There are more than 42 million active social media profiles in the United Kingdom, statista reports, with each person spending an average of one hour and 48 minutes online a day. Just think of how many people you can contact online each day. It’s incredible.

Here, the team at Solution Analysts unpack how businesses should be using the four biggest social platforms.

1. Twitter

With non-visual topics such as politics and science amongst the most popular debates, it’s easy to see why many businesses choose Twitter as their first choice. But how can businesses use Twitter to its full advantage? The professionals say it’s all about utilising lists.

If you use Twitter for business, it’s a good idea to set up a private list and add all your key competitors. This way, you can track exactly what they are doing and when they are doing it – all in one place.

Pinned tweets are a great way to promote your business, too. If you’re holding an event, pin a tweet to the top of your page instead of tweeting the same stuff in the run-up.

Joining debates is a great way to boost engagement. Get involved with people who are having chat about health on social – give them advice. Who doesn’t want advice?

2. Facebook

Facebook is the biggest social media platform in the world. However, it seems its audience is changing.

With younger social media users choosing Instagram and Snapchat, my advice for businesses with a more mature audience is to focus on Facebook.

Let’s discuss some top trends for the year ahead.

Video is a top trend for 2018, but it’s important to get it right. Subtitle all your video content, because they will often auto-play without sound, and you have to remember that people are lazy. If they don’t know what’s being said, they will just click off it.

GIFS are said to be a top social media trend this year, and it seems businesses should have a bit of fun with them.

You can make a really dry photo or clip engaging by using a GIF or a boomerang. It’s so easy to do and can boost interaction massively.  

3. Instagram

Instagram stories became huge in 2017, and the release had a detrimental effect on Snapchat. Also, the story should often show the process and the post should show the finished result.  

Instagram won’t tell you they’ve blocked you, and they won’t tell you when they’ve unblocked you, so you have to be wary.

As a new business, you should do your research on what is good for the platform, as it has a lot of rules.  

4. LinkedIn

When you search your name or business in Google, what’s the first social media platform to appear in the rankings?

That’s right, it’s LinkedIn. Not only is it great for recruitment and building a professional network, it’s great for search engine optimisation.

It turns out the more you engage on the platform, the higher your SEO ranking will get. So, commenting on posts, sharing articles and writing blogs is a great way to get your profile higher in Google rankings.

The business networking platform also gives you the chance to reach people further afield.

For more information, visit www.solutionanalysts.com. You can also follow Solution Analysts on Facebook or on Twitter.

*Image courtesy of Vegan Liftz