Side Note
After reading this article, I would like to offer you a little more context through my podcast Brand Marketing 101 on Spotify .
Which Social Media Platform Is Best For Your Business?
If you’re trying to figure out which platform is best for your business to post content on, today I’m going to help remove your confusion and simplify it for you. If you stick around to the end of this video, I will give you one final tip that will help your content get more reach.
Before I get into today’s topic, I want to set the stage with methodology. My first IT job was working for a network consulting firm. I was given a project to determine the best settings for a spam filter that could be applied across the board. On this topic, I’ve used the same methodology I used back then.
When deciding which social media platforms to use, it’s all about demographics. As a small business, you should have created your client persona. If not, that’s ok, after finishing this video you can find a link in the description to a video that will help you create your client persona.
Before we get into the different platforms, it’s important to know how many people are using social media, so here’s some stats about Social Media use
· 84% of web users are using social media
· 81% of users are on YouTube
· 69 % are on Facebook
· 40% are on Instagram
· 31% are on Pinterest
· 28% are on LinkedIn
· Over 80% of 18–49-year-old are on multiple platforms.
Starting from the top, let’s dive into the YouTube demographics that pertain to you and your ideal client. If your primary demographic is 30–49-year-old, 91% of them use YouTube on a regular basis. Also, if income demographics are important, YouTube is at the top with 90% of users making $75k+. If you are trying to reach a global or regional market, YouTube is one of the best places for you. Everyone who’s anyone uses YouTube on a regular basis. If you’re a small business, regardless of demographics, YouTube is one place to be.
YouTube users are generally on the platform searching for demo videos, how to and tutorials. This is also a great platform if you’re looking to brand your business or expand your brand following.
If you’re thinking about using Facebook, this will be the primary platform for customers over the age of 50 with an astounding 73% of 50–64-year-old and 50% of users over the age of 65. Facebook is also good if you’re primary audience is women with 77% vs. 61% of men using Facebook. If your target audience makes over $75k+, only 70% of users meet this criterion. Unlike YouTube, Facebook is about the user and personal connections, so a lot of I statements and making it about you is important in the content you create.
If you’re thinking about using Instagram 70% of users are 18-29. Instagram users generally have an income from $30-75k with only 47% making over $75k a year. Instagram is owned by Facebook, so the user demographics are very similar. Think of Instagram as Facebooks YouTube. The audience here is looking to be entertained with something funny or something catchy.
If you’re looking to use Pinterest, think of it as a visual discovery engine for finding ideas like recipes, home and style inspiration, and more. The average user is under 65 and probably doesn’t have much money to spend with only 40% making over $75k a year. The age, race and location demographics are even across the board, however 46% of women use this platform with only 16% of men.
If you’re doing business to business, LinkedIn is the ideal platform for you. Originally it started out as a resume site and has grown into something else. Think of it like Facebook for business. The average user has some post-secondary education with only 10% having a Highschool or less education. Outside of the major platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, LinkedIn users have the highest concentration of educated users who also make more than $75K a year.
Finally, the bonus content. As of 2022 Instagram is now primarily focusing on video instead of image. All social media platforms have been making this fast change to give video preferential treatment over text and image content. These platforms are doing this because they want to be able to compete with YouTube which is the second largest search engine next to Google which is its parent company. As much as we would love to continue posting text and image content, those days are quickly fading away in the rear-view mirror.
If you want to stand out in the crowd, it’s not about how good your camera is, this was only necessary during the image and text era of social media. In your content, you have 7 seconds to hook your listeners to keep them engaged. When creating content, you want to make it dense. This may be contrary to the text-based philosophy, however if you want to keep your users engaged, you need to offer them something they can’t get anywhere else.
Thank you for taking the time to listen, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share with your friends if you found this content valuable. If all of this seems a little overwhelming for you, don’t worry, there are professionals like me here to help you. If you visit my site garfieldmedia.com and click on book now, you can see the list of services I offer that can help you in developing your content strategy. Until next time, thank you for reading.