The Social Media Platform(s) Your Business Should Be Using

The online world is a stage, and social media is its metaphorical spotlight. It directs followers where to look, how to view the proceedings, and when to applaud. 

As you devise your company’s optimal social media strategy, survey the layout carefully. You may have the perfect message for the masses, but if you choose the wrong medium, they may never hear it at all.

Show Me the Money – A Case for the Face

By far, the biggest social media platform on the planet is Facebook. Over one quarter of the earth’s population accesses this digital networking space at least once a month (that’s nearly 2.4 billion active users, to put a finer point on the matter). It is almost as essential to have a Facebook presence as it is to have a website, but it’s important to understand the demographic landscape of this social media giant before forging ahead.

An estimated 41% of people 65 years of age or older are logged onto Facebook. That may sound like a low percentage, but it’s higher than that particular age group’s presence on LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter COMBINED. These numbers make Facebook is the leading online destination to intersect more mature consumers, so be conscious of this dynamic if you’re marketing a product aimed at this particular demographic.

In terms of income, three-quarters of individuals who make $75,000 per year or more are connected to Facebook. Compare this with only two-thirds of those who make $30,000 or less. This info should be factored into your marketing strategy as you craft your social media presence; if your company appeals to higher-end consumers, then you must consider your Facebook profile as a vital portal to your target demographic. For those of you marketing to younger, more bargain-minded shoppers, read on…

The Ghost with the Most – Snapchat Is Where It’s At

While many speak out the millennial dollar, they often incorrectly associate this age group with their younger sibling, Generation Z. Born between 1995 and 2010, this powerful consumer block dominates Snapchat on the daily… and multi-daily. Approximately 78% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 use Snapchat, and 71% of this demo logs on more than once per day.

While it’s easy to simply equate young people with this social media platform, it’s far more useful to examine the network’s audience more closely. 32% of urban adults in the United States are connected to Snapchat. Compare that number with only 18% of rural Americans and you’re starting to get a valuable glimpse of the channel’s marketing appeal. If you’re trying to promote a concert event, go hyper-local with a Snap aimed at residents who live near the venue. It makes no sense to broadcast this same message to users who live too far from the arena to care.

Alternately, if your product appeals to more remote citizens, then Snapchat might not be the ideal avenue to reach them. 

Pin It to Win It – Get Crafty with Pinterest

As they say, the future is female, and women are also the lifeblood of Pinterest. So your business should consider this social media platform if you are marketing products that skew more toward women than men. In fact, females outnumber males by a factor of 2.5 to one on Pinterest – keep that in mind as you scope out your ideal social media audience.

Pinners (as they are sometimes referred to) are also incredibly engaged consumers; approximately 83% of users who access Pinterest on a weekly basis report buying products based on ads they saw on this platform. Pinterest is a network on which individuals curate their greatest interests (hence the name). It’s as if they are giving you a roadmap on how to appeal to them. Savvy marketers can peruse these visuals when determining what the demo wants, needs, and pins to their virtual corkboard for all the world to see.

Lights, Camera, Instagram

Speaking of visual media, Instagram sits at the top of the digital heap when it comes to showcasing products in digestible and alluring ways. It’s like a scrapbook for your lifestyle, and users assemble the aesthetics and attitudes they most desire on their respective feeds at a rate of half a billion active users per day.

Of that massive audience, roughly 400 million interact with the insanely popular Stories function on the daily. This is ideal social media real estate, considering the fact that Stories appear at the top of the feed, thus maximizing your Insta-presence and rising above the digital noise. It’s the social media frontier du jour, but marketers beware: Instagram still skews quite young. 72% of the 13-17-year-old demo and 64% of 18-29-year-olds are on this platform, but only 10% of the 65 and over crowd are connected.

It’s important to note that the power of photography transcends boundaries and nationalities. Images don’t require translation, which may explain why 80% of Instagram’s users reside outside of the United States. Keep that in mind as you strategize your overseas social media campaigns.

All A’Twitter

Twitter is the ultimate online echo chamber. It aggregates news stories, elevates celebrities, and reverberates with opinions by the millions. To navigate the fray, remember that 79% of the platform’s demo lives outside of America and the social media platform is most popular among 20-somethings. The gender breakdown is almost equally split, so it is an even playing field for marketers of various products. 

On Twitter, controversies erupt by the minute on this often-divisive platform so you must choose your words wisely to avoid appearing biased or oblivious.

We Mean Business – Connect on LinkedIn 

More than merely just a job search community, LinkedIn has become an online gathering place for the more educated quadrants of society. A staggering 50% of those with college degrees have an account on this platform, and the demographics favor urban dwellers over rural citizens at a rate of more than 2-to-1. 

Though considered a social media outlet, LinkedIn is ideal for business-to-business connections. You can display your industry know-how, help shape the future of your vocation, and become a tastemaker in the making. After all, media is about making connections and projecting the best version of you (or your company) possible. So share, like, connect, and follow away – just use the ideas above as your cyber guide to social success.

An original Bell + Ivy blog, published on bellivy.com: https://www.bellivy.com/blog/social-media-for-business