The major differences between the main social networks! LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube

Content revised on January 30, 2026

With over 3.8 billion monthly active users worldwide, the major social networks continue to grow in importance in the lives of people and businesses alike. Powerful, attractive tools, all with their own distinct properties, have become masters of our time. In fact, the average human spends almost seven hours a day scanning the various digital platforms. Horrifying, isn't it? 

Social networks have become the news search engines. Users, in B2B + B2C, now search for solutions on TikTok or LinkedIn befoire going to Google.

What can we do to attract users to spend time on our company pages rather than those of our competitors? This is where we reveal the features and peculiarities between the social networking giants! LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Meta (formerly Facebook), X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube will no longer hold any secrets for you...

LinkedIn

One of the leading social networks named LinkedIn is essentially Facebook's "professional" sibling. The platform's objective is much the same, but on a distinguished scale. Indeed, on this platform, it's work people and companies that are registered. The aim is not to make "friends", but to create professional connections, to expand one's network in order to broaden one's employment opportunities and contacts.

On LinkedIn, once you've created an account, you connect with people, interact with others, publish content, participate in groups and can also create sponsored publications to gain more visibility with users with the same fields of interest as your account. For a company, having a LinkedIn account is essential as it's the ideal place to build a professional network and develop it on a large scale!

Did you know that Bill Gates is one of the people with the most connections on this platform? We're talking nearly 35 million subscribers!

For a company, LinkedIn is especially useful for:

• Create professional contacts
• Expand your professional network
• Encourage other professionals by reacting to their publications
• Grow your professional community
• Remind your contacts of professional company events (Ex: Webinar)
• Announce a new job offer or promotion
• Increase the engagement rate of your contacts by disclosing exclusive content (Learn more about creating value-based content that resonates with B2B audiences).
• Incite other professionals to get in touch with you
• Publish sponsored content to reach a greater number of news feeds
• Standing out through the originality of our publications
• LinkedIn has fully adopted the vertical video feed (similar to Reels/TikTok)
• Build brand authority with Newsletters
• LinkedIn now uses AI to help users draft posts and personalized prospecting messages.

Meta (formerly Facebook)

Created in February 2004 and renamed Meta in 2021, it's one of the main social networks used by 24% of people aged between 25 and 34. We cannot talk about Meta without mentioning Threads, which is the direct competitor to X and is now a major hub for real-time professional conversations, heavily favored by the Instagram algorithm.

It's clear that all kinds of businesses are increasingly using this social media to boost their activities. Integrating Meta into a marketing strategy has many advantages! Everywhere on the planet, a huge number of people have a Facebook profile and log on every day. The number of views on a publication can therefore skyrocket in a matter of moments.

These days, on Facebook, it's generally photos and videos that are the most popular. This is because visual content is much more interesting than written publications. People are drawn to the creative and aesthetic!

Facebook has the distinction of being a very dynamic social network. The more frequently you publish content, the more likely you are not to go unnoticed by many users! The algorithm will highlight you, and your popularity can begin. To do this, make sure your content is thoughtful, engaging and consistent with your brand image. That's how you'll make the most of this platform. In short, Meta is an easy tool to get closer to your subscribers, to keep them informed and to be able to improve the growth of your page!

For a company, Meta is especially useful for:

• Grow your community
• Loyalize your subscribers
• Incite subscribers to react, comment and share their publications
• Remind subscribers of company events
• Announce a new job offer or promotion
• Increase subscriber engagement by disclosing exclusive content
• Incite subscribers to get in touch with the company
• Publish sponsored content to reach more news feeds
• Register and defend your place among your competitors

Avoid common digital marketing mistakes that can limit your community growth and engagement.

TikTok

Launched in 2016, this short video-sharing platform has rapidly gained popularity, especially among Gen Z. With over a billion monthly active users, TikTok has become a major player in the world of social networks. TikTok's particularity lies in its short, dynamic and often viral videos. TikTok's algorithm encourages the discovery of new content, making the platform ideal for reaching a large audience in a short space of time.

We of course noticed the shift from entertainment to information. For B2B/Industrial companies, it serves as a visual FAQ where pros look for How-to videos and short technical demos.

For a company, TikTok is especially useful for:

• Creating viral and engaging content
• Reach a young, dynamic audience
• Participate in popular challenges and trends to increase visibility
• Use hashtags to enhance content discovery
• Collaborate with influencers to promote products or services
• Publish sponsored videos to reach a wider audience
• Share behind-the-scenes and authentic company moments
• Launch creative and innovative marketing campaigns

Instagram

Instagram now, the social network for quality photos, "real" videos and aesthetically pleasing "storys"! Instagram is used by a global community of over a billion users. By using Instagram professionally, you can showcase your singular story and what really sets you apart from others with engaging photos and descriptions. Instagram allows you to make yourself known to dynamic people and have the chance to create a lively community. A bond is quickly forged between subscribers and popular professional accounts that are assiduous in publishing content, because photos, "storys" and videos make the company very accessible! A pleasant, eye-catching feed that follows a trend is definitely one of the keys to success on this platform. Discover effective social network strategies for modern businesses to maximize your visual impact. As on X, on Instagram it's also important to find your own color, style and energy to reach a large number of people. Regular posting is also crucial for subscribers!

For a company, Instagram is especially useful for:

• Promote products and services
• Put customers in the spotlight and share their opinions
• Share the latest company news
• Provide feedback on events
• Promote collaborations with influencers
• Promote contests
• Answer frequent customer questions
• Show your colors and creativity
• Do sponsored content
• SEO on Instagram now relies on keywords in the captions rather than just hashtags

X (formerly Twitter)

Twitter, renamed X in 2023, is the social network that revolutionized the world of traditional media. Many journalists use the main social networks and this platform in particular, as a huge amount of political and economic content is published there. For a growing company, having an active X account is a matter of course! Indeed, this digital network is the platform that offers the greatest opportunities for communication and information. Using X offers companies an inexpensive way to connect with their consumers. The platform provides access to audiences around the world, while offering the opportunity to interact with customers instead of promoting products and services. Its transition toward a kind of "everything-app", including long-form video and the Grok AI integration. It remains a high-speed niche for real-time tech + economic news.

On this social media, it's the short messages, known as "tweets" (now "posts") that come to the fore. To get a good engagement rate on X, you need to create your own head-turning identity! This can be the use of images, hashtags, the tone of the message, the use of emojis, the length of the text or even the use of clear and attractive "calls to action" when "posts"!

For a company, X is especially useful for:

• Build a community of subscribers
• Be able to communicate with subscribers quickly
• Follow other people or companies
• Tweet interesting publications
• Increase your visibility
• Improve your brand image
• Easily inform and entertain your community
• Allows you to study your competitors' activity
• Make sponsored content

YouTube

The last of the major social networks and not the least, YouTube!  The world's leading streaming video platform. It enables millions of content creators (professionals, media, businesses) to share their videos on a daily basis. Having a YouTube channel as a business can definitely bring you great opportunities in terms of international business growth, traffic generation, engagement and new leads.

Also, if you manage to be well referenced on your corporate YouTube channel, it will mean that you'll also appear in Google's search results, as YouTube is the world's second-largest search engine, directly impacting Google search results. Youtube shorts are now the primary driver for channel discovery. 

For a company, YouTube is especially useful for:

• Create YouTube videos in corporate colors
• Subscribing to and interacting with other YouTube channels
• Grow your community
• Engage your community
• Conquer new customers
• Improve visibility and traffic
• Present customer testimonials
• Publish tips and tutorials
  • Creating educational content establishes your expertise - explore our guide on value-based content marketing for B2B companies.
• Rediffuse Webinars or company events

HubSpot

Why Choose HubSpot Content Hub and Marketing Hub?

In a digital ecosystem where each social media platform has its unique specifics, HubSpot Content Hub and Marketing Hub stand out by centralizing and optimizing your efforts. These tools not only enable the creation and management of content tailored to each social network but also personalize campaigns based on behavioral data and strategic objectives. With features like the Breeze agents, which leverages Ai to generate, analyze, and adapt content, businesses can maximize engagement and conversions while reducing manual effort.

HubSpot's Breeze agents don't just suggest posts, they analyze trends and generate full campaigns based on your brand identity and brand voice. With HubSpot Content Remix, you can turn one blog post into one social post, one podcast and even one email.

Additionally, the seamless integration of CRM data with marketing actions ensures a comprehensive view of the customer journey, enabling more informed decisions. Choosing HubSpot means adopting a solution that transcends simple social media management to deliver a unified and results-oriented strategy. 

Key Features of the Content Hub and Marketing Hub

HubSpot Content Hub offers a comprehensive suite for creating and managing content. Its standout features include an intuitive website and blog editor, built-in SEO optimization tools, and the ability to personalize content for audiences through dynamic functionalities. Users of the Pro and Enterprise levels also gain access to advanced capabilities such as member management, multilingual support, and A/B testing to enhance page performance.

The Marketing Hub focuses on automation and multichannel campaign analysis. It includes social media post scheduling, tools for monitoring social performance, and automated workflows to engage prospects at every stage of the lifecycle. By integrating AI-powered features like Breeze, this hub allows for the creation of tailored content, trend analysis, and large-scale campaign personalization. These two hubs seamlessly integrate to provide a centralized and efficient experience, meeting the needs of modern marketing teams. Learn how to improve your overall digital marketing strategy with HubSpot across all social platform

In a nutshell

And then? Haven't you become a social networking pro? In a nutshell, LinkedIn is the place to create a network of contacts that are professional, Facebook is the platform for creating a community and keeping it up to date with company news, X is the social network for information and rapid communication, Instagram, it's the tool that lets you promote your business through quality visual content to dynamic people and have the chance to create a lively community, and finally, YouTube, it's the ideal place to generate traffic and engage new leads for your business through the publication of video capsules, and finally, TikTok, it's the platform for creating viral content and reaching a young, dynamic audience!

Now that social networks no longer hold any secrets for you, it's time to learn how to effectively follow up with leads generated from these platforms using HubSpot.

Which social media strategy should you choose for your business?

The central question for technology and manufacturing companies in Quebec is simple: which platforms should you invest in to maximize your marketing ROI? The answer doesn't lie in choosing a single platform, but in a strategic multi-channel approach.

For B2B Quebec businesses, LinkedIn generates qualified leads, Meta and Instagram humanize your brand, YouTube demonstrates your technical expertise, and TikTok captures a younger audience. The key? Orchestrating these platforms with a cohesive marketing automation strategy.

This is where a platform like HubSpot transforms your social presence into a conversion machine. By centralizing the management of your publications, tracking your performance, and automating your workflows, you maximize the efficiency of every interaction.

At Parkour3, a HubSpot Diamond Partner, we support Quebec businesses in deploying digital strategies that convert. The secret to a high-performing social presence? Combining mastery of each platform with automation tools that free your team to create authentic connections.