Most Popular Social Media Sites & Their Features
Updated: Jan 3, 2021
Find out what the most popular social media sites are in this blog post. Learn about each platform’s specific features that can help you in your marketing and discover how long your post really lasts on each social media site.
Monthly active users: 2.7 billion
Lifespan of a post: 8 hours
Key features: Posting features, events, stories, advertising campaigns, shopping tool
Facebook is unsurprisingly the largest social media site in the world, so it’s highly recommended that if you don’t have a Business Facebook account, you need one. Whilst you can post content, create events and publish Facebook stories (much like on Instagram), Facebook is the ideal place to create your advertising campaign. Using Business Manager, you can really define and target your audience specifically for your advert. You can do this by their demographics, where they live, their interests and hobbies and even their relationship status. This will truly ensure your brand is being seen by the right people. Another feature Facebook has introduced is Shopping. This allows you to upload your products into a Catalogue which can then be tagged in photos when you post them. This allows your customer to quickly and easily purchase your product simply by tapping the photo. Facebook is also launching Business Suite which allows you to manage your Facebook and Instagram accounts in one place.
YouTube
Monthly active users: 1.9 billion
Lifespan of a post: For as long as you keep the video published on your channel!
Key features: Video-sharing platform and opportunities to advertise
Coming in as the second largest social media site, YouTube has two significant content-related options. First and foremost, YouTube is a video-sharing site, so if you have the ability to create longer, more in-depth videos than your average IGTV, then this is the site for you. These videos are a great way to tell your subscribers what your brand does, what it stands for and gives them an opportunity to see into the life of your company. As with any other social media site, you can also advertise on YouTube. Don’t forget though that many adverts can be skipped and so you’ll want to make sure your ad is engaging and relevant to the audience to stop them from clicking that “Skip ads” button.
Monthly active users: 1.5 billion
Lifespan of a post: N/A
Key features: Great way to communicate directly to your customers in a more personable way
WhatsApp is more commonly known as an instant messaging site, however with 1.5 billion monthly active users, it could be a good idea to start using this platform as a way to communicate with your customers. Aimed at small businesses, WhatsApp have released the WhatsApp Business App where companies can create a catalogue to showcase their products and services and also quickly reply to customer queries. This method of communication will add value to any small brand due to its personable nature. For larger companies, take a look at WhatsApp Business API instead to provide customer support and deliver important notifications to customers.
Messenger
Monthly active users: 1.3 billion
Lifespan of a post: N/A
Key features: Advertising opportunities, create chatbots, customer support
Facebook Messenger has been a standalone app since 2011 and the features of it continue to increase. Firstly, you can create ads from your Facebook Business Manager that appear in Messenger. These will be displayed on the Home page of the app, just select Messenger in Placement when creating your ad. Another way you can advertise your brand on Messenger is by sponsored messages. Sponsored messages are a way to reengage potential customers but keep in mind that they only work for those customers that your brand has previously had a conversation with.
Chatbots are becoming increasingly common and using ChatFuel you can create your very own without having to do any coding. Chatbots will automatically start “talking” to your customer after they have hit the Messenger button. They can be used as a way of getting customers to sign up to a newsletter or to simply answer common customer queries.
Monthly active users: 1 billion
Lifespan of a post: 20 hours
Key features: Posting features, Instagram stories, IGTV, Reels & advertising opportunities
Instagram is fast becoming one of the more used social media sites and is no longer just about posting pretty pictures. Sure, it’s important to have an aesthetically pleasing grid, but Instagram now has so many new features to take advantage of. Firstly, stories. They only last for 24 hours, but provide a fantastic way of engaging with your followers. Choose between polls, Q&As, quizzes or even go live to really engage with your customers and make them feel a part of your brand. IGTV’s allow you to post a more in-depth video to the site, whilst 2020’s newest addition of Reels gives brands the opportunity to create a short 15-second video to really grab customers attention. Naturally, like any of these sites, you can also create Instagram adverts. These are created on your Facebook Business Manager account, just make sure your accounts are linked to do this.
TikTok
Monthly active users: 500 million
Lifespan of a post: 3 days
Key features: Video-creation & sharing, filters & effects, challenges
TikTok is one of the fastest growing social media apps. Now with over 500 million, TikTok has recently risen to success in part due to the pandemic as millions had to stay at home with nothing else to do than create short, funny videos and share them with their online community. Some of the biggest trends can be found on this platform and with many songs becoming number 1 in the charts because of their TikTok successes.
Just like we saw the rise of the Instagram influencer, there are now celebrities made famous by this video-sharing app. If you’re considering using TikTok as part of your social media strategy think how best you’re able to convey and stay true to your brand as TikTok may not be the solution for every company.
Monthly active users: 335 million
Lifespan of a post: 20 minutes
Key features: Short to the point posts, advertising opportunities, create moments
Although the lifespan of a tweet on Twitter is only 20 minutes significantly shorter than other social media sites, Twitter is a fantastic place to engage and communicate with customers. Due to Twitter’s fast paced nature, it’s a great way to talk to your customers and create conversation – and observe conversation amongst your customers. Sharing posts by retweeting is commonplace here, more so than on Instagram for example, meaning more eyeballs on your content! A feature of Twitter worth mentioning here is moments. You can do this on your desktop and allows you to get your point across with more characters than your normal Tweet. Combine your own tweets and/or add in other people’s to create moments that your brand wants to specifically highlight.
Monthly active users: 294 million
Lifespan of a post: 48 hours
Key features: Business-orientated, connections & networking, advertising opportunities targeting people by employment data & segmentation
LinkedIn is what I like to think of as a corporate Facebook. This platform is all about connecting with other professionals and networking with them. If you’re in B2B marketing, this is the place for you. This is where you can best showcase all the corporate achievements and initiatives that your brand has and can offer. You can also advertise on LinkedIn. It’s slightly more expensive than Facebook, but you can target your audience in different ways, for example you can target people based on the job title, not to mention you’ll be reaching a whole different audience on this site as these are people’s professional accounts rather than their personal ones. If you work in B2C marketing, ensure that LinkedIn is the right place to market. It can certainly work, just keep in mind that your content will need to look and feel more professional and in some cases it’s more about what your company is doing outside of making money that will garner the most engagement.
Monthly active users: 250 million
Lifespan of a post: 3 months
Key features: Inspiration, advertising opportunities, direct website links
Pinterest is a source of inspiration for people. They search for a topic and a load of pins related to their search pop up. People can then “pin” one of these pins to their own personal board to go back and look at later and they’re also able to click on the pin and be directed straight to your website for more information. Pinterest also ranks quite highly on Google. Pinterest provides you with metrics as does any other social media site for your business account, so you are able to see how many impressions a pin receives, how many people pin it, etc. You can also promote a pin by putting some money behind it, much like any other site, so that more people see your content. Pinterest is great for a visual, creative, aesthetically pleasing brand.
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