Should you go all-in on Instagram? Maybe place half of your social media budget into Facebook and split the rest between YouTube and LinkedIn? What about Pinterest? These are the kinds of questions plaguing small businesses and marketing teams alike.
To help you decide which social media platforms are going to be right for your brand this year, here are our picks for the top social media sites you should care about (and invest in) during 2020 and guidance on where to place your bets.
1. Instagram
Long the home of influencers, brands, bloggers, small business owners, friends, and everyone in between--Instagram has topped well over 1 billion monthly users for some time now. If youโre wondering whether a meaningful segment of your audience spends time on the platform, the answer is almost surely a resounding yes.
Whoโs on Instagram (and Why): Instagram has become one of the most popular social media platforms for teens and young adults, especially in the US. The use of the app slowly drops off with age but stays consistent across both men and women, so if your customers are under 40, then Instagram canโt be ignored.
2. Facebook
With nearly 2.5 Billion monthly users, Facebook is hands down the largest social media site in the world. While that practically ensures at least some of your audience regularly uses the platform, itโs developed a somewhat negative reputation amongst younger users that are increasingly turning to other alternative sites.
Regardless, if your brand stands to benefit from sharing industry-related news, engaging (short-form) videos, graphics, and other visually appealing contentโespecially if your primary audience is above the age of 30โthen consider having a presence on Facebook. You might also consider leveraging Facebook groups to gather your customers or community in one place online. Facebook groups, unlike Facebook business pages, arenโt for advertising, but they can be helpful in creating conversation.
3. Twitter
While Twitterโs monthly active user numbers have hovered consistently around 300 Million for a while now, a whopping 40% of those users are active on the site multiple times daily, suggesting that if your audience uses the platform, theyโre likely very engaged. The popularity of this social media site remains high amongst tech-savvy users and is particularly active in B2B verticals related to business, marketing, and politics today.
Whoโs on Twitter (and Why): 63% of Twitter users are between the ages of 35 and 65, with males making up nearly two-thirds of those people.
4. Pinterest
Pinterest has become a very popular social bookmarking tool for saving ideas and finding creative inspiration when it comes to everything from cooking to DIY home projects, vacation ideas, interior design, business, and everything in between. With an audience predominantly consisting of adult women, this social media platform is also often cited as a crucial part of the product discovery journey.
5. Snapchat
Whoโs on Snapchat (and Why): Young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 make up a massive 78% of active users who partake in the platformโs over 14 Billion daily video views. Users tend to skew slightly more toward females, with the majority accessing the app daily.
