There are over 200 social media sites, and more are being created every day. While the most popular ones are less than 40, running all those accounts can still be hectic. This is why it is essential to understand the social media sites that will work for your business.
After all, not all these platforms will work for your marketing needs. This is why you must understand how to choose the best social media platform. In this article, we provide practical tips on how to do that.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Social Media Site For Marketing
When selecting a social media site to market your products, consider these factors:
Number of Users
Before considering other factors, you must know the top platforms worth joining. If a platform doesnt have a big user base, marketing on it will be a waste of time. To help you know which site is worth your time, we have created a monthly list of the top 10 sites.
- Facebook: 3 billion active users
- Youtube:2.562 billion
- Whatsapp:2 billion
- Instagram:2 billion
- WeChat:1.313 billion
- TikTok:1.09 billion
- Messenger:1.03 billion
- LinkedIn:930 million
- Telegram:800 million
- Snapchat:750 million
You can find a list of social media sites with over 100 Million followers. The higher the number of monthly users, the more chances of growing your audience and getting a bigger reach.
Marketing Goals
The above social media sites often have diverse audiences as they all work differently. For instance, YouTube is a video-sharing platform best suited for posting educational or entertainment videos. On the other hand, Whatsapp is a messaging app commonly used for sending and receiving messages and building communities.
What does this mean for your marketing goal? The social media site you choose will depend on what you want to do. Some of the top goals that marketers have are:
- Drive brand awareness
- Generate leads
- Increase engagement
By understanding your goal, you can choose a social media site that aligns with your marketing goal.
Your Audience
We have already seen the top social media sites. While that is a key factor to consider, you must also know where your audience hangs out. For instance, we have seen that Facebook has the highest number of users. If you are targeting GenZ and Millenials, you are likely to find them on WeChat, and this is where you should target.
Some of the questions you should ask yourself when determining your target audience are:
- Who is your typical customer?
- How old are they?
- What is their gender?
- What is their income and educational level?
- Do they have another interest outside your products and services
These questions and others related to your industry will help you determine your target audience. However, you should remember that the average internet user has 6.6 social media platforms. Therefore, you should also check your site data to see your traffic source.
Perform Competitor Analysis
You need to research the social media profiles of your competitors. You should understand where they are posting and what they are posting about. Which of their posts are receiving the highest engagement? The answer to these questions will tell you how loyal their customers are and the strengths and weaknesses of their products and services. If they are already doing well in a particular channel, consider joining.
Overall Social Media Marketing Goal
Consider the main reason you are on social media. Is it to share content or engage with your followers? YouTube and TikTok can be good places to share video content, while Facebook and Twitter can help you engage with your audience.
Consider the Industry
Consider also how popular your industry is on a channel. While Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are the top choices depending on consumers and brands, Twitter is a good option for conversations, but they might not be popular in your industry. Therefore, research also your industry.
How To Use Different Social Media Channels For Marketing
Here are different ways you can use different social media channels:
- Facebook. This is an excellent choice for building the loyalty of your existing customers. While reaching a new audience on Facebook can be hard, it can help you engage with your current audience.
- Twitter. It’s an excellent choice for building brand awareness as it uses hashtags to organize conversations on a particular topic. You can, therefore, craft tweets depending on the trending conversation.
- YouTube. This is considered to be a major search engine. Many people use YouTube for “How to” videos. You can, therefore, use it to educate your subscribers on your products.
- Pinterest. Many users pin Pinterest posts for future reference. Therefore, it’s a great social media site for sharing tips and making sales.
- LinkedIn. The channel has one of the oldest user demographics, with most users aged between 30 and 49. Since it’s used to search for jobs and network professionally, it’s an excellent choice for B2B lead generation.
- Instagram. This platform relies on photos and videos to drive conversations. It’s, therefore, a good choice for marketing visual-based businesses such as home makeovers, art, foods, and more.
- TikTok. The channel is popular for short videos and is a good choice for visual-based businesses. With its demographic aged between 18 and 24, it is a good choice for targeting a young demographic.
Final Thoughts
Understanding how to choose a social media site can help you take your marketing to the next level. With the above tips, you will get a social media site that will help reach a bigger audience and grow your brand.
