How To Determine Which Social Channels Are Right For Your Business
When it comes to building connections with your target audience, it’s not enough to simply have a website – you need to be on social media. Being active on social media is a great way to teach people more about your products and services, show the “human” side of your brand, and engage with potential customers.
However, there are a ton of different social media sites available, and the idea of being active on all of them can feel overwhelming. Good news: you don’t have to be on every single social media channel in existence. Instead, find the one to few that will help you reach your goals. Here’s how to determine which social channels are right for your business.
Determine Your Goals
When selecting a social media channel, make sure you know what you’re aiming to accomplish with the help of social media – this will make it easier to determine the best platforms for your business. Are you wanting to grow your brand awareness? Drive more traffic to your website? Increase sales of a specific product or service? Be sure to have clear goals in mind before choosing a social media platform; depending on your goals, it may be easier to reach them on one platform vs. another.
For example, Pinterest and Instagram are highly visual platforms, which is great when you want to show off your products and inspire purchases. These platforms also make it easy for your audience to buy the items they see in your posts.
Think About Your Content
What forms of content would you like to share? While this may be influenced by your choice in social media channels, it can also help you determine which channels will be the right fit. For example, if you’ve determined that videos are the best way to showcase your products, look for platforms that make it easy to share video content, such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. While most platforms will let you share video, these platforms often value video content over other forms of content, such as text only, helping your video content reach more people.
If you’ll be sharing articles or blog posts, this won’t be as easy to do on Instagram, as you can only share one link in your bio. Some accounts have a swipe up feature in their Instagram Stories where they can link to articles, but you have to achieve a specific follower count first. Alternatively, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter all make it easy to share blog posts and other online content.
When considering your content, also think about your tone. Generally speaking, Instagram is a fun, creative atmosphere, while LinkedIn keeps things more “professional,” for example. Think about whether your content feels appropriate or well suited for a specific platform and the people there.
Consider Your Target Audience
Different people prefer different social media channels, so it’s important to consider who you’re trying to reach on social media. How old are they? Where do they live? What are their interests? When you know your target audience demographics, you’ll be able to compare that data to the user demographics on different social channels to help you pick the right one. You want to be on the social media channel that your target audience also uses.
For example, according to Pew Research Center[i], as of February 2019, 46% of people age 65+ use Facebook, while only 8% of people in that age group use Instagram. If your target audience includes people 65+, you’ll probably be more successful at reaching them through Facebook than Instagram. For people age 18-29, 79% of them use Facebook and 67% use Instagram, so if this is your target age range, both platforms are good options.
Social Media Platform Demographics
Which social media channels are best for your business based on your goals, content, and target audience? Here’s some more information about some of the most popular platforms to help you decide.
Facebook is a great platform for growing brand awareness, generating leads, and engaging with your target audience. It’s a popular platform, with 69% of adults in the US using the platform as of February 2019. In the 18-29 and 30-49 age groups of Americans, 79% of use Facebook. In the US, 75% of women and 63% of men use Facebook. Of the Americans who use Facebook, 74% use the platform on a daily basis[ii].
Instagram is a great place to show off your personality, share visual content, and engage with potential customers. 37% of US adults use Instagram as of February 2019, including 43% of American women and 31% of American men. Instagram is mostly used by young adults, with 67% of adults age 18-29 using Instagram, compared to 8% of American adults age 65+[iii].
Pinterest is a great platform for sharing inspiring visual content and driving sales. As of February 2019, 28% of US adults use the platform, including 42% of US women ad 15% of US men. 34% of people age 18-29 and 35% of people age 30-49 use Pinterest[iv].
Twitter is a great place to share news and articles, text-based posts, and more. 22% of US adults used Twitter as of February 2019, including 24% of men and 21% of women. In the 18-29 age range, 38% of people use Twitter, and in the 30-49 age range, 26% of people use Twitter[v].
LinkedIn is a professional networking site that’s great for engaging with other professionals, generating leads, sharing articles and blog posts, and positioning you and your brand as experts in your industry. 27% of US adults use LinkedIn as of February 2019, with 29% of men and 24% of women using the platform. LinkedIn is most used by the 30-49 age group, with 37% of people in that group using LinkedIn[vi].
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Sources:
[i] https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/