Which Social Media Platform is Right for Your Brand?
Which Social Media Platform is Right for Your Brand?
A candy store has many different types of sweets. There are classic treats displayed along with the more unique. Brightly colored candy bars are placed next to those with special fillings. And there is always a variety of chocolate.
Picking the right social media platform is a little like being a kid in a candy store. There are so many options. You have your classics like Facebook and Twitter. There are unique platforms like WhatsApp and Snapchat. Pinterest and Instagram boast brightly colored images, while LinkedIn is focused on content and business relationships (filling). And then there are all the others like Google+, YouTube, Reddit, Tumblr, and much more.
If you eat too many sweets, you begin to feel sick, right? Well, if you pick too many social media platforms to be on, your business will appear “sick” because you won’t be able to take care of them all.
The real trick is picking the right candies or social media platforms for your business and not trying to force all of them to work. You want to pick the social networks that best match your business and your customers. To do that, you need to know what each network focuses on, which is what we’ll go through next.
Because there are so many different social media networks, we’ll just go through 5 of the most popular ones.
With 1.57 billion daily users, Facebook is the most widely used social network. It provides the opportunity to connect with people from all over the world. With users in almost every age demographic, this platform is valuable no matter what your industry is. You can share photos, videos, events, and more with your audience. Facebook is a great platform to use when you want to build relationships with your customers.
Twitter‘s main concept is incredibly simple. You send out short tweets (280 characters) to share with your followers. People can then scan through these tweets and choose to like, retweet, share, or comment on them. A nice element to Twitter is that your followers will see all of your tweets if they are paying attention. They won’t disappear due to an algorithm. This social network is good to use to send out quick marketing messages. In fact, 49% of people would rather receive a marketing message on Twitter than any other platform.
Snapchat
Snapchat is among the more unique social media networks and consequently, isn’t for every business. Approximately 71% of Snapchat users are under 34 years old, and 30% of millennials use the platform daily. If that is your target audience, then Snapchat might be a good fit for you. The platform is based on the idea that the “snaps” you send and stories you post will disappear after a certain amount of time. Because of this, even ads will disappear after so long. That can make it more expensive to advertise on this platform. However, if your budget fits and your audience is here, you can see great returns from it.
Pinterest is a highly visual platform. In fact, that’s pretty much all it is. Users go through and “pin” images to their own boards to save them. With 150 million users, Pinterest could be a valuable social media network to use. About 81% of Pinterest users are females, and a majority of active users are under 40. Industries that do well on Pinterest include home décor, fashion, art, food, etc. If your business is highly visual and targets females, then you should consider using Pinterest.
Instagram is another highly visual platform, but on this channel, the users are posting images. It’s similar to Facebook in that users connect with each other, but the difference is the focus on sharing images, not posts. Instagram has 700 million users with 400 million being active each day. Nearly 90% of those users are under 35. However, with a new algorithm change, images are no longer shown in chronological order, according to Forbes. In addition, there are no clickable links, except in a user’s bio. This means Instagram is a good brand-building platform, but you might have a difficult time using it for marketing.
Take Your Pick
While each new social media platform looks appealing, they won’t all be the right fit for you or your business. Just like a piece of candy, sometimes the wrapper is more attractive than the candy itself. Make sure you choose the platform(s) that both look good and actually appeal to yourself and your audience. Good luck!
If you need help choosing the right social media platform for your business, contact Skoshe today! We’d be happy to help you set up the right social media marketing strategy for your business.