Top Social Media Apps: 25 Top Platforms, Networks & Apps List for 2023

on Blog January 29th, 2022

79% of Americans use social media sites, with the average person spending over 2 hours a day on social platforms. This is one fo the reasons why social media marketing is such a great option for small and medium-sized businesses.

All this time spent on social media has a huge impact on marketing, with social sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram impacting 71% of consumer buying decisions.

To help your business take advantage of social media, we’ve compiled a list of the top social media sites in 2023.

Most Popular  List

In order from most popular to least, here are the 25 top social media sites in 2023:

  1. Facebook 2.8 billion Monthly Active Users (MAU)
  2. Youtube 2.3 billion MAU
  3. WhatsApp 2 billion MAU
  4. Messenger 1.3 billion MAU
  5. WeChat 1 billion MAU
  6. Instagram 1 billion MAU
  7. TikTok 1 billion MAU
  8. QQ 807 million MAU
  9. Qzone 532 million MAU
  10. Sina Weibo 520 million MAU
  11. Pinterest 459 million MAU
  12. Tumblr 437 million MAU
  13. Reddit 430 million MAU
  14. Twitter 225 million MAU
  15. LinkedIn 310 million MAU
  16. Douban 300 million MAU
  17. Baidu Tieba 300 million MAU
  18. Snapchat 287 million MAU
  19. Viber 260 million MAU
  20. Discord 250 million MAU
  21. Vimeo 240 million MAU
  22. Telegram 200 million MAU
  23. Line 165 million MAU
  24. Twitch 140 million MAU
  25. Medium 60 million MAU

Top Social Media Platforms (Demographics & Marketing Tips)

With so many new social media companies available each year, how do you decide which ones to use?

To help you make that decision, let’s explore the demographics that use these platforms!

We’ll also provide you with expert information and tips on how you can get started advertising your business and growing an audience on each of these social media platforms.

1. Facebook – 2.8 billion monthly active userssocial media sites

No surprise here, the first entry on our list of social media sites is Facebook.

Facebook is the world’s most popular social media platform with over 35% of the global population using the platform every month. This makes Facebook the third most popular site in the world and an incredible marketing tool for companies who know how to leverage the social media site properly.

One of the unique advantages of Facebook is that you can advertise your business using a dedicated business page — something over 65 million other businesses are currently doing.

Facebook’s internal advertising service, Facebook Ads, is another great perk of using this social media site, with over 7 million advertisers use the service each year. Facebook Ads is effective for international, national, and local advertising because the ad portal allows you to fine-tune your marketing campaigns, segmenting your audience based on location, age, gender, language, and other factors.

With the average user spending 38 minutes a day on Facebook, businesses of all sizes are incentivized to advertise on the platform and invest in building up their company’s page and attracting a Facebook following.

Something we love about building an audience on Facebook is how engaged users on this social media site are.

Facebook allows you to post a wide range of content to your page (videos, text, live streams, stories, images, etc.) and if you invest a little time into designing content that asks users to interact with your post, then they are likely to do so. And the more people that engage with your content, the more people Facebook’s algorithm will show your content to — increasing the reach of your business’ page and bringing in fresh leads.

2. YouTube – 2.3 billion monthly active users

YouTube has over 2 billion monthly logged-in users, which doesn’t even count the number of people watching videos without an account.

Altogether, the world spends over one billion hours watching videos each day, contributing billions of views to the platform and making it the second most popular site in the world.

Here in the States, the average American spends 24 minutes a day on the video-sharing site. And they aren’t just watching videos from their favorite channel, as YouTube is the second largest search engine, getting more searches than Yahoo, Bing, AOL, and Ask combined!

Because YouTube is a search engine, this makes it a valuable marketing tool for your business.

By doing SEO research and creating information-packed videos that answer the questions your target audience is asking, you can build a following on the platform and create a consistent source of inbound social media leads.

Another huge advantage of marketing on YouTube is that the platform allows you to run ads against other creators’ videos. As part of the Google ecosystem, YouTube ads are managed through Google AdWords.

YouTube runs many different types of ads, including:

  • Non-skippable ads before, during, and after videos
  • Skippable ads before, during, and after videos
  • Bumper ads during videos
  • Overlay ads
  • Sponsored card ads
  • And display ads

That’s a lot of ad styles! Which allows you to select the kind of ad best suited for your business.

Do you have access to video equipment? Then it may be worth it for you to shoot some skippable/non-skippable ads to run before or during YouTube videos.

Would you rather not put your face on camera? Then you can still take advantage of YouTube’s bumper and display ads. Like traditional advertisements, these show a product or service and when clicked, take the viewer back to your company’s website.

While every business can profit from marketing on YouTube, companies targeting millennials and Gen Z, stand to gain the most from advertising on the platform, as US adults between the ages of 18 and 34 use YouTube more than any cable network.

3. WhatsApp – 2 billion monthly active users

WhatsApp rocks in with over 2 billion monthly users, more than Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest combined.

In the USA, 53% of users use WhatsApp at least once a day. And among those who do use it, the average person spends 28 minutes a day using the app, checking it between 23 to 25 times a day.

But I know what you’re thinking — “WhatsApp isn’t a marketing tool. Isn’t it just an SMS service for keeping in touch with friends and family?”

Well, yes. But the platform also has huge potential for businesses that know how to use it to grow an audience and stay in touch with their prospects and customers.

Here are 4 ways that you can use WhatsApp to promote your business and generate sales:

  • Run Click to WhatsApp ads on Facebook to boost lead engagement
  • Use a website chat widget like ShopPop to chat with visitors to your site
  • Share SMS marketing opt-ins across your social media sites, websites, and adverts to build a list of phone numbers that you can send promotional messages to
  • Use WhatsApp QR codes and wa.me links to build an audience

While WhatsApp doesn’t yet allow you to buy ad space on the platform, the app is still useful for building SMS subscriber lists, interacting with your customers, and giving prospects and leads an easy way to engage with your brand.

WhatsApp makes all of this easy with the WhatsApp Business App, a free tool that allows users to quickly answer customer questions, highlight your services and products, create a catalog, and speed up your response time using automation tools.

Another advantage is that while most messaging services cater to the 15-24 age demographic, WhatsApp is huge among people aged 25-44, making it ideal for targeting independent adults with money to spend.

4. Messenger – 1.3 billion monthly active users

Facebook Messenger is the second most downloaded among the top social media apps of all time, second only to its parent app, Facebook. The messaging app is extremely popular among aging populations, with 40% of American internet users over the age of 75 using the app to share texts, photos, and videos.

And while Messenger has fewer global monthly active users than WhatsApp, Messenger still takes the lead when it comes to US users, with 106 million unique US accounts vs. WhatsApp’s 25 million US accounts.

This makes Messenger a powerful social media site for companies that can figure out how to market on the platform.

Need help? Here are 4 ways you can turn Messenger into a marketing asset:

  • Install a chatbot on your site to attract opt-ins for content updates. This enables you to text new blog posts, videos, and other content directly to your customers instead of emailing them. And since SMS has open rates between 82% and 99%, texting content is guaranteed to produce better results.
  • Set up a Messenger search chatbot to help visitors quickly find the content they need on your site.
  • Run click-to-Messenger ads on Facebook to pull leads into a conversation with your business. Set up a chatbot to engage leads when they tap on your ads.
  • Use sponsored messages to re-engage leads and prospects who have had a Messenger conversation with your business in the past.

Another marketing advantage, one that puts Messenger slightly ahead of WhatsApp and other top social media sites, is the ability to run ads in the Messenger inbox. Just like normal Facebook ads, Messenger adverts allow you to segment customers based on demographics like age, gender, and location.

When someone taps on a Messenger ad, it takes them to an interactive list of options where they can choose to message your company, browse your online store, book a consultation, and more — whatever actions make the most sense for your business.

5. WeChat – 1 billion monthly active users

While originally a simple messaging app, WeChat has swelled in capabilities. These days, you can use it to make calls, shop online, transfer money, make payments, book taxis, make dinner reservations, and much more.

The app has well over 1 billion monthly active users and is ranked 5th among the top social media apps in the world with an astounding 1.17 billion users.

Of course, the catch is that 1 billion of the app’s 1.17 billion users live in China. This makes the China-based social platform ideal for companies targeting the Asian market, but significantly less profitable for businesses with customer bases anywhere else.

That said, the app is growing in popularity in the West, so if you’d like to get ahead of the curve, here are 3 ways you can start taking advantage of WeChat’s marketing capabilities:

  • Run ads. WeChat allows businesses to run several different kinds of ads against content on the platform.
  • Set up a WeChat store. The app doesn’t allow you to link to external sites but does allow you to open a storefront within the app.
  • Work with WeChat influencers. Partnering with influencers on the app can help you tap into new markets.

6. Instagram – 1 billion monthly active users

Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users and 500 million people using the app every day, with the average user spending a solid 27 minutes a day tapping through their feed, timeline, and stories.

This makes Instagram second only to Facebook in terms of time spent on the app.

In the USA, 37% of Americans over the age of 18 have Instagram accounts. Usage is greatest among women, with 43% of American females using Instagram, compared to 31% of American men.

As for demographics, 64% of users (roughly 640 million profiles) are between the ages of 18 to 29, making this social media site ideal for targeting Gen Z and young millennials.

Does your business target older audiences? Don’t worry — if segmented correctly, marketing on Instagram still has the potential to reach older markets, as 21% (roughly 210 million) Instagram users are between the ages of 50 and 64.

Here are 4 ways you can start building your brand on Instagram today:

  • Set up a business profile for your brand to gain access to Instagram’s advanced analytics and ad creation capabilities.
  • Take advantage of lifestyle marketing to curate a visually appealing Instagram feed that subtly markets your products/services.
  • Build an audience by doing SEO research for your hashtags and descriptions.
  • Create engaging sponsored ads using Facebook Ads or Instagram’s in-app add service (only available to business profiles).

Here at Fannit, we are huge fans of Instagram’s ad capabilities because they enable you to get really creative with your advertisements. With Instagram ads, you can engage your audience through photos, videos, Stories, Stories Canvas, and dynamic carousel ads.

7. TikTok – 1 billion monthly active users

One of the most popular social media sites in 2023 is TikTok. And boy has this new social network has taken the world by storm!

TikTok users can create short video clips and share them with their followers. Clips that gain a lot of shares and social interaction are promoted by the app’s algorithm, potentially bringing in millions of new followers.

The app has been downloaded over 2.6 billion times and has a solid foothold in the US social media market with over 100 million active American users.

As you can guess, based on the near-constant headlines that TikTok generates, the app’s American users are primarily Gen Z, with 62% of users falling between the ages of 10 and 29. Of these, 32.5% are 10-19, and 29.5% are 20-29.

With so many Americans flooding to this social media app, you’re probably wondering how to start advertising on TikTok.

Here are 3 ways you can start promoting your brand on TikTok:

  • Create your own TikTok channel and upload videos that engage your target audience and educate people about your products/services.
  • Partner with TikTok influencers. Influencers charge around $0.01 to $0.02 per view on TikTok (quite a bit cheaper than Youtube influencers which tend to charge 3-8 cents per view).
  • Run TikTok ads. TikTok allows you to run pre-roll ads, in-feed ads, promoted hashtag challenges, and branded effects.

If you’d like to start running ads on this new social site, here are some things to keep in mind.

TikTok ads are still in the early stages of development, so aren’t quite as optimized as ad programs on other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Also, TikTok ads are wildly expensive (compared to other social media sites), with the average ad campaign costing between $50k and $100k! This means TikTok ads are primarily the turf of Fortune 500 companies and international corporations.

Does this make TikTok off-limits to small-to-medium-sized businesses?

Not at all.

If you’d like to take advantage of TikTok, start by building your brand’s TikTok channel and partnering with influencers. Meanwhile, keep your ear to the ground for when TikTok ads eventually become more affordable.

 

8. QQ – 807 million monthly active users

QQ is another China-based social media platform, weighing in with over 807 million monthly active users. While QQ was originally China’s #1 social media app, that title has been captured by WeChat and QQ has been on a steady decline since 2018.

Like WeChat, QQ offers a huge variety of features, including music streaming, online gaming, microblogging, chatting, calling, video streaming, shopping, and more.

For companies in China, QQ offers a number of social network marketing advantages. Especially for brands targeting Gen Z.

According to Carrie Law from ClickZ:

“QQ’s demographics trend towards the young and unsophisticated. They are less likely to hail from Tier 1 cities, and 60% are under 30 years old. Many users are grade-school and high-school students who have not yet purchased their first phone but do have access to a computer.”

This makes QQ vital for international businesses seeking to grow their customer base in China. Like Carrie says, “if you can capture the loyalty of a 17-year-old, then you potentially have a customer for life.”

9. Qzone – 532 million monthly active users

Another one of the most popular social media sites in China is Qzone. Qzone was created by Tencent in 2005 and since then the app’s user base has grown to over 530 million monthly active users.

Qzone is quite similar to Facebook, allowing users to update their feed with diary entries, mini-blogs, photos, videos, and more. Users can also use the social media site to stream music and videos.

Like QQ, Qzone’s demographics trend towards Gen Z, with the largest age bracket being users between 10 and 15 years old.

While young social media site users may not have a lot of spare cash to spend on products and services, many Chinese companies and celebrities still run ads on Qzone in order to cultivate brand loyalty at a young age.

If you’re trying to reach a Chinese audience, then you can follow suit by joining Qzone’s ad program, which allows you to run banner ads, app wall ads, full-screen ads, and popup ads across the social media site.

10. Sina Weibo – 520 million monthly active users

Sina Weibo is China’s version of Twitter (a forced alternative, given that Twitter is banned in the People’s Republic of China).

Like Twitter, Sina Weibo offers microblogging (still limited to 140-characters), photo and video sharing, account verification, and commenting.

Weibo’s user base is primarily young millennials and Gen Z, with 80% of users being between the ages of 16 and 30 and well over 60% of users check the social media site at least once a day.

If you’d like to start using Weibo for social media marketing, here are five ways to build your brand presence and reach a Chinese audience:

  • Create a verified business account to help users trust your brand.
  • Engage with people that are talking about topics related to your products/services.
  • Grow your audience by regularly posting engaging content to your profile.
  • Partner with Weibo influencers who can advertise your brand.
  • Generate new leads with Weibo ads.

Weibo allows businesses to run several kinds of ads, including news feed ads, fan connect ads, and brand share promotions. An advantage of social media advertising on Weibo is that running ads on the platform is pretty cheap. You can expect to pay roughly $15 to reach 10,000 users.

Like other ad services, Weibo allows users to segment based on demographics like age, sex, and location. As well as interests, trending keywords, and the ability to specifically target users who follow your competitors.

11. Pinterest – 459 million monthly active users

 

Pinterest is one of the top social media sites because it offers users an engaging social media platform where users can create boards of their favorite photos, products, memes, and much more.

The curation capabilities of Pinterest set it apart from other social apps, as many of its users are actively shopping for products while on the app. And because Pinterest offers an engaging and creative experience, the average user spends a wild 14 minutes on the app per visit.

People spend so much time on this social network because they love the experience. 83% of users say it helps build their confidence and 91% of people say Pinterest is a place of positivity.

Pinterest is also a search engine, with millions of people around the world using the platform to find information about products and services. And because the site attracts over 600 million searches per month, this makes it ideal for content marketing.

Does your business market to women? Then you’ll love promoting your brand on Pinterest, where 60% of users are female.

Do you target men? This site is still worth your social media efforts, as male accounts on the social platform are increasing at a rate of 50% year-over-year, adding over a million users each month.

Of course, the real question is: does marketing on Pinterest work?

We’ll let the numbers speak for themselves:

  • 50% of Pinterest users say they shop on the platform.
  • Shopping on the site increased by well over 50% in just the last year.
  • 25% of users’ time on the app is spent shopping.
  • Users spend 80% on retail purchases than people who don’t use this social app.
  • The click-through rate on this site is 3x higher than on any other social media app.

If you run a retail business, then you are missing out on major sales every day that you don’t use Pinterest as part of your social media marketing strategy.

12. Tumblr – 437 million monthly active users

Tumblr - Popular Social Media Site

Despite its reputation as a haven for weird quirks, fandoms, and off-center political causes, Tumblr is refusing to fade into obscurity.

Instead, the social media platform is continuing to slowly grow in size and popularity. As of 2022, Tumblr has over 500 million current blogs and 32 million users in the USA.

And while it was millennials that made Tumblr popular back in the 2000s, it’s Gen Z who are currently moving the social media site forward. Evidenced by how 2 out of 5 of current users come from Gen Z (40%), while only 30% are millennials.

This makes Tumblr a great resource for American businesses that are trying to market to younger generations.

On Tumblr, users can create and share a wide variety of content, including microblogs, photos, gifs, videos, and more.

If you’re ready to step up your social media marketing on Tumblr, here are 4 things you can do to get started on the social media platform:

  • Design a customer-friendly brand blog that doesn’t smell like marketing, but instead focuses on communicating certain feelings and moods to your audience.
  • Curate your Tumblr blog to fit into a tight niche. Instead of addressing all the things your business does, zero in a single topic. Do SEO research to see which aspect of your business people most heavily search for on Tumblr.
  • Create engaging content that’s optimized for Tumblr. Several kinds of content that perform incredibly well on the platform are GIFs, short video clips, humorous photos, and memes.

To help your content perform well on Tumblr, remember to add a variety of tags to your posts, identify the best time to share new content, respond to comments, engage with other blogs, and take advantage of analytics programs like Google Analytics to track performance and optimize your social media strategy.

13. Reddit – 430 million users active each month

 

Reddit - social media platform

 

Reddit is the sixth most used social media site in the USA, with 430 million monthly active users in 2019 and an estimated 30% more by now. We can’t confirm the current numbers as Reddit tightly guards its user data and hasn’t released an updated figure.

Since the last user count took place two years ago, this means Reddit has a minimum of 47.87 million US users — presenting businesses with a valuable social media site marketing opportunity.

As for demographics, over 11% of Americans use Reddit, with 15% of US men and 8% of US women using the website every month. People between the ages of 25-29 account for 23% of users (the largest age segment), followed by 18-24-year-olds at 21%.

What makes Reddit one of the best social media sites are its niche communities that work like a living search engine to help people find the information they need.

But, unlike other social media platforms were creating a brand page and direct marketing are both fairly easy, Reddit poses a bit of a challenge for social media marketers.

Reddit users are fiercely opposed to blatant advertising and will downvote obvious self-promotion into oblivion. So attracting leads from Reddit requires a little more elbow grease than social media sites like Facebook and WhatsApp.

Here are a few ways that you can use Reddit to build your brand:

  • Create a Reddit account and provide answers to people asking questions about topics related to your brand/industry.
  • Join subreddits related to your brand/industry and lurk. Keep tabs on what people are saying about your products and your competitors. This is a great way to conduct market research and identify opportunities for product optimization.
  • Hold a Reddit AMA. This is really the only safe to actually say who you are and the name of your company. AMAs are public Q&As where you tell people your expertise and then invite them to ask you questions about your industry for a few hours. Blatant advertising is not allowed though, so the hope here is that people will find value in your answers and then visit your site or contact you for more information.
  • Run ads on Reddit. You’ll find the greatest ROI from running ads in specific communities related to your niche, instead of publishing ads on the front page.

14. Twitter – 335 million monthly users

 

Twitter - Popular Social Media Apps

Twitter continues to be a social media powerhouse with over 192 million daily active users.

In terms of demographics, what sets Twitter apart from other top-performing social media sites is that its users are a bit older, with 63% of Twitter users falling between the ages of 35 and 65.

This makes Twitter ideal for networking with people who are established professionals and for marketing to older adults who have money to spend.

Are you wondering how to market on Twitter? Here a few tips to help you make this social media site sing for you;

  • Develop and maintain your Twitter voice. Something that makes marketing on Twitter a lot of fun is the ability to tweet in a more casual and playful tone than you do on other social media channels. But, you need to keep your voice consistent. Don’t be tweeting all sarcastic one day and then formal the next.
  • Use Twitter hashtags to stay on top of trends. Using hashtags doubles the amount of interaction your tweets receive. But don’t stop there, keep an eye on trending hashtags so that your brand can stay at the forefront of Twitter conversation.
  • Run ad campaigns on Twitter. Twitter’s Ads portal allows you to boost tweets so that they reach new audiences, helping you gain more followers and (hopefully) more sales prospects.

15. LinkedIn – 310 million monthly active users

Linkedin - social media websites

LinkedIn is a professional social network that helps employers and jobseekers network, pair with internships and careers, and present online resumes. And this social networking platform is very good at what it does because it’s had many years to perfect its systems.

In fact, the social networking site turns 18 this year, making it the oldest major social media platform on the web.

The platform has over 722 million members and 57% of those are men, while 43% are women.

As for age, a whopping 60% of LinkedIn users are millennials between the ages of 25 and 34, making this social media site ideal for targeting graduate students and people who are getting established in their careers.

This social networking app offers incredible opportunities to individuals looking to build their personal brand, as well as businesses hoping to generate prospects, hire high-quality employees, and build their brand’s reputation.

Here are a few ways your business can use this social networking platform to grow in 2023:

  • Create a LinkedIn page for your business and optimize it for search.
  • Optimize your personal profile. This includes using the right keywords in your job description, adding a custom background photo that displays business info, filling out your work history, and following relevant groups.
  • Connect with people in your industry and with potential customers. For example, if you sell software to small businesses, connect with small business owners.
  • Publish quality content. Publishing blog posts on this social media network demonstrates your expertise and opens the possibility of going viral on the platform and generating thousands of new connections and leads.
  • Run ads. Linkedin ads are famous for generating high-quality leads and significant ROI.

16. Douban – 300 million monthly users

Douban is a Chinese social networking site that gives users access to books, movies, music, TV, and more. In essence, it’s an amalgamation of Spotify, Goodreads, Amazon, Reddit, Pandora, and Facebook — we know, it’s a lot.

Users use Douban to do a lot. For example, they can write reviews for products and media, shop various eCommerce stores within the site, chat about niche hobbies in online groups, and stream music.

Businesses targeting Chinese markets can create company pages called “brand stations,” where they can host events, launch giveaways, and other promotional activities.

Douban’s eCommerce capabilities also allow companies to open online storefronts and market to users on the app.

Another way to promote your brand on Douban is to purchase ad space. While ads on this social media platform are a bit more expensive, they can be worth the investment for businesses trying to build an audience on the site.

17. Baidu Tieba – 300 million MAU

Baidu Tieba is one of the internet’s earliest social media sites. The online community was established by Baidu — China’s #1 search engine — and functions like Reddit and other community sites.

Like other social media sites that attract people based on niche communities, Baidu Tieba users are resistant to blatant self-promotion. So, like Reddit, the primary way to use Baidu Tieba as a marketing tool is to use it for market research.

Create an account and snoop around — what are people saying they like or dislike about your brand? How are your competitors faring on the site?

Keeping tabs on conversations like these can help you identify opportunities for product improvement and ways to innovate ahead of the competition.

Baidu Tieba also offers in-feed ad space for companies that would like to run native ads on the platform.

18. Snapchat – 287 million MAU

Snapchat - top social media platforms

Over 230 million people share photos and videos on Snapchat every day. In the US, an astounding 53% of internet users between the ages of 15 and 25 use the app, making it the most popular social media app for Gen Z — beating out Facebook, Twitter, and even Instagram!

As for millennials, roughly one in four people between the ages of 25 and 45 use the instant messaging platform.

People love this social media platform because it gives them a sense of community and intimacy with the people and brands they follow. In a social media landscape where many apps make users feel self-conscious or anxious, 95% of users on Snapchat report that this app makes them happy.

As evidence of this, the market research firm Murphy Research recently asked social app users how different apps made them feel.

When describing Facebook and Twitter, users reported feeling anxious, overwhelmed, isolated, guilty, lonely, depressed, and self-conscious.

But when describing Snapchat, users didn’t offer any negative emotions, saying instead that the app made them feel creative, attractive, adventurous, excited, happy, and spontaneous.

This is huge for brands because people are more likely to make buying decisions when they feel good.

Another big reason to start marketing on this instant messaging platform is that it’s one of the only social media apps that has a larger female audience than male, with over 57% of users being female. This lead continues in the USA, where 24% of female internet users use Snapchat, compared to only 20% of men.

Here are a few ways you can start marketing on this messaging app today:

  • Set up a Business account so that you can get access to age and location targeting.
  • Get customers to add you on Snapchat by promoting your username across all your social media platforms. Also, create a snapcode and add it to promo materials so that people can easily add you on the messaging app.
  • Create and share fun and quirky advertising campaigns. You can get these out by sharing them with your Snapchat audience or by running ads through your business account’s ad portal.

19. Viber – 260 million MAU

Viber is an increasingly popular chat platform, rivaling WeChat, Messenger, and WhatsApp. Similar to WhatsApp, Viber isn’t as popular in the USA as it is in Asian and European countries, but its user base in the US is steadily growing.

Viber users are extremely engaged, with the average user opening the app 12 times a day. And this engagement doesn’t stop when it comes to brands, as users are receptive to marketing.

The average user sees 28 ads/products on the app each month and “likes” 13 of these. Even better, 25% of Viber users tap “buy” when they see an ad. This level of ROI is astounding, especially when compared to the ad engagement on other social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.

20. Discord – 250 million MAU

Discord is a quickly evolving VoIP platform that allows users to connect with like-minded people and communicate using text, voice, and video services — making it a kind of hybrid of social media sites like Facebook Groups, Slack, and Skype.

The majority of Discord communities are private, but there is an increasing number of public communities built around specific niches like gaming, literature, movies, and more.

Creating a server for your business is an easy way to keep in touch with customers, prospects, and anyone who’d like to learn more about what you do, ask for product support, or simply give you feedback on your services.

With a Discord server, you also give your customers the opportunity to engage with each other, which is great for fostering a customer base of enthusiastic fans who love your products.

You can also use Discord as a sales tool, pushing out sever-only promotions to reward people who have joined your servers.

21. Vimeo – 240 million MAU

Within the next year or so, 82% of all internet traffic around the world will be video and Vimeo is one of the social media sites contributing to the ever-increasing rate of video traffic.

While not as popular as YouTube, Vimeo is still a valuable marketing tool for businesses that would like to take advantage of video marketing.

Vimeo caters to creative professionals and users who browse the platform tend to look for high-quality artistic and educational content. This makes Vimeo ideal for businesses that have the budget to create professional-quality content and feel like unleashing their inner artist.

Another perk of Vimeo is that the platform doesn’t run ads. This makes it a significantly less distracting environment than other social media sites, pulling more attention to your videos and giving you more screentime to woo leads with content that humanizes your brand and provides value to your audience.

22. Telegram – 200 million MAU

Telegram is one of the top social media sites available right now with millions of users transitioning to the app from Messenger and WhatsApp over security concerns.

In addition to tighter security, Telegram offers the ability to host groups with up to 200,000 members — a valuable feature for businesses hoping to use the app for marketing purposes and group communication.

Telegram enables you to chat with customers, provide assistance to people on your site, publish promo campaigns, share content, and much more.

If you want to start marketing on Telegram, then you need to start by creating a corporate channel. This will allow you to share content and messages with anyone who is subscribed to that channel — kind of like Facebook Groups, but more direct access to subscribers.

To streamline the process of communicating with customers through the app, many businesses install a number of bots on their Telegram channel. Bots enable you to automate most of your work on the platform, including:

  • Online ordering
  • Customer feedback processing
  • product/service promotion
  • Concierge services
  • Real-time support
  • Reminders
  • And much more

23. Line – 165 million MAU

Line is the number one social media messaging service in Japan with over 60% of the Japanese population using the app and 85% of users opening the app every single day. The app also has a lot of users in South Korea and other Asian countries, which is why it has enough monthly active users to be on this list of social media sites.

When it comes to marketing, Line offers some exciting features to businesses trying to build a brand in East Asia, including:

  • A direct SMS messaging service that enables brands to push out coupons, surveys, and other promo materials to customers on their SMS list. 70% of users take action based on company texts, including buying, visiting the linked website, joining campaigns, and more.
  • Line also enables you to post content to an in-app feed that appears to anyone that follows you. In this way, the app combines elements of Facebook and Messenger into a single interface.

24. Twitch – 140 million MAU

While originally a social media site for the gaming community, Twitch is quickly becoming the internet’s go-to platform for all live streaming.

The demographics of the platform fall as you’d expect — 73% of users are under 34 and 41% are between the ages of 16 and 24.

So how can you market to millennials and Gen Z on a live stream gaming platform?

You guessed it — by gaming!

While this may sound like an odd marketing channel, many major brands are grabbing a controller and jumping into the swivel chair.

But if you don’t feel like taking on Fortnite, don’t worry, there are other marketing options. Additional ways that you can promote your brand on this social media site include:

  • Hold live how-to classes, sharing your industry knowledge with viewers.
  • Host interviews with celebrities, experts, and other people relevant to your industry.
  • Hold digital events like award shows and contests.
  • Partner with Twitch influencers and pay them to promote your brand to their audience.

And of course, like most social media sites, Twitch also offers businesses a robust ad program that allows you to purchase a huge variety of ad space on the site.

25. Medium – 60 million MAU

As a blogging platform, Medium is unique from the other social networks on this list.

Medium is a publishing hybrid that combines elements of blogging, magazine, and social media into a single content platform that allows anyone to make their voice heard.

While anyone can write on Medium, the site’s algorithm and dedicated editorial team stratify content based on popularity. So, hypothetically, anyone can go viral on Medium if they have what it takes to write a captivating article that people can’t stop reading.

Another perk of using Medium is that the platform allows you to republish content to the site that you’ve already published elsewhere. So you can increase the reach of your content marketing by first publishing an article on your company blog and then reposting the same article on Medium.

BUT! If you do this, make sure you add a “Rel=noncanonical” tag to your Medium article to mitigate the risk of Google penalizing your business site for duplicate content.

To generate qualified leads from Medium, publish authority content that answers questions your target audience is asking. And make sure to link back to your site within every Medium article.

FAQs About Social Networks

Are you still trying to figure out which platform is the best social media site for you?

To help you take advantage of social media marketing, here are some of the most frequently asked questions we at Fannit hear about social media sites:

What Social Media Sites Should My Business Be On?

With so many social media sites to choose from, decision-making anxiety can cause a business to procrastinate on its social networks advertising.

But given the huge marketing potential of social media, delaying to take advantage of these resources is a costly mistake.

So, which social media sites should your company use?

We recommend starting with the social media platform that makes the most sense for your brand and then slowly adding additional sites after you master the first one.

For example, if your business targets female millennials, then start with Pinterest. Once you’ve spent a few months finding your feet there, then launch a Facebook page.

But! Don’t wait to open accounts on other platforms while you’re getting started. In order to prevent people from stealing your user name, go around and open an account on every social media site that you’d like to start using and then go back and focus on building them up one at a time.

What Social Media Apps Do Millennials Use?

The most popular social media sites for millennials are:

  • Youtube – roughly 77% of all US millennials use the social media platform.
  • Pinterest – 80% of all US millennial women are on Pinterest, along with 40% of millennial men
  • Instagram – roughly 24% of users are millennials
  • LinkedIn – 60% of users are millennials
  • Tumblr – 30% of users are millennials
  • Snapchat – 25% of all millennials use this messaging platform
  • Twitch – 32% of users are millennials

In conclusion, the two most popular social media sites for millennials are Youtube and Pinterest.

What Are the Most Popular Social Media Sites for Gen Z?

The most popular social media sites for Gen Z are:

  • Youtube – 77% of all US Gen Zers use the social media platform
  • Snapchat – 53% of all US Gen Zers use this messaging platform
  • Instagram – 64% of users are Gen Z
  • TikTok – 62% of users are Gen Z
  • Twitch – 41% of users are Gen Z
  • Tumblr – 40% of users are Gen Z

In conclusion, the two most popular social media sites for Gen Z are Youtube and Snapchat.

Which Social Networking Sites Are Best for Business?

LinkedIn is the #1 best social networking site for generating high-quality leads and recruiting top talent.

Here are some of the advantages of using this social network for your business:

  • 79% of marketers say LinkedIn is a “very good source of leads.”
  • 45% of marketers have gained customers with this social networking site.
  • 80% of social media B2B leads come from LinkedIn.
  • 94% of B2B marketers use the social network to share content.
  • 50% of social traffic to blogs and sites comes from this networking platform.
  • 91% of executives use LinkedIn for networking and sharing content.

If you need help optimizing your LinkedIn marketing strategy, contact our helpful team here at Fannit. We’ve spent years navigating the most popular social networking sites and use LinkedIn to generate thousands of qualified leads for our clients.

Need Help Deciding Which Social Media Site to Use?

Would you like to start enjoying the benefits of social media marketing but lack the expertise or time necessary to promote your business online?

Then consider partnering with our team of dedicated social media marketers.

Here at Fannit, we help businesses of all sizes boost sales and website traffic with targeted social media campaigns.

To learn more about how we can help you scale your business with social media, contact our team today.


Recommended Article: Best Social Media Platforms for Business

Neil Eneix

My brother Keith and I started Fannit in 2010 and have been very fortunate to work with a wonderful family of clients, watching their businesses grow through the power of digital marketing. At the office, I work with our clients on developing out their business strategy as well as nurturing our relationships. It’s amazing how much influence and power SEO and good content can have over a business’ health. Connect with me on LinkedIn >