When it comes to marketing through social media, it can seem a complex and technical minefield for the uninitiated. So many platforms, so many mediums, it can make your head spin!

So, to help you out, we’ve prepared a little guide to help you decide which of the big social media platforms your brand belongs on:

Facebook:

While it may not be the oldest platform, Facebook has had the most staying power, revolutionising the social media space into what it is today.

Facebook has billions of accounts and accepts almost anything content-wise: Pictures, text, videos and live-streams.

Facebook is best used if you want to connect with your customers and provide information on the services you offer, as well as an update on what you’ve been up to.

Being on Facebook is a symbol of a company’s legitimacy, many customers will check a company has a Facebook page before deciding to reach out and enquire, if your page is inactive or non-existent it will discourage them.

Even if Facebook isn’t the platform best suited to your business, you should be on it anyway to give your brand some credibility.

Twitter:

Characterised by its limit of, well, characters.

Tweets don’t have a long lifespan, so unless they gain a lot of traction, they can quickly disappear.

Twitter is for those who have their finger on the pulse and want to comment on what’s happening in the here and now.

It also works great for customer service; if customers contact you on Twitter, it can be seen by everyone and responding quick will build your reputation for providing excellent service.

Use Twitter if you’re providing up to the minute information, or to interact directly with customers and other businesses.

LinkedIn:

The “Facebook for business” site, this is the place to network with other members of your industry, build relationships and even make business decisions.

While you can still connect with your customers through LinkedIn, it’s primary use should be for making connections and building on them.

The audience is more professional than Facebook or Twitter, with profiles acting more like an online CV than a social media profile.

Use LinkedIn if you’re looking to fill an open position, or if you’re looking for serious conversations.

Instagram:

Twitter with pictures; if you want to make an impact visually, Instagram is your platform.

Posting a well-composed, well-filtered and well-hashtagged picture can send your company’s reach through the roof.

You don’t have to be an artist or photographer to use Instagram though; behind-the-scenes photos and events day images are all proven ways of attracting likes, the stories feature is particularly useful for the latter.

Young people are the site’s most significant user-base, overtaking Snapchat recently as their platform of choice, so if your target is a younger demographic, this is the site for you. Obviously, if pictures aren’t your thing you’d be better off investing your time elsewhere.

Pinterest:

Another image based site, targeted mostly at females and used by hobbyists and people looking for advice and ideas, whether its event planning, weddings, recipes, or just making a mood board.

Bloggers regularly utilise the site to increase traffic to their own websites. It also features dedicated business analytics to help you get the most out of the site.

Use Pinterest if your brand is heavily focused on visual content, you’re looking to share advice, and your target audience is mostly women.