Social Media Marketing to Promote Your Website
Posting on your social media accounts once or twice a month and leaving it at that, you’re doing it all wrong. There’s a lot more to social media marketing than meets the eye!
In this article, we’ll walk you through exactly how you can fine-tune your social strategy, and nail your social media promotion efforts. Let’s get started!
Why is social media marketing important?
Before we talk about how you can market your website effectively on social media, let’s take a second to discuss why social media marketing is important.
First and foremost, pretty much everyone is on social media. Consumers, on average, use social media for a whopping 2 hours and 15 minutes per day, and much of that time is spent engaging with brands.
On top of that, social media also allows you to amplify your marketing messages by leveraging your customers.
Which social media networks should you use?
A huge reason why business owners and marketers are reluctant to get into social media promotion is because they feel overwhelmed by all the different options out there. There’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and more — where do you even start?
Facebook needs no introduction — it’s the most popular social media channel worldwide, and people use it to keep in touch with their loved ones, read about the latest news, and watch entertaining videos. As a general rule of thumb, Facebook is more popular with women than men, with 83% of adult women and 75% of adult men using the platform respectively.
Facebook for more trendy platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat. That’s true, but in terms of absolute numbers, Facebook still appeals to the vast majority of young adults.
All in all, Facebook has 2.2 billion monthly active users on its site. If you’re gunning for brand awareness, and your goal is to promote your website to a wide audience (instead of a specific niche or segment), then Facebook is a good choice.
Like Facebook, Twitter isn’t the newest or coolest kid on the block, but it’s still going strong. This social media platform is the fifth most popular social network among US adults. More women use Twitter than men in the US, but globally, more men use Twitter than women.
Twitter users tend to interact with brands more so than any other social media network users. More specifically, 93% of people who follow small and medium businesses on Twitter plan to purchase something from these businesses. On top of that, 69% of people have previously made a purchase from a small or medium business because of something they saw on Twitter. If you want to market specific products on your social media channels, and drive sales to these products, then Twitter is a good bet.
Instagram, which is now owned by Facebook, has established itself as a force to be reckoned with in the past five years. The gender split on Instagram is even, with 50.3% of Instagram users being women, and 49.7% of users being men.
Because Instagram is revolving heavily around aspirational content and aesthetically-pleasing visuals, those who own beauty, fashion or lifestyle brands will find Instagram a good fit. On top of that, Instagram has also introduced a feature allowing businesses owners to create shoppable posts — this makes it easier for business owners to market their products on Instagram.
LinkedIn is a vastly different beast. While the average Joe (or Jane!) will probably not have a LinkedIn account, this social platform is particularly popular among business professionals.
44% of LinkedIn users are female, and the other 56% are male. Unlike platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, LinkedIn caters to the older crowd; 61% of its users fall within the 30 to 64 age group, and 21% of its users are 65 years old or above.
While 30% of LinkedIn users are located within the US, you’ll be able to find LinkedIn users in 200+ countries across the globe. US aside, LinkedIn is also popular in India, Brazil, Great Britain, and Canada.
For those who run a B2B business, LinkedIn is the obvious choice. LinkedIn is the most-used social media network among Fortune 500 companies, and 45% of LinkedIn article readers are in high-level positions.
YouTube
The first video that was uploaded on YouTube was done so in April 2005. In the 13 years since then, YouTube has grown exponentially; it’s now the second biggest social media network, coming in hot on the heels of Facebook
YouTube differs from the other social media networks on this list in two ways. Firstly, more men use the platform as opposed to women (55% vs 45%). Secondly, YouTube users are more scattered around the world, with only 16% of them being located within the US.
YouTube is a tricky one to nail. It’s relatively easy to produce or curate content to share on channels such as Facebook and Instagram, but if you want to create a video to upload on YouTube, this will take a fair bit of effort. That said, companies selling demonstrable products might find that it’s worth their while to come up with different types of product videos demos, tutorials, and other videos to market their brand on YouTube.
RECAP: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube
Overwhelmed with all that data? Here’s a quick summary of the various social media marketing channels for you to refer to…
Facebook:
The most popular social media platform worldwide
Suitable if you’re targeting the general public
Twitter:
Popular in the US, Japan, UK and Saudi Arabia
Users on Twitter are open to engaging with brands and hearing from them
Instagram:
Popular in the US, India, Brazil and Indonesia
Good fit for beauty, fashion, and lifestyle brands
Comes with features that allow business owners to make their posts shoppable
LinkedIn:
Popular in the US, India, Brazil, Great Britain and Canada
Majority of users are aged 30 to 64, and business professionals
YouTube:
More men than women on the platform, users are scattered around the world
Highly popular with both teenagers and seniors
Good fit for companies selling demonstrable products