What's the Right Social Media Platform for my Business in 2022?
Social media is an important component of marketing your business. Keep in mind that not all social media platforms are created equal; each channel has different audiences with varying requirements who want relevant content. It's difficult to determine which apps you should include in your marketing strategy when the most popular social networks aren't always the best fit for your brand or company objectives.
Take the time to learn about each social media platform and the various types of active users so you can decide what they respond best to.
In 2022, you'll need to choose which social media platforms are best for your business. Let’s review how to find the best platform for your brand:
- Where does your customer hang out online?
First, you need to know who your target consumer is. You can learn this by studying your own data, trend data, or purchased data.
(Research Shows How Demographics Influence Shopping Habits, 2018)
According to Sprout Social, Facebook’s largest age group is 25-34 (26.3%) with those who identify as males making up the majority of total followers while Instagram is popular with the same age group but those who identify as females make up the majority of followers. LinkedIn users are typically professionals where the 26-35 age group account for 36%, 36-45 38%, 46-55 40%, and 55+ 40%. And last but not least, TikTok! Users between 30-49 account for about 42% (Statista, 2021) – one of the most important video platforms out there.
Social network usage by brand in the U.S. 2021, Statista
Once you understand demographics, you can then determine which social media sites or online communities will work best for connecting with them.
2. What type of business do you have?
Are you a B2C or B2B business? This can drive where you decide to spend your time. If you are interested in B2B marketing, LinkedIn may be the platform where you use your budget, with the largest age group between 46-55 with an even split between males and females. If you are in the food & beverage industry, travel industry, or health and beauty industry, Pinterest may be the platform that you favor with a large female following (78%) and the largest age group between 30-49. (Barnhart, 2021)
3. Learn from your competition
Take a look at how your competitors are utilizing social media platforms. Concentrate your marketing efforts on those platforms. If you choose not to utilize a certain social networking site because your rivals aren't using it, consider looking at the type of users in that channel and compare it to your customers base before making the decision not to enter the channel.
4. Paid Ads
You don't have to spend any money on social media marketing. You can use social media channels without paying anything. If you don't utilize sponsored posts, your growth will be slower than if you took advantage of paid social media marketing. Social advertising helps to boost organic efforts, assist in the targeting of your best customers, and bring more people to your site.
Every company is unique, therefore you'll need to test out a few ad strategies to see which one fits your marketing budget.
5. Determine the Platform’s Potential for Driving Traffic
Not all platforms will aid you in generating visitors to your website. There are certain criteria to consider. The sort of material you share with your followers is one factor. You might want to think about which types of material your audience enjoys. For example, if you've conducted market research and discovered that your buyer persona prefers video content, you may have narrowed down your platform choices to YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram Stories.
TIP: Google Analytics is a great way to learn which channels are driving the most traffic to your website.
There are many social networks to choose from with different demographics, features, and algorithms. It can be difficult to determine which apps you should include in your marketing strategy when the most popular social networks aren't always the best fit for your brand or company objectives. 2022 is about the omnichannel approach. Make sure your brand is on a few different social media channels and just keep testing content to find out which resonates with your followers.
Contact us today if you want help making sense of all these options. Our team is ready and waiting with years of experience helping brands reach their goals through digital marketing strategies! Ranalli Marketing, LLC at Info@ranallimarketing.com.
Sources:
*Barnhart, B. (2021, March 9). Social media demographics to inform your brand’s strategy in 2021. Retrieved from Sprout Social: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/
*Research Shows How Demographics Influence Shopping Habits. (2018). Retrieved from progressive grocer: https://progressivegrocer.com/research-shows-how-demographics-influence-shopping-habits
*Statista. (2021, April). Distribution of TikTok users in the United States as of March 2021, by age group. Retrieved from Statista: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1095186/tiktok-us-users-age/
*What kinds of social media do you use regularly? (2021, August). Retrieved from Statista: https://www-statista-com.ezproxy.neu.edu/forecasts/997190/social-media-usage-by-platform-type-in-the-us