Everyone knows a successful business needs a social media presence these days. It's accepted wisdom. It's fact. It's web marketing gospel. You need to be out there, building your brand and raising your profile, making sure you're there to be discovered when the customer comes looking.

But exactly what kind of social media presence you should cultivate is a trickier subject. In the big rush to have ANY social media presence, it can be easy to just leap at the first platform you see. But, which one you'll want to focus on will depend on what you want your social media marketing to accomplish and what kind of audience you're chasing.

Facebook

What's it for?: Targeted advertising

Facebook is the domain of paid advertisements. Trying to generate and push organic content on Facebook is a losing battle, the service just moves too quickly while you compete with too many other posts. That means unlike Twitter and Instagram, if you want to make a splash on Facebook, that will typically mean setting aside some of your marketing budget to purchase ad space that will stand out. 

While that might immediately make some people hesitate (after all, why not go for the free option if there is one?) there are a couple of valuable upshots that make Facebook worth considering. The first is that Facebook's impressively detailed and granular demographic tools. By tweaking the parameters of your ad just right, you can hit extremely specific demographics. This means your message is going to the exact audience who will be the most receptive to it, while minimizing wasted dollars trying to woo people who just aren't into you. 

Facebook is also MASSIVELY popular. Reports estimate that 74% of all Canadians are on the service, more than anywhere else on the world! There is nothing else out there that combines that kind of reach with that kind of demographic targeting. If you have marketing money to spend, this would be where to spend it.

Content that does well on Facebook typically looks like something you'd post on a personal account. People browsing for updates on their friends might skip right over something that looks too much like a big formal ad without even looking at it, so the key is to keep it light and fun, to focus on content that looks natural in that space. Images are powerful tools. A good showstopping image that is funny, cute, or just  plain visually arresting will do more for you than any copy when users are quickly scrolling through.

Even if you don't plan on making a huge marketing push on Facebook, make sure to keep a profile on the service and check back in every once and awhile. It can be a vital line of communication to customers, partners, industry groups, and more.

Twitter is a very different platform. The tight character limit on messages and emphasis on spontaneous, immediate, and quippy responses makes it better for promoting personality rather than products. You're not on Twitter to sell stuff, you're on Twitter to build a rapport with your audience.

Twitter is the place to show your human side, to get people to connect with your business or brand on a more personal level. As such, it's a lot more needy that something like Facebook where you can set up your ads and maybe check in now and then to see what's going on. A successful Twitter profile demands more hands-on attention, you need to always be ready with a quick reply or to capitalize on a trending moment.

That immediacy and personal touch also makes it a lot of fun. Some of the best business Twitter accounts out there look more like an intern goofing off during lunch than a professional marketing effort. Accounts like @Tacobell and @Charmin have become massively popular thanks to their cheeky sense of humour and willingness to laugh at themselves. If you're able to capture the right tone, Twitter can help build a loyal following of customers that like you for more than just your products.

Instagram, land of the gorgeous product shot, kingdom of the hashtag. Instagram doesn't work for every business, but for the ones it does, oh boy does it. 

Instagram works best for putting together visual stories. Behind the scenes access of how you work, how your product gets made, photologs from when you're out at events or trying a new thing, these are all great ways to make the service work for you. Much like Twitter's emphasis on building relationships with customers, Instagram can make them feel like they have a backstage pass to what goes on in your work, that their part of the club.

Businesses with a strong degree of visual flair are natural fits for Instagram. Bakeries, artisanal food suppliers, cafes, artists, engineers, construction - these all lend themselves to interesting photos that will set you apart from the competition. That doesn't mean you can't get in on the fun if you run an accounting firm or something though, but you might have to be a little more creative.

Instagram is a bit different from the other social media platforms in that users will actively search out different brands and photos. Unlike Facebook where you need to pay to be noticed, or Twitter where you need to constantly be present and building relationships, Insta's strong hashtag culture will direct customers to you as long as you're diligent about properly tagging your photos. Albums can have a long tail of interest, making it an efficient platform for "set it and forget it” style blasts.

The downside is, Instagram is very greedy with it's users. While it's easy to link customers to your website or to a sales page on Facebook and Twitter, Instagram makes it noticeably difficult to direct users out of the site. This means Instagram is great for getting noticed and building a following, but not so great at directly influencing sales in a clear and easily measurable manner. 

Choosing what kind of social media presence is right for your business will depend on what your immediate goals are and what kind of investment of time or cash you want to make. Remember though, there is no rule saying you can't use more than one. Focusing on one platform while maintaining a presence on the others might ultimately be the strongest plan.