We all want to be successful at social media marketing but what social media marketing platforms should you be using in your business? As usual it depends.
It depends on:
- Your product &
- Your customer avatar, to put it simply who is it needs and buys your product.
If you understand these two things in depth you’ll get an idea of which channels to use and why.
Not every person uses every channel and different age groups, and genders are drawn to different platforms.
Here are some statistics to give you an idea of how usage and motivations differ:
- 87% of LinkedIn users use the networking platform every month, while 63% use it weekly.
- 81% of people use Instagram to research products and services, and two in three people say the network helps foster interactions with brands.
- Two-thirds of Facebook users visit a local business page weekly, and more than 1.4 billion users interact in Groups every month.
- 80% of tweets come from 10% of the most active users on Twitter, indicating the prominence of influencers.
- 61% of Pinners say they use Pinterest to plan new projects, and 9 in 10 use the platform for purchasing decisions and inspiration.
- 90% of all Tik Tok users access the app daily, with 68% watching other people’s videos.
- Snapchat users are 60% more likely to make impulse purchases, and they also use apps to make purchases at least once a month.
- 50% of B2B decision makers use YouTube to research purchases, and 70% of viewers bought from a brand after seeing it on YouTube.
- 72% of Reddit users report using the platform for entertainment purposes; 43% use it to get news, and 17% use it to follow brands and companies.
Source Tom Whately CXL Blog
Where should you start in identifying your customer for your social media channels?
At the beginning of course.
You designed a product with someone in mind and you need to know absolutely everything you can about that someone.
How old they are. What gender they are. Where they live, where they hang out, what they read, etc. etc.
I’ve attached a downloadable worksheet that might help you.
Then using what you have learned and the information above you should now have a pretty good idea of which social media channels you should be focussing on.
Don’t forget to look where the people who visit your website are coming from. Analytics from your site can give you an added dimension to understanding how your customer comes and interacts with you.
Why should you focus on one or two social media channels?
Because every channel has its own framework, their own way of delivering your messages and as you can see they attract different audiences. As a result, you have to craft a different message for each one.
If you’re like most small to medium business owners you don’t have lots of time so you have to use your time effectively. Targeting your effort to the channel/s where your customers are makes a whole lot of business sense.
Focussing on one social media channel and doing it well is far better than pushing out a whole lot of meaningless information to people who aren’t interested and may never be interested.
Which social media marketing channel should I start with?
Obviously, the one that most closely identifies with your potential customer. Don’t be afraid to really hunker down and learn all you can about one channel. Whilst your learning about that you’re also learning about your customer.
Where do I go on social media to understand my customer?
Every platform has analytics sections. Spend some time looking at them. They all have learning sections that show you what it all means.
What to look out for when managing your social media?
Review and reflect on what happens when you start to use social media. Have some measures to make sure you are getting value for your time and money. If something isn’t working try something new. You tend to learn more from your mistakes than your successes.
Don’t start out spending a lot of money. Start out with small amounts and tweak your campaigns as you learn more about what happens when you release them.
Make sure you know the language and image rules of the platform you are using, particularly Facebook. They can shut your channel down in a second if you breach any rule, and sometimes they are quite obscure, and it might take a while to get it back if ever.
Celebrate your wins
Don’t forget to celebrate the wins along the way depending on your goals. But also don’t forget that if those likes and follows don’t convert to sales at some point then your digital marketing isn’t quite finished. It might feel good to have a huge social media reach but if you can’t afford to keep running your business then there is a little bit missing in your strategy.
If you’d like to get more out of your digital marketing why not give me a call. I’ve been there and done that and have the financial scars to prove it. Don’t forget that if you only need a little bit of advice you can book a Digi Wizard hour with me. Save your time and frustration and let me help you when you need it most.