Social Media Statistics to Help You Choose the BEST Social Network for Your Business

When choosing a social network, up-to-date social media statistics for B2B and B2C are crucial to consider.

Whether you market to businesses or to consumers, you can’t fly blind.

You should learn the basics about any marketing channel you choose, but definitely one like social media, where the most substantial gains are seen over time rather than in the beginning.

Otherwise, you’ll end up following the bandwagon and “just choosing Facebook” because everyone and their Auntie Em is choosing it too. Then you’ll wonder, months later, why and how you ever got “duped” into spending so much time and money on “this social media stuff.”

How to Choose the Best Social Network for Your Particular Business

When using social media for small businesses, it’s a gigantic mistake to choose a social media channel because… well, for any reason other than it’s the best channel for YOUR business.

Did you know…

  • Many studies report that frequent Facebook users practice extroversion (on the network), yet have high neuroticism & narcissism, with low self-esteem & self-worth?
  • 71% of Inc. 500 execs estimate that just 5% or less of their total annual sales come through Facebook, Twitter, & Pinterest?

No?

Then keep reading. Because statistics and data on each network must influence which network you choose.

Choosing the Best Social Network for YOU:
A Cheat Sheet

Tip: The most likely way you’ll profit with social media is to use the data below strategically.

  1. Who do you expect to target with your posts?
  2. What types of social media content will you post?
  3. When will you post?
  4. How often will you post?
  5. Why are you using social media to begin with?

Keep the above in mind when perusing the below social media statistics.

Here’s an infographic of the best tips and social media statistics. Just click it to view it larger (in a new window):

All the Social Data You’ll Need to Make a Network Decision

This section of our social media guide can help you choose between the four networks below. Click the network to jump to its statistics.

LinkedIn

32 Tweetable Statistics

linkedin-statistics-for-business

LinkedIn Audience Demographics (7)

LinkedIn Usage Statistics (2)

LinkedIn & Commerce (11)

Facebook

41 Tweetable Statistics

facebook-statistics-for-business001

Facebook Audience Demographics (17)

Facebook Usage Statistics (11)

Facebook & Commerce (8)

Twitter

32 tweetable statistics

twitter-statistics-for-business

Twitter Audience Demographics (11)

Twitter Usage Statistics (2)

Twitter & Commerce (4)

Best Types of Content for Twitter (12)

Best Times to Post on Twitter (1)

Top Reasons Businesses Choose Twitter (2)

Google+

29 Tweetable Statistics

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Google+ Audience Demographics (10)

Google+ Usage Statistics (2)

Google+ & Commerce (6)

Best Types of Content for Google+ (5)

Best Times to Post on Google+ (3)

Top Reasons Businesses Choose Google+ (3)

Step 4. Choose the Best Social Network for YOUR Business

Now that you’ve weighed pros and cons, detailed demographics, and social media stats for LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, it’s time to make an educated decision as to the best choice for your company.

What If You’ve ALREADY Chosen a Social Network
…and It’s the “Wrong” One?

If you’ve already hopped on a social network before finding this guide, have even a small following, have been promoting it, and are getting any engagement, you should probably stick with it.

In those cases, we’d hardly ever recommend abandoning an account completely.

Instead, put the existing social account on autopilot (scheduling recurring content), and focus only on growing your “primary” network.

For instance, if you’re on Facebook, but you’ve decided that LinkedIn is best for you, you can:

  • Use Facebook for certain post types only, such as to create photo albums each time your team participates in a local event.
  • Keep the post types the same as you have been, but post much less frequently (i.e., only two days per week, instead of several times per day you’re posting to your primary network.

This way, your existing followers won’t be abandoned or confused, and your old network won’t appear to be abandoned (since several places online almost certainly already link to it).