, which is organized in the form of collections
- Reddit, which is a community board organized around very specific topics, corresponding to the needs of everyone
- StumbleUpon, which allows you to discover content according to your tastes and popular content
- QQ, the instant messenger proposed by Tencent, one of the leaders of Chinese E-commerce (you can also look at QZone, also developed by Tencent and offering more features more adapted to social media uses)
- Sina Weibo, a mixture of Facebook and Twitter oriented towards micro-blogging, like the latter
- Foursquare, a specialized tool to discover new entertainment and other places according to your taste and geolocation
And you, what social media do you prioritize as part of your strategy? Do you have any niche networks to suggest? What are your favorite accounts?
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