Social media as a business asset is an undeniable fact. Social media provided a new avenue for marketing and advertising opportunities; however, those aren’t the only things that were made possible. It is one of the most effective ways to build a connection; it is a bridge between the industry you are in, as well as, your customers. In a survey done by Nielsen, 46% of consumers use social media to decide on a purchase. It only means that social media is a significant player in achieving business success.

There are hundreds of social media available on the Internet today; it is easy to get confused on selecting which platform will work best for your business. When choosing a social media platform, do a research first on your target market. Does your customer base belong to the middle age group? Are you aiming for consumers who are in the art industry? Making the right choice will enable you to specifically reach out to your target audience.

Social Media Sites: The Cream of the Crop 

Your social media presence will become effective only if you connect with people regularly. Whether you are looking for ways to connect with your industry, searching for new clients for your business, or increase your branding presence, it is wise to choose the biggest social media site. The list below includes social media sites which has the most number of users.

Facebook (https://www.facebook.com)

• Large Network – Facebook has more than 900 million active users, by far it is the largest social media website. You can easily set up a business page, start inviting friends and customers, and promote your business or website.

• Great business support – Facebook have a great client support for businesses, which includes a comprehensive analytics tool, Facebook Insights, to help you track your social media campaign efforts. Furthermore, Facebook allows users to organize their networks by school, workplace, city or region, so your business can target particular markets.

• Facebook Ads – Facebook supports Ads. Businesses can easily purchase ads that are targeted to a specific market. You can also choose to promote your posts towards a specific market for added visibility.

Twitter (https://www.twitter.com)

• Large Network of Users – Twitter has more than 200 million active users — Twitter is the third largest social media online. With its large base of users, engaging customers through Twitter is an easy way to market your business. Twitter is an effective means of making topics “trend” throughout the Internet. It’s easier to promote and share content through different networks! Engagement is the primary key to incite activity within your network. Sense Worldwide, hosts weekly retweets of top industry stories. Now, engaging with other influencers in industry just got better with Twitter!

• Unique User Updates – Twitter is a unique micro-blogging website, where users can send short updates on their accounts. You can easily write Tweets within the 140 character range. Make your tweets stand out through hashtags and mentions; it creates the opportunity of engagement and conversation. The scarcity of characters isn’t much of a big deal; in fact, it makes Twitter different from other social networking sites due to its conciseness — making it a favorite site for many mobile phone users.

• Automated Programs – Twitter has dozens of automated programs, which allow quick and easy marketing updates. Applications such as HootSuite and Tweet Deck makes it easier for businesses to manage their Twitter accounts with added features such as scheduling Tweets and analytics for their campaigns.

YouTube – (https://www.youtube.com)

• More than 1 Billion Users Every Month – The colossal number of people enjoying YouTube is one of the best reasons for business owners to choose this website.

• Easy Way to Create a Connection with Customers – it is always a great idea to put out some videos about your business. You can look into promotional, informative, funny or any other video that helps promote the kind of business or reach out to a specific market. YouTube is an effective avenue to share discussions, footages, and stories that can touch the hearts of your customers in a way that words cannot simply convey.

• Millions of Subscriptions Made Each Day – Videos are a great way to let your clients or customers know about the kind of business that you offer.

Yelp – (https://www.yelp.com)

• Local Reviews Leader – Yelp is considered the king when it comes to local reviews and interaction. It is perfect for any business who wishes to create a local presence.

• Real Reviews From Real People – It is one of the most reliable sites for a lot of people online with as much as 32 million legit consumer reviews generated each month. It has more than 60 million users making it a dominant force in the social media network.

LinkedIn – (https://www.linkedin.com)

• Online Resume – One way to let your clients know more about you or your business is to create an online presence using LinkedIn. It acts like an online resume/portfolio where you can list your previous work, as well as your current projects. Unlike other social media sites, LinkedIn is a social networking site for the professionals. Being present in LinkedIn exudes an online presence of professionalism.

• Easily Connect with Industry Leaders – It is also the best way to connect with your industry, creating bridges with other professionals who are experts in your field. LinkedIn has more than 175 million users worldwide, which makes it one of the largest social media website online. LinkedIn creates opportunities of business to business transactions; making it possible for businesses to undergo partnerships in order to fulfill one goal.

Pinterest – (https://www.pinterest.com)

• Unique Sharing – Pinterest is another famous online social sharing website. It has over 25 million users sharing things they find online via “pinning” photos.

• Share Photos About Your Business – It is a virtual corkboard, with categories for specific kinds of photos. Since Pinterest shares mainly photos of products or services that your business offers, it is a great place to promote what you have to offer. 95% of photos on Pinterest are pinned from somewhere on the web, and photos can be clickable back to your website. It is ideal for ecommerce websites who would like to have their own gallery through Pinterest.

• More Buyers than any other Social Media – Pinterest users are known to buy more services and products compared to other social media sites.

Google Plus – (https://plus.google.com)

• Backed By Google – Google Plus has recently become a major player in the social media wars. Backed by the #1 search engine online, this social media have become the second largest network online with more than 340 million users. Since its conception two years ago, Google Plus has been working its way up the social media ladder through its integration with other Google services geared towards business promotions.

• Activities Help Improve Website Ranking – This is indexed by Google so everything you do on Google Plus improves your website ranking. Google Plus is easily integrated to a website via Authorship Markup — Google’s brainchild on identifying high quality, expert written content. Rumors have been circulating that this also affects a website’s SEO.

• Easy Targeted Marketing – It is easy to create target markets through “Communities”, “Hangouts” and “Hashtags”.

• Real Customer Interaction – NO API allowed – all interactions with customers are real.

Social media is one of the most power tools that business owners can use to improve their business results. More and more people are turning to social media website to get different information including buying options. Because it reaches out to a lot of people at the same time, it has completely changed the dynamics of marketing both online and offline. There are different ways to use these social media sites, all of which are essential in achieving business success.