Social Media For Business Growth 2022 – 2023

Social media for business growth should never be underestimated by any business. You can take full advantage of social networks and make it a real advantage for your brand image. To find new customers or sell online, it is essential to choose the one that best suits your target. To help you, this article presents the main characteristics of each of them: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok or Snapchat. Looking past 2022 and into 2023, we will break down social media for businesses in all primary social networks.

The choice of social network is important. But it can only be done once your social media presence strategy has been defined. To help narrow down your choices, you need to consider the focus and benefits of each network.

Social Media For Business – top social networks in the UK Stats

Here is a summary of the main characteristics (number of users, gender, majority age group, upper income) of the main social networks used in the UK April 2022. The United Kingdom (UK) was home to 57.6 million active social media users as of February 2022. That translated to a social media penetration rate of 84.3 percent of the UK population.

Social Media Stats in the United Kingdom – April 2022

Facebook

62.39%

Twitter

14.21%

Instagram

11.87%

Pinterest

5.86%

YouTube

2.52%

reddit

1.61%

We offer below the main characteristics of the most used social networks in the UK in recent months.

Facebook, the leader in local relationships

Facebook aims to connect Internet users who share common interests, by publishing articles, visuals, videos or documents, by exchanging messages, or by belonging to groups. It is the most used social network in the UK. It allows you to promote your business, your products and services, expand your customer base, and do targeted advertising. It is the network most used by marketing professionals.

Social Media For Business – How to attract new followers to your Facebook page?

Create a friendly relationship with your customers:

Complete all your information: contact details, description of your activity in the “About” section, neat profile and cover photos;
Favour visual content, it is the most shared;
Build the loyalty of your community by regularly publishing and engaging in dialogue with them, inform them about your company, relay content, such as your blog articles.

Capture new users by animating your page:

“like” pages related to your activity;
Create online events : conference, sports course, webinars and more
Create separate groups, aimed at different segments of your customer base, on your page to Harness the Power of Groups to Build Community (facebook.com) .

Manage your professional presence on Facebook:

share quality images with an appropriate size
Use the free Facebook Business suite (business.facebook.com) developed to facilitate the management of Facebook and Instagram accounts for businesses
measure your results via the Facebook Insights interface (facebook.com), which publishes detailed analyses, and you can compare your performance to your competitors with Facebook Pages to Watch (facebook.com).

How to sell on Facebook?

Facebook and Instagram are two related networks that offer the most developed features for selling (integrated shops in particular).

To sell on this network, several options are available to you:

integrate a button to your online sales site on your Company Page (facebook.com) ;
publish your advertisements on the Facebook marketplace, Facebook Marketplace (facebook.com) ;
Create your personalized online store, or Facebook Shop (facebook.com) , with online payment included,
sell using Facebook Messenger to interact with your prospects and send them commercial offers. On your site, remember to put a link to your email.
Create and manage your ads from the Meta (facebook.com) ad manager (new name for Facebook).

Instagram, the visual content sharing network (photos, videos, works of art) preferred by influencers

Instagram is a network for sharing photos and videos, showcasing achievements. According to Instagram facts and stats by Business Of Apps, 97% of British influencers are active on Instagram. The most represented themes are decoration, cooking, beauty and travel. Many contests to win products or services are organized there. This network is used on mobile phones, mainly by people under 45 years old.

The network allows new audiences to be reached, businesses can strengthen the relationship with their customers, and… to sell. According to an Instagram study published in 2019 , 81% of users questioned use it to discover products and services, and 50% say they have visited an e-commerce site to buy a product or service after seeing it in Instagram Stories.

Social Media For Business – How to communicate on Instagram?

Highlight your accomplishments:

promote your activity and your products, on this network aesthetics are essential to stand out;
Be creative, offer neat visuals , dynamic ephemeral content or stories (business.instagram.com) . Carousels, these photographic slides, are much more popular than static photos or even video format;
Get closer to your community by showing behind the scenes of your company, for example.

Attract more traffic:

Add a profile photo, write a short biography, and include a link to your website;
Choose the right hashtags to improve your visibility ;
Personalize your answers;
Follow accounts related to your field, comment and share content, and do not hesitate to mention them in your publications to reinforce their engagement.

Create and animate your business account on Instagram:

opt for a professional account that offers more features, after having previously created a Facebook page, this step being mandatory;
Open your Instagram store (business.instagram.com);
use the measurement tool developed for business accounts: Instagram Insights (help.instagram.com) .

How to sell on Instagram?

For this, you can use the following “Instagram Shopping” features:

create a shop on Instagram (for this, you must first have created an Instagram account, and a Facebook page, the two networks being linked),
Integrate an online store button to your profile located at the top of the page, which will lead to the Instagram showcase of the products you sell,
insert tags on your product photos, so that clicking on a photo brings up the name and price of the product and leads to its detail page in your Instagram shop, as well as a link to your site,
publish a “Buy” link on your stories to send your prospects to the product page mentioned on your Instagram store. If you have more than 10,000 subscribers,
Create your advertisements using the formats offered by the Instagram Business platform (business.instagram.com) .

You can also simply post a link to your e-commerce site in your profile, if you don’t want to create a store on Instagram.

You can also contact influencers who interact the same target as you, so that they can promote your products or services on their own account.

LinkedIn, the network dedicated to professional relations

LinkedIn connects professionals and keeps them informed of activity in their sector. It is used by 94% of B2B users.

LinkedIn allows human resources professionals to develop their company’s brand, service providers to find clients, companies to find business partners. It serves to expand its network of professional relationships.

On average, active LinkedIn users belong to the upper socio-professional categories and are over 35 years old.

Social Media For Business – How to use your LinkedIn account?

Prospect and develop your professional network:

Share your news and that of your teams, your successes;
publish your professional events, invite your peers;
Get in touch with experts in your sector;
recruit by posting your job vacancies there;
Assert your expertise by posting articles related to your industry, and content on your personal profile.

Create a LinkedIn Company Page:

Follow the instructions for creating a business page (linkedin.com)
analyse your performance : number of visitors, page updates, origin from a computer or telephone, etc. via LinkedIn Analytics (linkedin.com) and compare them with your competitors (number of subscribers, number of interactions) through your LinkedIn Company page.

How to sell on LinkedIn?

To sell your services through LinkedIn:

favour sales of services to professionals;
indirectly promote your expertise through regular posts;
find the right people using LinkedIn Sales Navigator (business.linkedin.com) , LinkedIn’s prospecting tool;
Send messages to your prospects to offer them your services;
advertise targeted on LinkedIn (business.linkedin.com) to expand your network.

YouTube, the hosting media for professional and amateur videos

YouTube hosts videos that people watch, comment on, and share. The platform includes commentary, live video and highly targeted advertising. Tutorials are one of the most popular formats. For companies, Youtube allows any size business to present its products, its backstage, its advice, and to improve its visibility on search engines, the videos published on Youtube being referenced there.

The UK has 50 million active YouTube users. 88% of YouTube users from the UK used the platform on a weekly basis, while 46% of these users used the platform on a daily basis.

Social Media For Business – How to optimize your Youtube channel?

Personalise the image of your business:

Personalise the image of your business by filming yourself and your employees;
present your products : demonstrate their use;
You get to target viewers rather than readers;
retain your audience by creating your channel.

Manage your professional presence on Youtube:

Take inspiration from the suggestions offered by YouTube around videos whose subject is close to yours;
communicate on other social networks to promote your videos;
sell on Youtube by creating your Youtube Shopping store
Use YouTube Studio to analyse your audience and results.

How to sell on Youtube?

To sell via Youtube:

produce professional quality videos;
offer user manuals (tutorials) for your products or services or solutions to Internet users’ problems;
Put a link to your e-commerce site or a product sheet in the description of your videos, or on the end screen, related to the subject of the proposed video;
Opt for paid ads (youtube.com) to promote your videos.

Pinterest, the visual inspiration platform

Pinterest allows the sharing of visuals and videos collected on the internet. Internet users can create albums relating to their passions and share them, or save them as a source of inspiration.

The aesthetic themes specific to this network are well suited to companies whose activity is creative and trendy: decoration, cooking, architecture, crafts, design, fashion… The published content has a long lifespan, a pinned visual that can be viewed for several months.

Its audience is 76% female.

Social Media For Business – How to drive traffic to your Pinterest account?

Enhance your creativity by sharing your sources of inspiration:

create unique boards by pinning original images;
select visuals belonging to the most popular themes on this network (decoration, art, fashion, cooking, etc.);
drive traffic to your other networks or your website.

Learn to master the most useful features for businesses on Pinterest:

visit the Pinterest Business site (business.pinterest.com) ;

How to sell via Pinterest?

Selling via Pinterest requires a referral to an e-commerce site. The steps below are therefore for you if you already have your own online sales site.

To make the Shopping tab appear on Pinterest, follow these steps:

create a professional account;
Register for the free “verified merchants” program to benefit from the shopping functionality;
“claim your content”, i.e. link to your website and include a Pinterest-specific tag in its code (link), so that Pinterest can make the link;
Prepare your product file, which will serve as the basis for the catalogue that you will publish on Pinterest, by filling in all the required fields (title, description, etc.);
Put your catalogue online to make your storefront appear under the Shopping tab;
create product groups if desired;
create pins (pinterest.com) by importing and captioning visuals that might interest your target;
Create your ads on the Pinterest Business platform (business.pinterest.com) .

To sell through Pinterest, follow these recommendations:

Twitter, the real-time news sharing network

Twitter is a network for exchanging messages of up to 280 characters, sometimes accompanied by visuals or videos. It is the instantaneous and virality network used in the technological, media, political fields… It is a monitoring tool that allows you to know “what is happening” in real time in the sectors that interest you.

If this network is sometimes used as a real after-sales service for certain companies, which can respond to their customers and react immediately, it can be difficult to manage for a SMB. It is aimed at people aged 25 or over who belong to higher socio-professional categories.

Social Media For Business – How to use your Twitter account?

Improve your visibility:

Share content and relay your news, your events, to increase your visibility;
Improve your brand image by interacting with your customers.

Control your e-reputation:

continuously monitor the mentions of your company on this network to avoid negative word-of-mouth (bad buzz);
Use the comments made to you to improve your customer relationship;
be very responsive and regular in your publications.

Find out how to create a Twitter account for business and its advantages:

Create an account by following the tutorial Create your company’s Twitter profile (business.twitter.com) ;
determine which tweets are the most effective via Twitter Analytics (analytics.twitter.com) .

How to sell on Twitter?

If Twitter does not allow you to sell directly, it is possible to publish promotional tweets and carry out advertising campaigns there, via Twitter for business (business.twitter.com) .

TikTok, trending video clips

TikTok is a social network for sharing short, mostly humorous videos. Its success is unbeatable: it is the social network whose speed of growth has never been matched by any other. The principle consists of filming oneself, often in playback on television programs, songs or participating in challenges.

For companies, the objective is to seduce a young target: mainly those under 25, or even teenagers aged 12 to 16, by exposing their creativity and imagination. But Tik Tok tends to appeal to older age groups: 30-50 year olds, and especially those 50 and over who represent around 30% of its audience in 2021 and that demographic will continue to change.

TikTok requires a significant investment. It is necessary to constantly follow the trends, which evolve from one week to the next.

Social Media For Business – How to take advantage of TikTok?

Set your business apart with bold creations:

create eye-catching 10-30 second videos;
propose surprising challenges;
Use influencers and think about advertising.

Create a TikTok Business account to benefit from analytical data:

Create your Tik Tok Business account (support.tiktok.com) .

How to sell through TikTok?

Selling via TikTok is above all presenting your products in a fun way through videos or challenges):

Describe your activity in your profile;
Embed a button to your website, e-commerce or blog in your TikTok profile, and embed your TikTok feed on your site. The partnership between Shopify and TikTok allows you to connect a Shopify store to TikTok for Business (tiktok.com) ;
Use the hashtag (or hashtags) of brands that organize challenges, so that TikTok puts you forward on the network;
Take advantage of these public challenges to create a paid hashtag, which allows you to be referenced on the Internet user discovery page and lead to a sale;
Create your advertising account on the TikTok for Business platform

Snapchat, the network of ephemeral photos and videos

Snapchat is a free application for sharing “snaps”: photographs or videos that disappear after 24 hours. Its filters and effects seduce a teenage target, the ephemeral side of its publications makes its management demanding. Although it generates a lot of purchases, this network is not used primarily by small businesses.

Snapchat is used by most people under 24.

Social Media For Business – How to promote your business on Snapchat?

Create a sense of urgency with many buyers:

communicate and create a sense of urgency around a new product launch;
Create a bond with your target by designing “stories” (videos that disappear after 24 hours) that continue in several stages over time;
Promote your account and invite your contacts to join you on this more closed network than the others.

How to sell via Snapchat?

Adopt these strategies to sell via Snapchat:

Play on urgency by offering short-term promotions in your stories (they are automatically destroyed after 24 hours);
Keep the stories most important to you by categorizing them in the Highlights;
Give Internet users the opportunity to try your items using the augmented reality functionality.
describe your products, mention their price, and insert a link to a more detailed sheet;
Create your ads on the Snapchat for Business platform (forbusiness.snapchat.com).

In Conclusion – Social Media For Business, Professional Help

Haych Enterprises is committed to helping medium and small size companies grow by using excellent marketing strategies. We are aware of smaller companies and recognize that you want to see the return on investment and not just empty words. As a full-service advertising agency, our team could be your external marketing team or even complement your own internal teams.

We have assisted hundreds of clients across diverse sectors across the UK and around the world. We will work with you to understand the core of your business, assisting you engage with your customers, boost sales, and achieve your goals.

We offer a no-obligation first phone consultation. We would love to talk about your business. So why not contact us by phone, email or using our contact form.

Tags: how to use social media for business 2022, how to use social media for business 2023, Social Media For Business Growth