Statistics show that about 92% of marketers in 2014 believed that social media marketing is vital for their business, with 80% of them witnessing increased traffic due to their efforts. A large majority of marketers is utilizing social media, but some businesses still think social medial marketing is a buzzword with no practical advantages.
That is not true. If you have tried it without satisfactory results, the chances are you have been doing it wrong. You may have been promoting your business on social media platforms that do not have audience interested in your products or services.
You need to craft a social media strategy that will boost your brand and business. That becomes possible when you know how to select the right social media platform for your business.
Here are steps involved in identifying the most appropriate social media platform for your business.
Identify Your Audience
Make sure to select social media platforms that offer the best potential for reach your target audience. You can make use of different information sources to determine how active and engaged your audience is with a particular social network. To make a better decision, have clear information about your typical customer, their age, gender, income, and education level. All this information will help build a profile of your audience to select the best social media platform.
Define Your Goals
It is not enough to identify your audience, but you also need to define your goals for that audience as clearly as possible. Social media always help drive sales by attractive customers, but you can target other goals as well. Some brands use social media to develop relationships with potential buyers, while others use it to drive brand recognition. Some even utilize social media for customer support. Take some time and be clear about your goals to select the best social media platform.
Select a Platform As Per Your Goals
Once you know your goals, you can use it to identify the best social media platforms to achieve them. Here is a bit more about using the information about your audience and goals to select a right social media platform for your business:
- Facebook: If your target audience is mainly female between 25 and 54 years of age and your goal is to build brand loyalty, try Facebook. More than 70% of online adults are on Facebook, but that means other brands are there as well. So, expect fierce competition when using Facebook to build brand loyalty.
- Twitter: With over 600 million users, Twitter is a great social media network to take advantage of. If your target audience is between 18 and 29 years of age and your main goal is to improve public relations, use Twitter. You will find a young, tech-savvy crowd on Twitter, so be sure to wow them with sweet tweets (in 140 or less characters).
- Pinterest: Are you related to clothing, art, or food related industries? Is your target audience mainly female between 18 and 35 years of age? Is your main goal lead generation? Use Pinterest! With over 70 million users, it is great for scrapbooking, so be sure to share quality images.
- LinkedIn: Choose LinkedIn to reach an audience between 30 and 49 years of age. LinkedIn users have great knowledge about job hunting, networking, and work productivity. It is great for B2B companies where they can start conversation through news and articles. It is a great platform for business development.
- YouTube: Choose YouTube if your main goal is brand awareness. There are more than 1 billion users from all age groups on this social media platform. YouTube videos now show in search results, so they can improve your rankings as well.
- Instagram: It is an ideal choice for businesses related to art, food, entertainment, and beauty industries. Use it if your audience is between 18 and 29 years of age. It is great for building relationship and serves a good platform for lead generation.
- Google+: With over 200 million users, Google+ should be your choice if you are targeting mostly males between the ages of 25 and 34. It is great for SEO and helps with your rankings in Google.
Always bear in mind that social media marketing can go a long way in increasing sales, building awareness about your brand, and building loyal fans. It even offers more opportunities to convert and improve search engine rankings.
Just be sure to use the right platform considering your audience and business goals. Don’t just go with your gut and work with professionals if you are not sure where your audience is and how to attract them.
