Top tips to choosing the best social media platforms
Whether you are developing a social media strategy from scratch or looking to get more impact from your contents, the key to getting the best out of social media lies in choosing the right platforms.
In this quick guide, we look at the pros and cons of the most popular social media platforms being adapted by recruitment businesses at the moment and how they can increase target audience engagement.
Of all the social media platforms we have highlighted, LinkedIn reigns supreme as the go-to channel for professional contact and networking, therefore making it the number 1 choice for recruiters looking to engage with target audiences.
Pros
- Over 600 million total users globally, made up of candidates, employees and business owners across all industries and sectors
- Users typically only connect on a professional level, making it a great way to reach B2B audiences
- Ability to publish your own articles and content on the platform
- A wide range of content features including native video and live streaming
- Offer a range of paid tools to recruiters including LinkedIn Recruiter and advertising features that prove popular with recruiters looking to search, engage and attract talent
- Ability to create groups and communities of prospective clients and candidates
Cons
- Fewer users than other platforms listed below
- Penalises content and call to actions that link off the platform (Users having to resort to adding external links in comments)
Twitter is another popular choice for businesses of all sizes. However, it is not utilised to its full potential by many recruitment consultants and businesses, who often just replicate content that has been posted for another social platform.
Pros
- Over 300 million monthly active users globally
- Has the largest representation of company accounts of all the social media platforms
- Highly accessible and allows users to write concise posts in just one tweet
- Retweet function allow content to be easily shared to wider audiences
- Easily discoverable with hashtags
Cons
- The limit of 280 characters per tweet often leads to diluted or vague messages
- Content posted chronologically which makes it easier for audiences to miss your content
- Lower engagement rates
- Too much feed-noise makes visibility and engagement a challenge
Facebook needs no introduction and sits at the top of the pile as the biggest social media platform in the world. With over 2 billion active users, it an obvious choice for businesses to promote their services and content on there.
Pros
- Over 2 billion total users globally
- Page features enables businesses to grow followers and promote their services and calls to actions directly on to audience feeds
- Comes with a host of targeting tools for accurate audience reach
- Ability to create communities of prospective clients and candidates
- Highly accessible and easy to set up, manage and link to sister-company Instagram
- Wide variety of content-publishing features
Cons
- More B2C – consumer centric
- Typical professional audience demographics use this platform more for personal usage rather than business content
- More competition for feed-space
- Organic reach has reduced in favour of paid targeting and advertising
- Platform requires interaction with followers, resulting in regular management and engagement to ensure content performs well
- Optimised for mobile usage, lower engagement for desktop, work-hour users
With a majority of Instagram’s 1 billion + active monthly users aged 18 to 35, it leads the way in being the best social media platform for brands targeting younger audience demographics.
Pros
- Over 1 billion total active users globally
- High rates of engagement
- Highly visual platform
- Easily discoverable through hashtags and geotags
- Seamless integration with other platforms including Facebook and Twitter enables ease of posting content across multiple platforms from just one post
Cons
- No linking option other than including links in company bio
- Doesn’t allow for much space for text-based content
- Lack of native sharing and interaction promotion restricts posts exposure to wider audiences
Does managing your social media and content get in the way of what you’re really good at? Check out our Outsourced Social Media service.
OUTSOURCED
Social Media
Our tailored social media outsourcing plans featuring all benefits and capabilities of an experienced in-house marketing team, but for a fraction of the cost.
