By: 16 January 2025
How to choose the right social media platforms for you and your business 

Andy Cullwick, director of marketing at First4Lawyers:

Two-thirds of the world’s population are on it for almost two-and-a-half hours each day, on average. Each uses at least half a dozen different platforms every month.  

The growing dominance of social media is laid bare in this report by We Are Social and Meltwater but, as a business, it can be difficult to know which platforms to choose.  

Identifying your target audience – who they are and which platforms they’re on – is a great place to start and I suspect most will be on at least one of the major players below.  

Facebook  

Facebook has around 44 million users in the UK alone and almost half (44%) use the platform daily. It is most popular with the 25-34 age group, although the demographic of users is broad as the platform has been around for 20 years.  

It is the size of its user base which makes Facebook an advertising powerhouse, with lots of options to help you find and target your ideal audience. Inbuilt lead forms are a great feature, making it easier for consumers to get in touch with you. 

However, concerns have been raised about data protection, privacy and how well content is moderated.  

Facebook is entirely dependent on advertising revenue and costs can fluctuate during periods of increased advertiser demand, such as Black Friday and Christmas, which may lead to increased spend on paid activity.  

It is a great tool for creating a community with whom you can share news and updates but, despite its potentially huge reach, you still need to think about how you grab readers’ attention. Posting unengaging content won’t give you the cut through you want.  

LinkedIn  

LinkedIn was launched as a networking platform for business professionals and currently has around 43 million users in the UK.  

In our latest white paper TikTok or TikNot: Law firms in the social media age, we analysed the social media habits of 100 law firms and LinkedIn was the only platform on which they all had a presence. 

Interestingly, despite it being a predominantly B2B platform, firms identified it as one of their most effective marketing channels, beaten only by SEO, email marketing and events. Perhaps this is indicative how firms view LinkedIn, more so than other platform, as a safe space.  

Most readers will know how LinkedIn works for individuals. As a business, you can create your own company page to post news and updates such as job opportunities, connect with the people you want to influence and build brand awareness through thought leadership and marketing. 

Instagram 

Instagram is close behind with 35 million UK users but is much more focused on visual rather than written content. Two of its main features are Reels, which allow users to share short-form video content, and Stories, with which you can create photo and video sequences.  

It is one of the more popular platforms for the influencer culture and widely used to advertise goods and products because of its visual capabilities. It also uses hashtags in a similar way to X, making it easier for you to inject yourself into conversations and for interested consumers to find you.  

An important point to remember, however, is that you can only include links in paid-for content and not in organic posts.  

X (Twitter)

As of April 2024, there were more than 23 million users of X (formerly Twitter) in the UK. Donald Trump’s return to the White House may have put a dent in those numbers, but it is nevertheless still a powerful platform.    

Among the key benefits are that it is open to public conversations, making it useful for understanding what is trending or particularly newsworthy at any moment in time and for if you want to join in. You can potentially reach a much wider audience, with hashtags also important to make sure you get seen.   

There have, however, been concerns raised about trolling, harassment and abuse, as well as the spread of misinformation, which has led many big brands to step away from the platform.  

X also now charges eye-wateringly high fees for accessing the API, a development tool to help with paid marketing activity, and there are restrictions on how links from other sites are shown.   

TikTok

Still perceived by many as a platform just for dancing teens, TikTok is steadily growing its market share. The short-form video-sharing site reportedly has around 23 million users in the UK with that number expected to soar over the next few years. 

Users are increasingly turning to TikTok’s search function to answer their questions. It has a wide reach and allows for easy content production. As well as light-hearted content, the platform is also fast becoming a place for more serious content with BookTok, for example, an online community of book lovers, becoming hugely influential when it comes to marketing in that sector. 

Despite launching in 2016, TikTok is still a youngster compared to most other platforms, but it has been nimbler than some of its more established competitors when it comes to adopting the changes requested by marketers. There are, however, minimum spend requirements when it comes to advertising which can be off-putting if you are new to the platform.  

These are the key players at present, but social media is constantly evolving. YouTube Shorts – videos of 60 seconds or less – will be one to watch in 2025 and platforms like BlueSky are also on the up as X continues to decline.  

Understanding the pros and cons of each will be key when it comes to deciding where best to put your spend this year to make social media marketing work for you. 

Image provided by First4Lawyers
Guest Post
This post was created just for Claims Media by a guest contributor.