The different social media platform pros and cons

Keeping a strong social media presence is essential. It allows you to inform and interact with audiences in real time that wasn’t possible before.

Exploring the Social Media Pros and Cons: Making Informed Choices

Features such as regular posting, continuous growth, likes, comments and messages are key. Popular social media platforms offer these tools to help you understand what audiences prefer and dislike. This feedback helps businesses to adapt their services and brand into something that resonates with more people.

Various social media platforms all have their own unique quirks and features. By harnessing their unique tools will help maximise your social strategy to the next level.

Some platforms may hinder your social output and boost user base in ways others don’t. It’s important to know where different channels come short so that you can plan ahead and make the most out of your social media strategy.

These are the social platform pros and cons:

Facebook

Facebook’s clearest benefit is that it is the biggest social media platform in the world. With over 3 billion users, it has been a staple of social media strategies since it launched in 2004. What this means is that compared to other platforms, Facebook has the potential to provide you with the most eyes on you.

We aren’t saying that if you post to Facebook you are going to rack up 3 billion impressions, but if you want to reach out to someone through social media marketing, your best chance is through Facebook. The abilities to share text, imagery, video, live stream and add to stories is just the surface of what is possible on the platform.

A noticeable downside to the platform is a significantly older audience base. If, like many other brands in 2023, you are trying to connect with Gen Z audiences, it would be best not to focus your social media campaigns on Facebook. To coincide with this, a majority of the audience base is people, with businesses not having as big a presence on Facebook as they do on other platforms. This can mean that you may struggle to promote yourself from a B2B standpoint. Many businesses don’t seem to interact with one another on Facebook. Therefore, any engagement you get is likely to be coming from personal accounts.

B2C businesses are more likely to find success through Facebook. People are likely to interact with them, showcasing interest in their products and services. This can then lead to creating a positive public dialogue.

Instagram + Threads

Compared to Facebook, Meta’s other forays into the social space are much more relevant and utilised by the Gen Z crowd. Originally starting out as a platform based solely around sharing photographs, it has since evolved to include features more prominent on competitor platforms, making it a versatile platform that adapts to different social media pros and cons.

The scrollable short-form content of TikTok is present in the reels feature and the story feature began on Snapchat. Then there is the newly launched companion app, Threads. This acts as Meta’s take on X (formerly Twitter) and has already surpassed 100 million downloads. Like Facebook, Instagram is a platform that allows you to present your brand in a variety of ways. It allows you to experiment with how you interact with audiences and the type of content you deliver.

A key downside to Instagram stems from their changes to users’ feeds that were added in 2016. Meta has implemented an algorithm that will show posts from the people they follow out of order. This is different from the usual pattern, where users scroll from the top of their feed down and see the newest posts first. Meta believes that the algorithm will show users more relevant content, but many users are unhappy with the change. They prefer to see their posts in chronological order. Meta has not yet said whether they will allow users to opt out of the new algorithm.

Posts with good engagement or tagged with points of interest may be pushed to the top of the feed for you to see first. Consequently, this means you may not actually be shown posts from accounts you actually want to see more of. If you have extensive knowledge of the Instagram algorithm to get the interaction and engagement, it will make all the difference.

Twitter

In a world where people are increasingly bombarded with information, it can be difficult to get your message heard. But by using 280-character posts, you can ensure that your message is concise and to the point. This is important because people have shorter attention spans than ever before. In fact, a study by Microsoft found that the average attention span is now just 8 seconds. You are required to keep things simple, helping you to avoid unnecessary tangents from finding their way into your marketing. Twitter’s format will help you to capture audience attention in a faster way than other platforms. In turn, it will help people to remember and understand your brand better.

The current downside to Twitter is that as of now, it is being run in an erratic way. This is creating an unpredictable landscape for businesses on the platform. Certain features that can help you to build recognition are now locked behind a paywall. It means there is no longer the equal opportunity of growth present, like there was in the past.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social platform focused on networking and business connections. It allows the more technical aspects of your brand and business to flourish.

You are able to build an audience interested in the people behind your brand and the thought process behind your business. This is as opposed to an audience who are more interested in the products and services you offer. Building these connections, even with people you may have never met, is key to expanding your client and partner base while considering the social platform pros and cons.

C-suites may take to the platform to provide their insight on topics of interest, as well as discussing what is happening within their own business. As opposed to a usual output of marketing your businesses products and services. These posts give a unique perspective on the internal culture of the company, all while creating a conversation with people from other companies.

However, post engagement can be a lot lower, as when people comment or reshare posts, it is done to actually engage and add an extra layer of depth to the conversation at hand. Creating a conversation that spans multiple people from various industries is a great opportunity but if people don’t have anything of interest to add to your content, engagement and reach can be low.

TikTok

The world’s fastest growing and now largest platform dedicated to short form video content has taken the marketing world by storm over the past few years. The opportunity to share information about your brand to a completely new audience is great. With a more “random” algorithm based around discovering new content from accounts you don’t follow.

Luckily for you, the algorithm isn’t completely random. Instead, it shows people content based on what they have already interacted with in the past. This means your brand will be put in front of people who have shown interest in the industry.

Unfortunately, the algorithm isn’t consistent in reach, delivering various results in engagement and impressions from video to video. Creating a frequent output of video content, as opposed to graphic-based content can cost you more time and money than you had hoped to invest into your social campaign, in comparison to other social platforms.

We can help make all the difference

These are the key social platform pros and cons. Every platform has features that you can view as positive or negative. As an award-winning social media management agency, we can help you to navigate each platform to reach success.

We see the gristle and bones of each platform, as less of a hindrance, but instead as a hurdle to overcome.

Yes, Twitter may currently be facing frequent erratic changes to the foundations of the platform. But, instead of panicking about the downfall of Twitter, we see it as a test, a way to hone our skills and use the opportunity to adapt and overcome.