As of January 2022, there are approximately 3.96 billion total social media users in the world. Approximately 7 out of 10 Americans use social media to communicate with each other, read news content, share information and entertain themselves.

Nearly half the world’s population use social media in one form or another. Businesses have been surprisingly slow to understand the prominence of social media across the world, and the way in which social media can positively or negatively impact the wellbeing of a business.

Using social media as a promotional tool for your business is not just advantageous in 2023, it is nigh on essential. With so many platforms and tools out there, it can be difficult to understand how to best incorporate your business into the social media world. Below is a list of tips on using social media to promote your business.

Choose your Platform(s) Wisely

When figuring out the best social media channels to use, it is essential that you consider what you are selling, and who you are selling that product to. Finding the right platform is all about knowing your audience. Undertake research into your key demographics to determine what platform is the best for promoting your product. This will help you reach your target audience much faster than a scattershot approach across many different platforms.

For example, if you are looking to market your product to Gen Z users, TikTok would be the most obvious choice. The platform has a high rate of engagement among Gen Zers and is therefore the ideal way of engaging with them.

Understand what the Platform does

Once you have decided on a platform to use, it is also essential that you cater your marketing strategies to the specifications of tha platform. Take the TikTok example. For this platform you will need to create attention-grabbing videos of short length. For Instagram, you will need eye-catching photos of your product. If you are using Twitter (News - Alert), how can you successfully get across the USP of your product in a maximum of 280 characters?

As well as learning how to effectively communicate the strengths of your product on these platforms, it is essential to learn how to maximize the visibility of your posts. Research into the ways in which your platform ranks posts and messages. Learn the algorithms as best you can. This will help you get more eyes on your product quickly. It is not enough to post. You want your post to be seen by as many people as possible.

Engage, engage, engage

So you know what platforms to use, and how to use them. The next step should be learning how to actively engage with consumers on that platform. Social media is social, after all. Most platforms are incredibly active and fast-moving. It is therefore key to use interaction to keep social media users engaged with your posts.

This can be done through a variety of means, and often depends on the platform. Make your posts interactive, post QnAs, comment on other posts, follow users, and most of all ensure that you are updating your posts regularly so that you are seen to be active on the site.

Track, Track, Track

Social media platforms can be complex and it’s easy to lose track of how your business is fitting within the platform that you have chosen. It is therefore essential to find ways of tracking the visibility of your social media presence. There are a slew of meta-sites out there that can help you track the popularity of your posts and how they have been received by the online community.

Counting ‘‘likes’ on a post is one thing, but consider researching more comprehensive methods of understanding popularity and visibility. This will help you better cater your posts to the needs of the platform and its users and if done correctly, can even offer a way to save money as a business by reducing your other advertising costs.