Which social media channels work best for your business?
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be on every social network. For most businesses, the best approach is to choose the social media channels represent your brand in the best way. You’ll decide which ones are the best for your company by considering various factors, including your target audience, industry and your social media strategy.
Here’s our top tips for choosing which social media channels are the best ones for your organisation.
Think about where your audience hang out
We talk a lot about knowing your audience in our blog posts. You should have a key understanding of who your target customer is, and what they’re looking for. Why do they connect with you? If you haven’t already done so, make sure you have researched your customers - both your current customers, and any target markets you’ve not yet reached out to.
Now you know more about them, think about what social media channels they’ll be using. Sprout Social produced this really handy guide to social media demographics, giving you great insight into who is using what platform.
How does that match up to what you know of your audience?
Consider your own industry and how it’s represented on social media
There will be some industries that lend themselves to using incredibly visual platforms - fashion, arts, architecture - and others that may not translate as well, such as software or technology platforms.
Give some thought to what your competitors are doing - what social media platforms do they hit hard, and which ones have they avoided?
What’s the engagement like for your competitors on the channels they’re using?
These insights will give you some research that helps you decide what could work for your own organisation,
Use the data that is already available to you
Delve into your Google Analytics reports - marketers should be sure to use all the data available to them when they’re making decisions. Where are your website referrals coming from? How much of it is from your social media? Which platforms work for you and which ones aren’t cutting it?
Think outside the typical social media platforms
Social media is constantly changing and adapting, with new platforms coming online all the time. Snapchat and TikTok have seen huge take up among younger demographics in recent years, but that doesn’t mean they’re right for all brands. Reddit, while it’s been around for some time, does allow you to listen into conversations on very niche subject areas. TripAdvisor reviews are essential to business credibility, especially within the visitor economy.
You might be thinking that Facebook and Twitter are where you need to be - but are they really? Maybe TripAdvisor and YouTube will have a bigger impact on your digital presence and website referrals than either of these.
Think about where your content will work
There’s two main things you need to consider here:
What content do you have, and which social media platform is it best suited to?
Don’t assume the same content will work well on every platform and post it everywhere - think about where it will perform best
How should I use the different social media networks?
No limit on content characters meaning your copy can be more conversational and detailed
Ideal for sharing links which direct people back to your website - great for directing traffic to your own site
You are able to curate your visuals in an appealing way, and share pictures and video content
Mainstream and used by an older demographic these days
Great for having conversations with your customers, responding to enquiries and engaging with them directly
What content will stop them scrolling on by?
Another tool that’s great for conversations with your audiences
With the limit on characters, there’s a need to be more clear and concise
Use of hashtags enabling you to get into conversations more clearly
Often used for sharing information on news and issues pertaining to your own industry
Often used for customer service engagement and enquiry handling
Looking for shareable snippets that will engage with your chosen audiences
Ability to share curated content
All about curating visual content - a great option if your social media strategy is about video and photography
Many users will not read the content, so any editorial needs to hook them from the first line
The image or video is key - how does it make the user feel? How will it emotionally connect them with your brand?
An incredible visual tool for representing your brand values
Instagram Stories and Reels are great for showcasing new product or service launches, and IGTV a great way to show your video content
It can also work well for lead generation for purchase of your product or service, offering a platform that directs people to your online shop
You cannot beat LinkedIn for B2B marketing - creating a profile for yourself or your business, networking with your target audience and your industry peers, and generating leads
Great for content-heavy posts like thought leadership pieces, opinion pieces, promotion of webinars and events
Like Instagram, a great way for you share pictures with your target audience
Visuals rule social media, and this is one of the most visual platforms you can use
An incredible lead generation tool if you’re planning to direct people to purchase your product or service
A Shopify study found 93% of those on Pinterest use the platform to plan purchases, and 96% use it to gather product information.
Snapchat
Highly engaged users who respond well to branding campaigns on this platform
Used more for brand engagement than advertising of specific products or services
Younger demographic - over 80% of users are under the age of 34
You might not be able to find them anywhere else - over a third of Snapchat users aren’t on Instagram
Shows your brands more playful and informal side
TikTok
One of the newer social media platforms, and as a result, more heavily used by younger audiences
Raw and unedited video footage, mostly 15 seconds long
Brands can use it to upload video content - content that represents their brand values in an authentic way, or that are useful to their end user (HR videos, product assembly instructions)
TikTok can be great for higher ed marketers and students within colleges and universities. There’s already a lot of content to be found on campus
Try on clothing videos - these can show how your products look in real life
YouTube
Often overlooked by marketers, this is a beast of a machine which shouldn’t be forgotten about
YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine and the 3rd most visited website worldwide, behind only Google and Facebook respectively.
Using YouTube enhances your ability to be found on Google Search
Your audience will promote you and buy from you if you’re providing them with engaging content - it’s a tool that helps build relationships and trusts
Users aren’t satisfied by physical ads or static marketing anymore. They want interactive, aesthetic, engaging material. Uploading video content, which contains your businesses views and ideas, provides the aura of expertise and authority.
There are many other social media platforms - but these give you a taste of some of the advantages to the major channels.
How to manage your social media accounts
Use a social media management tool, like Hootsuite or Sprout Social, so that you have a dashboard showing all of your social media channels in one place. You won’t need to keep logging into six different apps or websites to manage them all separately
Create a content plan - how frequently will you post on each channel? What content will you be publishing? What campaigns will you be running? What hashtags will you be using? What are your aims and objectives? How do you plan to grow your audience?
Stay responsive and engaged - you’ll lose your customer loyalty if they do not feel you are listening to them. Make sure your content is appropriate to their needs, and answer their enquiries as soon as you can.
If you’d like to continue this conversation, and see how Roscoe Communications can support you with social media planning and content creation, please get in touch to talk about how we can work together.
