By now it is common knowledge that companies must have a social media presence to be successful and to stay relevant to their customers – 71% of all adult Internet users are on at least one social platform.1 Unfortunately, this means there are a ton of platforms that your brand could set up shop on: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Vine, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, Youtube, etc. Understanding which platforms will work best for your brand is the first step in successfully leveraging social media for your business.
Of course, you could try to establish a presence on all of them, but with so many platforms and each of them requiring a different kind of strategy, it’d be nearly impossible to do them all effectively. In fact, it’s hard enough to engage users on just one or two platforms.
3 Things to Consider When Deciding Which Social Media Platform(s) to Pursue
Knowing who your audience is, is important to every aspect of marketing, but especially social media. If you don’t know who you are targeting, you won’t be very effective in 1) knowing where to reach them, or 2) capturing their attention. Specific social platforms appeal to different audience groups depending on age, gender, education level, income and location.
For example, women are more likely than men to be on Pinterest, with the largest age group of women on the platform in the 18 to 29 age range1. Understanding which platform your target market is most likely to be on will direct you where to begin your social media presence.
Adding to the previous point of needing to know who your customers are, you need to know what makes them tick: their interests, pain points, desires, wants, needs, knowledge gaps, etc. You also want to understand how they like to consume information – articles, infographics, short snippets, video. Then you need to determine how this relates to your brand, and connect the two.
Customers will only pay attention if you provide content that interests or benefits them. Are your customers super savvy with short attention spans? Vine or Instagram may be great options. Are they motivated by images? Pinterest or Instagram may be effective. Are your customers other companies? LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter could be the answer.
Also keep in mind these top five reasons people follow brands on social media2:
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1. Promotions and Discount
2. To Stay in the Know
3. Product Assistance and Customer Service
4. Entertaining Content
5. Ability to Offer Feedback
The final piece of the puzzle for identifying which social platforms to spend your resources on is knowing the strengths of your brand. Yes, you need to know your customers and where they are, but it will do you little good to start doing Instagram when your company has no visual appeal. For more detail on what kind of content each platform is good for, check out “8 Social Networks to Consider for Your Social Marketing.”
It’s true that Facebook and Twitter are almost always a given when starting up your social presence. Most customers are on these networks and expect every company to be on them too. But that does not mean your strategy must focus on these networks. It’s usually enough to maintain these platforms while concentrating heavier efforts on more strategic platforms.
An example of a company who has done a fabulous job of understanding where their customers are, their customers’ interests, and their own strengths is The North Face.3 The North Face uses Instagram to drive engagement with their customers, and very effectively at that. They have an understanding of what their customers are interested in (the outdoors) and they do an exemplary job of playing to this interest to provide an engaging experience: “The North Face builds trust in its followers, forges intimacy with its Instagram audience, and avoids the too-salesy content which so often turns Instagram users off.” The clothing industry is visual by definition and a good fit for Instagram, but The North Face takes it a step further and makes it even more relevant and fun for their customers.
As a side note, many companies just don’t have the resources to focus on social media – it takes a ton of time to learn it and to execute on it every day, and hiring an employee to do it can cost too much. That’s why there are companies that specialize in handling the execution of your online marketing strategy.
1 http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/social-media-update-2014/
2 http://socialmediastrategiessummit.com/blog/top-5-reasons-people-follow-brand-social-media/
3 http://simplymeasured.com/blog/2015/05/29/why-instagram-is-the-apex-of-north-faces-social-media-strategy/