How to Choose the Right Social Media Platform
Using social media to connect with customers, increase your online exposure, and boost your SEO are all great reasons to include social media in your internet marketing strategies. But, having too many social media profiles can dilute your brand and make it difficult to keep up with your marketing efforts.
While major corporations can get away with paying a marketing team to stay up to date with every social media platform available, this may not be an option for your business. Instead of spreading yourself too thin, you should focus on two, three max, social media platforms.
So, how do you choose the platform that’s right for your business? By evaluating your target audience and the pros and cons of each major social media platform. Here are a few useful tips to help you make the right decision.
Facebook Remains at the Top
As mentioned, at most, you should have a presence on three different social media platforms. You’ll need to consider the benefits of each platform, except for one. Facebook remains the largest social media platform. Right off the bat, you should include Facebook in your social media strategy.
Facebook has over 1 billion users across the globe. That’s a figure that the other social media platforms can’t come close to beating. For this reason, you’ll need to include Facebook as one of your social media platforms.
Everyone and their grandmother has a Facebook account. Even if you don’t use your Facebook account, you probably have one. You can’t ignore a site that receives over a billion unique visits every month. Though, there are other sites to add to your marketing strategy.
The Top Social Networking Sites
In addition to Facebook, you should choose one or two other platforms to focus your social media marketing efforts on. You’ll need to look at your target audience and the demographics of each to determine which ones to choose. Here are the top social networking sites, other than Facebook:
- Twitter – 310 million visitors per month
- LinkedIn – 255 million
- Pinterest – 250 million
- Google Plus – 120 million
- Tumblr – 110 million
- Instagram – 100 million
As you can see, none of these sites come close to matching the Facebook’s traffic. But, they can still be an effective part of your social media strategy.
Consider Your Core Target Audience
Who do you want to target? What are the demographics of your core target audience? The answer is key to choosing your social media policies. Here’s some valuable insight into the demographics of the top social networking sites. Use this information to decide which platforms you want to focus on.
Pinterest is used by 44% of all female internet users. The majority of these women are between the ages of 18 and 49. Yet, only about 16% of men have a Pinterest account. If your products or services are geared towards women, Pinterest is a good choice.
If you’re targeting the younger crowd, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram are all suitable options. Roughly one-third of internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 use these sites. Twitter is more effective for regular updates and links while Tumblr and Instagram are beneficial if the majority of the content that you share is visual in nature.
For those targeting fans of technology, you should include Google Plus in your marketing strategy. It may not receive as much traffic as Twitter. But, Google Plus remains a popular source for those interested in the latest gadgets and technology.
Despite all of the talk about LinkedIn’s declining appeal, it’s still the third most visited social networking site. It remains an effective solution for those focusing on B2B lead generation and actual business networking.
Every entrepreneur and business owner should be using social media to expand their brand and reach more customers. The trick is choosing the right social networking sites for your business. Keep these tips in mind as you develop your social media strategies.
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