Which social media platforms are most important?

There are many social media platforms available for brands and marketers to utilize. Brands and marketers must now decide where, when and how to use these social media platforms to communicate with consumers. Which platforms are the best? How should brands determine the best to spend their marketing budgets. How brands market on social media depends on the brand, the product and the consumer demographics. These factors, among others, will help brands and marketers determine the most effective social media marketing strategies. Social media strategy, like all marketing communication, is not one size fits all. A brand must critically evaluate its goals and then align its strategy to meet them.

Setting social media goals that align with the organizations overall goals is an important first step. Social media strategy should be informed by the organization’s social media goals. “Too many businesses go into social media marketing on an ad hoc basis. They know they should do something about social media, but they don’t really understand what they should do. Some firms just give access to the company social accounts to some junior staff member– merely because they are young, so should know all about social media. However, in 2019 we are well past a social strategy of post and hope. All businesses need to create a social media marketing strategy and operate the business social accounts in a thoughtful, measured way” (Influencer, 2019). Defining why the business is using social media will help marketers make strategic decisions. Brands should follow up on their goals by evaluating the success of its social media marketing efforts and changing courses when or if it becomes necessary.

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Once organizational and social media goals, as well as target markets have been defined a business can determine the best ways to utilize social media. Each social media platform has different user demographics, strengths and weaknesses.Understanding what the brand wants to communicate and to whom will help the brand identify the platforms that best align with its goals and messaging.

Additionally, to develop a successful social media strategy and ensure that marketing dollars are spent in the most impactful way possible, brands should review where users are coming to their sites from. “If you’re an established brand, your traffic report is a great resource in determining which networks are already responding well to your products/services. Your Google Analytics Social & Network Referrals Search report provides you with a quick overview of which networks drive the most traffic to your site” This information can help you reach consumers where they already are.

            

All of these factors are important when deciding the best social media strategy for any brand. Once all of this information has been gathered and analyzed, marketers can move forward with the best possible strategy. Lastly, however, marketers must review each social media platform and determine if it aligns with the organizational and social media goals, target market and the web analytics data. Depending upon the goals and target markets the organization has outlined, some social media platforms may be more successful than others. A brand does not have to be active on every social media platform to be successful

Facebook

Facebook is a massive social media platform over 2 billion monthly users (West, 2019). “For businesses, Facebook is a place to share photos, updates, and general news with those who follow or “like” you. Fans of your business come to your Facebook page to find out what’s going on with your company, see pictures of what’s going on, or explore events” (Egan, 2017). Over 68% of U.S. adults are active Facebook users and Facebook is also extremely popular in Indonesia, Brazil and India. Facebook may be an important platform for a brand based purely on its size, Facebook ads have the potential for an extremely large reach. However, recently organic posts are more difficult to find and since the platform is so massive it may be difficult for a brand to create content that really stands out to consumers (Ogweng, 2018). Despite the flaws, depending on the demographics of the brand’s target market, Facebook could be an important social media platform.

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This social media platform is incredibly popular within the 18-49 age range and skews toward women and individuals with a college degree. If your target market is within this range and the platform also aligns with the organization’s strategic goals, then Facebook would be a great social media platform to focus on.

Instagram

Instagram is another social media platform that has become increasingly popular. Instagram is a highly visual platform. The posts on Instagram should be designed to catch someone’s eye as they are scrolling through a feed of photos.  Instagram heavily skews younger than Facebook. Instagram users are most often between the ages of 13 and 29 (West, 2019). If your organization’s target marketing is 30 or older, Instagram is not likely to be an important social media platform to focus upon.

Twitter

Twitter uses a chronological feed in which users can only post 240 characters at a time. The platform is often used to articulate complaints about brands. The users on Twitter also tend to be younger. With, again, users most often being between the ages of 13 and 29. Another important demographic note is that 79% of Twitter users reside outside the United States (West, 2019). A global brand could really benefit from marketing on this social media platform. Additionally, a brand that wants to quickly address consumer concerns may benefit from a Twitter presence.

There are many more social media platforms that brands can choose from, but those three are a few of the most popular. In much the same way, brands should evaluate if its target demographic aligns with the user demographics of a social media platform and additionally assess if the social media platform actually aligns with the company’s goals. Bearing those facts in mind, marketers can make an informed decision and spend their time and marketing budgets in the most effective manner possible.

References:

Egan, K. (2017, February 10). The Difference Between Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google , YouTube, & Pinterest [Updated for 2019]. Retrieved from https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/the-difference-between-facebook-twitter-linkedin-google-youtube-pinterest.

Figure 1. Retrieved from https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-create-a-social-media-marketing-plan/

Figure 2. Retrieved from https://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/

Influencer Marketing. (2019, January 11). 8 Step Social Media Marketing Strategy for Businesses in 2019 [UPDATED]. Retrieved from https://influencermarketinghub.com/social-media-marketing-strategy-2019/.