• Haley Callahan

In-depth Analysis of Best Social Media Channels for Marketing Your Business

Wondering what social media channels are worth your ad spend? I am giving you an in-depth look at all the social media channels and how you can use them to advertise for your business.

It can be complicated trying to figure out what channels will have your target market, give you the most conversions, and won't be a waste of your time and/or money. It is imperative that your company is strategic in deciding what social media channels are best for you. This ultimate guide will help you navigate through choosing the best social media. So...lets hop into it!


Founded in October of 2010, Instagram has quickly become on of the largest social media platforms in the world. In 2012, Instagram was sold to Facebook for $1 billion. Instagram consists of photo heavy newsfeeds, IGTV, and Live Streams. There are about 1 billion daily users. This is a space for not only individuals but also businesses. When choosing a social media platform it is important to know your target demographics. Here is a quick look at users demographics on Instagram.

Instagram has a high population of the younger generations. About 64% of Instagram's users are in the 18-29 age group. Meaning if this is your target market it is going to be extremely important for your to hop on this social media platform! The data is skewed towards women being at 39% verses men only being 30%. Being that there is a wide variety of incomes, age groups, gender this is definitely a platform you want to be on. There are 1 billion people that use instagram every month.

As stated previously, there are many way to use Instagram. There is a running newsfeed that has images. It also has stories which you can use to connect with users on a daily bases to provide content that does not appear on your feed.

Here is an example homepage in the app. This is where users will see a running feed of pictures and captions. At the top of the page, there are profiles. If you click on the profiles it will take you to a story. Stories are a great way to use the "Swipe Up" feature in ads. You can take advantage of this by it taking the user to your website or a specific product.

If you have a company that can showcase engaging images and explain your brand identity through them, Instagram is on of the best choices to market your company. Some other great tools are things like IGTV, direct messaging users, and going live.


Facebook being the largest social media platform with about 1.56 billion DAILY active users, is the most extensive in terms of reaching your target market. Every age is seen on Facebook.This image shows the exact statistics.

As you can see from the demographics, there is not a concentrated group that is overwhelming the social media platform. All groups are on social media giving you a major advertising advantage. Your target market is there!

Facebook marketing takes time not only to learn, but to the run ads and refine them to meet your company's expectations. When using Facebook, you want to make sure your content is extremely engaging. Unlike Instagram, that puts a focus on your aesthetic in your feed, Facebook pages don't matter as much. Your content is the star. Facebook has tons of different advertising options. They define everything you could possibly need when looking for potential customers from Facebook.

You will make Facebook Ads in your Business manger account through your company's Facebook. This will allow you to see insights on how well your ad is preforming and manage your ad budget.

As I stated before it takes a long time to master Facebook Ads, but they have many resources you can use alone to help you. Youtube provides tons of videos explaining how to platform works and if you really want to drive deep, Facebook offer a program called "Facebook BluePrint". This program lets you learn Facebook Ads directly from the people that created it and you can earn a certification if you complete the program.

Here are some more helpful links to provide you with more information about advertising on Facebook:

Prepare to Advertise on Facebook:

Facebook Blueprint:



LinkedIn has been around since 2002 and has been used for professionals to collaborate and link up with corporation for job opportunities and networking. LinkedIn has a professional and serious corporate culture. It is not a place to share pictures of my friend and family, but more professional achievements and sharing what your company is doing. LinkedIn is a great way to gain B2B relationships. Similarly to Facebook, LinkedIn businesses have business pages where individuals can follow companies and start conversation with business leaders.

Companies have the opportunity to post a variety of different subjects, like job openings, company updates, case studies, and job recruiting.

The data shows that LinkedIn is actually the leading social network for for B2B marketing with Twitter trailing behind. Because people on this platform are business minded, it is a great option to gain networking opportunities and provides a chance to partner with brands. The digital advertising costs more than Facebook advertising, but it will allow you to reach companies that are specifically interested in your company's product.

There are a few different ways to advertise on the platform. These include Sponsored Content, Sponsored InMail, and Text Ads. Sponsored Content is basically the same as a boosted post on Facebook or Instagram. It always you to put money behind a post so that it is able to be seen by more users. Sponsored InMail is email marketing that sends emails to possible prospects. Lastly, Text Ads are ad that appear in the LinkedIn platform on the right hand side. These are messages can include links, ebooks, lead gen. forms, or a custom landing page.

You can install a "LinkedIn Insight Tag" to measure and see how well your ads are preforming on the site. Regardless of the platform, it is always important to define key performance indicators to know your ads are preforming to your standard.


YouTube accounts for 27.1% of digital ad spending on the internet. It has quickly conquered all forms of video information and has become the 2nd search engine in the world. YouTube is owned by Google. YouTube rewards viral content and suggests it to more users. There are about 4.9 billion videos viewed on Youtube everyday and that number is rising. YouTube a space for all kinds of content. From beauty gurus to building tutorials.

Among 18-34 year olds, YouTube is the 2nd most used platform to watch videos. This given a huge advantage to use this as one of your primary advertising sources. This is a great way to reach ages 15-25 because 81% of US internet users are on YouTube. Almost all ageas are using Youtube. "There’s a 71% usage among US internet users ages 26-35, 67% among ages 36-45, 66% among ages 46-55 and 58% among ages 56 and older" (

Watching a video is proven to be the most engaging way to reach an audience. In a society that wants instant gratification, watching a video is a much easier way to understand and obtain information quickly. Using video gives you the advantage of increasing social sharing (because you have more engagement) and the ability to leverage emotions to persuade potential customers. Just like Facebook, there are many tutorials, on YouTube to learn how to advertise on the platform. Some of the Ad types include Skippable In-Stream Ads, Bumper, Non Skippable In Stream Ads, Outstream, Display Network, and Ad sequence. All of these Ads have different payoffs and different pricing depending on the Ad Type you choose to use. Youtube implements Geotargeting and is able to use an individuals location to target them. They also have options for retargeting individuals that have watched a certain amount of your ad before or clicked on your ad and shown interest.

For more information on YouTube advertising check out some of these links:

40 YouTube stats and facts to power your 2020 marketing strategy:

YouTube Advertising:

How Ads Work on YouTube



TikTok originated as the app that launched in 2014. It was sold to the company ByteDance, a Beijing based tech group, for reportedly $1 billion and got its name changed to TikTok. TikTok is a very new app not only to users but to advertiser. Because the app's developers are based in China and they have loose privacy laws, there has been much controversy over whether the app is safe for minors and other users private information. The average TikTok user spends about 52 minutes per day on the app and have about 800 million monthly active users and of those users 60 million are located in the United States. The app has been downloaded 2 billion times world wide and by active users the app gets opened about 8 time per day.

Advertising on TikTok costs about $50/day with no long term commitment. This baseline is more expensive than an average Facebook advertising post, however if your target market is Gen Z than this could be a great investment. Influencers on the app with 2.5 million followers charge around $600-$1000 for a post compared to Instagram influencers with 10,000-20,000 followers charging the same amount (Wallaroo, 2020).

Advertising options on TikTok consists of challenges, dances, live streaming, paid ads, and influencer marketing. There is still a lot advertisers don't know about the app however, if you jump on this platform early, your company might do better than when the program is more saturated with paid advertising.

TikToks metics platform is no where close to as refined as Facebook. Your metrics consist of views, likes, comments, and shares.

Here are some additional links to help your navigate TikTok:

TikTok Statistics:

TikTok Ads:

How to Advertise on TikTok:


Pinterest started in December of 2009 and started as an invite only platform. They had about 10,00 users in 9 months of the platform launching. Pinterest is "a visual discovery engine for finding ideas like recipes, home and style inspiration, and more"(Pinterest) There are billions of pins to find ideas and spark inspiration. Pinterest is a place for users to pin information to their board to refer about to when they are looking for inspiration.

The basic advertisement on a Pinterest board looks like any other pin except with links to buy the item or link to more information. Having easy access call-to-action buttons allows users to quickly find the item showcases and purchase. These ads can be a still image or be a short video clip. Pinterest has its own ads manager where you can track metrics to see how well your ad is preforming.

Here is a quick look at Pinterest' demographics. The majority of users a women and it consists of a pretty even spread across location. Most people using Pinterest have a college education and are in the higher income bracket. This is a great app if your target market is women in general all socioeconomic groups are represented. If you are an image heavy brand, this is also a great app for you to take advantage of.


Twitter started in 2007 and now has an average of 330 million monthly users. It is considered to be in the top 10 social media platforms in the United States. Twitter is considered a microblog that consists of trends, thought, ideas, news, announcements, and funny gifs. You can only write 280 characters, so your post must be concise and clear in order for users to want to engage.

Here is a link that examples how to use Twitter:

How To Use Twitter: Critical Tips For New Users:

Twitter's users skew toward living in a more urban location, have college+ educations, and are in the higher income bracket. This may be good place for a company to advertise more lux/expensive items. The gender of users is 21% female and 24% male making this platform great for targeting both.

Using hashtags on Twitter is a great way to get brand recognition and to engage with your audience. Here are some examples of advertisements on Twitter.

Here are some links that will help you advertise:

Twitter Ads Campaigns: A Simple Setup Guide

Advertising on Twitter


Let me know what you think of this article and more content I can share that will help even more with advertising! I hope this helps you and your business choose which social media platforms will work the best.

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