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Social Media Landscape in 2023 And How Small Businesses Can Leverage It
With the right approach at the right time in the social media space, businesses can boost their sales and visibility and drive unprecedented growth. On the surface, social media is a compact solution for businesses to thrive. But businesses cannot afford to generalize their social media marketing efforts.
Every business should personalize its social media marketing strategy and cater to its target audience’s needs. What’s interesting is that most businesses now understand that social media is the perfect hub to better understand the changing dynamics, preferences, and behaviors of their customers.
Here’s a simplified outlook of the top social media sites, social media platforms on the rise and decline, and the ideal social media platforms for micro businesses:
Top 3 Social Media Sites
Facebook
As of 2023 Q1, Facebook is worth over $600 billion. Facebook has been helping businesses make transformative changes long before TikTok and other social media platforms gained momentum. While Facebook continues to get caught up in one controversy after another, the platform is still ideal for businesses and brands to engage with a massive user base and roll out highly targeted campaigns.
YouTube
YouTube is a bigger platform than TikTok, Snapshot, and Instagram combined. When it comes to video content creation, businesses can’t go wrong with YouTube. In fact, from small businesses to large corporations, hiring content creators and video editors has become a common practice to create and share unique content. With over 2 billion active monthly users, YouTube is a great platform where people come to learn and get entertainment.
Instagram
If you’re looking for quick success, then your best bet is Instagram. In a few months, you can gain millions of followers. With over 1 billion users, Instagram has become a top-tier social media platform. While sharing pictures is the essence of the Instagram platform, businesses and brands now leverage built-in features like “Instagram Stories” to showcase their products, build unique voices, and offer added value to their target customers.
Which Social Media Platform has the Most Active Users?
Facebook is still the reigning king of social media platforms with the most active users. With almost 3 billion active monthly users, Facebook continues to be the biggest social media platform. Just for perspective, understand that almost 40% of the global population is now on Facebook.
Today, over 200 million small to mid-sized businesses have a presence on Facebook. Additionally, seven million marketers and advertisers use Facebook to promote campaigns and businesses. Whether it’s video content, stories, or images, everything works great on Facebook. The content that triggers engagement and conversations on Facebook always stands out.
Which Social Media Platforms Are Declining?
Facebook
It is no secret that Facebook has a huge following, but the platform has been the subject of many controversies. This has had a significant impact on the platform. What’s worse is that the younger generation prefers Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok to Facebook.
Twitter
Twitter engagement is on the decline for some time. Under Elon Musk’s leadership, Twitter is heading in an uncertain direction. While the social media platform is finding new ways to charge users, it has become more rigid around political discourses and routinely bans/suspends accounts that are exercising their right to free speech. This has had a negative impact on how people see and use Twitter.
Which Social Media Platforms Are Rising?
TikTok
It feels like everyone is on TikTok. And for the past few years, Gen Z has made TikTok their home. In fact, data shows that the younger generation prefers to use a vibrant social media platform like TikTok than old school platforms like Facebook.
Instagram
Like TikTok, Instagram is incredibly popular among the younger generation. You may not realize it, but Instagram is swarming with pictures of Gen Z and millennials. With more built-in features, Instagram has become more competitive than ever and garners the attention of the younger generation.
Which Platforms are the Best for Small Businesses?
Facebook
Despite all the controversies and negative perceptions, Facebook has a huge following, and businesses cannot afford to overlook its massive user base. Whether it’s media, telecommunication, technology, financial services, entertainment, eCommerce, gaming, or consumer goods, Facebook is the dominant social media platform where businesses can develop and implement unique campaigns.
Google My Business
That’s right — many businesses don’t see Google My Businesses. But businesses that use it as just another social media platform have managed to reap short-term and long-term benefits. After all, GMB has over 5 billion users. Using GMB, businesses can improve their profile, step up localized efforts, engage in social proofing, and improve overall content quality.
TikTok
TikTok is growing at lightning speed, and the networking approach on this social media platform is different from other channels. In fact, 1 out of 4 users on TikTok are young. And like teens, businesses can master the art of short-form content and better engage with the younger audience.
Instagram
Coaches, small businesses, and influencers are changing the way they sell a wide range of products. Instagram is all about image consciousness, and businesses across cosmetics, wellness brands, personal care, and fashion are making the most out of Instagram. Over 75% of the Instagram user base is younger than 25 years old, which makes it a great platform for businesses to connect with younger audiences.
Facebook Messenger
Ever since Facebook decided to transform its Facebook Messenger into a dedicated app, it is helping businesses of all kinds connect with customers. It has over 1 billion followers and allows businesses to advertise, communicate, and send automated messages via chatbot.
LinkedIn
With close to 900 million active monthly users, LinkedIn has become an ideal social media platform for businesses. The platform has evolved from a job search marketplace or a business networking platform. Today, LinkedIn houses some of the best experts across different industries. Small businesses now use LinkedIn to build B2B and B2C relationships, hire top talent, and build a unique brand.
Twitter
How you approach Twitter users and execute social media campaigns is significantly different on Twitter than on Facebook or any other social media platform. Twitter has become the place where all the controversies and discourse stem from. The platform has over 450 million active monthly users. Businesses develop impeccable marketing strategies on Twitter based on the character limit and unique voice.
Sum Up
Whether it’s starting a business or growing a business, there is no avoiding the social media landscape. Today, businesses of all sizes have a great opportunity to build their unique brand, engage with more customers, and maintain a competitive edge through social media platforms.
The social media space has evolved to the point where businesses look at most of their target audience on social media channels. The most profitable businesses are the ones that use social media platforms to raise brand awareness, generate more leads, and consistently engage with their customers.
MindEdge
Small businesses and self-employed individuals continue to make the most out of MindEdge. It is a great platform for small business owners and self-employed to get the necessary education and use their knowledge to achieve success. From data analytics to management to leadership, MindEdge offers many certificates and courses.
How to Leverage NASE
Since continuous learning is in the spotlight, more and more small businesses should develop and roll out unique social media campaigns to stand out. And small business owners and entrepreneurs can leverage NASE, or the National Association for the Self-Employed, to build and share their unique voice.
Today, it feels like there are endless learning opportunities. Social media gives small businesses a chance to be as competitive as a renowned brand. When you dive into the social media space, small businesses are bound to encounter more opportunities than challenges.