Like many others I’ve been curious about what the best social media network is for marketing for quite some time. To find out, I asked some of the top social media influencers and experts in the world “what’s your favourite social media network for marketing?” and to make things even more interesting, I also asked “what’s your favourite social media network for personal use?”
Many of my contacts were surprised by this last question and wondered why it mattered. Because most people use social media for fun and not for marketing activities (i.e. the consumers we’re all trying to reach) I thought it was important to also take a look at what social media platforms were the most fun to use and why. Not only do you need to consider what the best social media platform for marketing your brand is in terms of ease of use, price, etc. it’s more important to consider what social media platform your target audience likes best.
Here’s what some of the experts had to say:
Guy Kawasaki
The man responsible for popularising secular evangelism through his work with Apple. Currently the chief evangelist of Canva and author of 13 books. You can read my interview with Guy here.
Professionally: I don’t have a favorite anymore. I just try to optimize for each platform and hope for the best.
Personally: I have no idea. I’ve never used it in a personal way. People do this?
Ann Handley
A Wall Street Journal Best-selling Author and Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, Ann is also a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine and a LinkedIn Influencer.
Professionally: blogs
Personally: Instagram
Martin Jones
Leading digital, social and content marketer, an Onalytica Top 50 Content Marketer and Top 100 Social Influencer. Martin Jones is a Keynote Speaker, Author and Advisor.
While I could easily point out specific features of each social network that I like over the others for marketing, Facebook stands out as a favorite due to its incredible targeting capabilities and reach. It allows me to quickly and easily get the right message, to the right audience at just the right time and engage with that audience.
For personal use, it’s LinkedIn. It’s usually the first and last site I visit each day. As a business and marketing professional that enjoys networking, and discussions around business, marketing, leadership, etc. LinkedIn is the ideal social platform for me.
Shéa Bennett
My favourite social network used to be Twitter but I think now it’s actually Facebook, for both marketing and personal use. Marketing-wise it’s still the most powerful tool in the social space – almost everything you can do on Twitter you can do better on Facebook, and usually at a lower cost. That includes reaching an audience, driving engagement, lead generation and conversion. Largely this is because Facebook is five times the size of Twitter – despite the naysaying and proclamations of its demise, pretty much everybody still uses Facebook for *something*, meaning they’re reachable by all.
The same is not true of Twitter. It’s great for some things (customer service, event marketing/coverage, measuring public reactions to anything, lead gen cards can be good etc.) but it remains a harder nut to crack for most people, professional or otherwise. I’ll always have a soft spot for Twitter but any clients I work with entering the space for the first time I’ll always push towards Facebook.
For personal use I just find Facebook gets a better overall response. I’ve had many super-retweeted tweets and that’s one area where Twitter beats Facebook – it’s truly an open garden, whereas the latter still doesn’t have anywhere near the organic reach for an average post – but most tweets get little to no engagement (largely because they’re simply not seen), whereas most Facebook posts get *some*. And this is absolutely true for your common or garden user – they’ll almost always get more engagement/reaction on Facebook than they will on Twitter, all things being equal.
Peg Fitzpatrick
Social media speaker, trainer and author. Co-author of The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users (with Guy Kawasaki). Read my interview with Peg here.
I love Pinterest because it’s relaxing and inspiring. There’s so many ways to use it – I love to create resource boards, look for ideas, learn new things, and save all the things I love. It helps keep my social media world organized.
Gini Dietrich
Author of Spin Sucks (listed as a Top 10 Social Media blog from Social Media Examiner), Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, an integrated marketing communication platform. You can read my full interview with Gini here.
For the brand, it’s historically been Twitter, but we’re seeing a move toward LinkedIn and are spending more time there now. Just this week, in fact, I started a new test on our company page to see what transpires. On a personal level, I cannot quit Facebook. Even when I get mad at people for the inappropriate things they post, I keep going back for more.
Adam Kreitman
Online Marketing Consultant, Google Adwords Specialist and co-author of Attract, Capture & Convert. Named one of the Top 25 Conversion Optimisation Experts of 2014 by PPCHero and owner of Words That Click. Read my interview with Adam here.
For me, it’s LinkedIn because my business is B2B and that’s what LinkedIn is all about. I also think marketing on LinkedIn is still in its infancy and there’s an advantage for the business owners who figure out how to use it effectively.
Linda Coles
Digital Marketing Coach, International Speaker and Social Media Expert. Linda Coles is a LinkedIn Influencer and you can view the full interview with Linda here.
Definitely LinkedIn and that’s where I share the most content. With 360,000 followers around the world, it makes sense to talk to that audience than the few I have attracted on Facebook.
On a personal level, it has to be Facebook. Its relaxed, (hopefully) funny, entertaining and its great keeping up with friends and relatives back in the UK. Mark Z has done a great job in connecting folks for pleasure. If you spend time on Facebook, make your content relaxed, funny and entertaining and you will be on the right track. It’s where people spend their down time.
Mike Kawula
Mike Kawula is the CEO of Social Media startup Social Quant, a top ranked Twitter tool by HubSpot that helps you find the most relevant followers on Twitter that will interact with your business. Michael is an entrepreneur whose last 2 businesses each hit 7 figures in under 3 years with his most recent being ranked the 144th fastest growing company by Inc. Magazine in 2012. He’s an author, has been featured on CNN, interviewed by Anthony Robbins and featured in over 100 publications over the last few years. Click to read my interview with Mike.
Frequently I’m asked by coaching clients or in interviews what is the best Social Media network for small businesses?
The answer is and will always be different for every business.
You need to be on the networks that your customers are. For example if you’re a running a home based business that sells to Moms in the community, you’d get much greater value being on Facebook than LinkedIn. However if you’re a local B-2-B business the reverse is true.
You have to evaluate where your avatar is and that is the Social Media site you want to be on.
Lastly you really can’t overstretch yourself and try to be everywhere if you don’t have the time. Find 1 or 2 you can really engage on. Engagement is the secret formula for success on Social Media and if you’re only on it to push content, you’ll fail.
Mason Duchatschek
Social Media Expert and owner of Buildatribe.com, Mason Duchatschek is also a co-author of Attract, Capture & Convert. You can read my full interview with Mason here, on how to utilise social media to achieve common small business goals.
YouTube. There are many reasons why. It is the most popular. It is owned by Google and that means YouTube videos appear in Google search engine results (often above websites when they are titled, tagged and described properly using appropriate keywords).
Mark Schaefer
Mark Schaefer is a college educator, marketing consultant and author of five highly successful social media marketing books, including The Content Code.
Professionally: Blogging on WordPress
Personally: Blab
