how to choose the right social media platform for your business
With so many social media platforms to choose from, it can feel a little overwhelming to know where to start, or even where to go once you’ve been in the game for some time.
Basically, it boils down to your goals and your audience. Once you’ve worked out what you want to achieve and who you would like to target, you can work back from there. Here we look at the major platforms, their user size and demographics, and some of the opportunities they present for marketers.
TikTok
Let’s start with TikTok as it’s the social media platform on everyone’s lips (and hips!) right now. Since launching in 2016 it has acquired more than 800million users worldwide, making it the sixth-largest social media network. While it is still relatively small compared to Facebook, Messenger and Instagram, this is impressive growth and it is showing no signs of slowing down.
In terms of demographics, TikTok users are young. 41% of users aged between 16 and 24 and 27% are aged between 13 and 17. Which is a big consideration if you’re considering whether this channel should be a part of your mix.
It’s one of the best performing platforms for daily usage. The average user spends around 50minutes a day on the app. 90% of users access the app on a daily basis. Which is one of the reasons those who have jumped on to the platform early have seen some incredible success.
One of the reasons for TikTok’s success is that the content shared by users is fun, short and trendy. It’s ideally optimised to create memes. People can re-purpose audio footage from other videos and create a unique take on someone else’s idea.
It’s also reasonably easy to go viral. The “For You” feed shows a random assortment of videos from others. This mechanism offers an endless thread of new things to watch and fuels the highly addictive nature of the app.
One of the biggest opportunities for brands is the potential to partner with TikTok content creators in a way that is authentic and fun. We’ve seen some excellent examples of this like the Washington Post who have worked with partners such as “Dave” who creates some hilarious content, that appeals to their young audience.
Also, TikTok recently announced that it would bring ads to the platform. We have tested this with a couple of our clients and seen incredible results. This is definitely a space worth looking at if you’re prepared to think outside the square and you’re keen to stretch your dollar further.
Let’s now look at one of our favourite platforms, Instagram, which now has approximately 1 billion users globally. Instagram is the second most downloaded free app in the Apple store (interestingly enough TikTok is the first, according to latest data). 63% of Instagram users login at least once per day and the average user will spend approximately 28 minutes per day on the platform.
In terms of demographics, Instagram has historically held a relatively young demographic although this has changed in more recent times. We now see a fairly well distributed spread of people aged between 13 ad 50.
One of the reasons Instagram has created such a huge user base is due to app developments. Just in the last year we have seen Instagram Reels emerge as a competitor to TikTok. Before this we saw the launch of IGTV, giving people more reasons to stay on the platform and engage with their favourite content creators.
INSTAGRAM STORIES
When Instagram Stories launched in August 2016, it brought a totally new approach to content on Instagram with photos, Boomerangs and videos that disappear within 24 hours of being posted. ‘Ephemeral content’ became the new thing that everyone wanted to be across.
Over 400Million people use stories every day, making them not just a novelty but a staple in any social media strategy that involves Instagram.
Stories feature at the top of the Instagram app feed, making them a perfect way to keep your brand top-of-mind no matter what the Instagram algorithm is doing at the moment. Plus, since their short-term nature leads to more off-the-cuff and less exactingly curated content, they’re a great source of content that can run parallel to your grid’s brand messaging, while bringing a unique perspective.
When Pinterest launched in 2021, it was the fastest standalone site to reach 10million users. Since then the growth has steadied although it still holds strong usership with audiences who use the ‘lifestyle centric’ platform for shopping, planning social activities, and learning new things.
According to Sprout Social, Pinterest now has 320 monthly active users and the average person will spend about 5minutes per day.
In terms of demographics, ‘Pinners’ are mostly female and aged between 16-49. 85% of women use Pinterest to plan life moments like babies, weddings, and birthdays, compared to Instagram 44% and Facebook 53%.
We love Pinterest because it’s an excellent tool for brand discover and to increase links back to your website. In fact, it is more effective at driving website traffic than many of the other major platforms!
Good old Facebook is a mainstay in the social media marketing world. It’s been around since 2004 (some of us will be old enough to remember it coming on the scene!) and since then has grown to a user base of 2.60Billion globally.
In terms of demographics, Facebook potentially has the best age range distribution. Interestingly, the fastest-growing age group (in 2020) is over 65s who are starting to use the platform to stay in touch with friends and family.
One of the reasons for Facebook’s success is that it has kept people on the platform, thanks to new ways of staying connected like Stories, Groups, LIVE video and Messenger.
Simultaneously, it offers businesses access to a range of paid tools that can be used for a whole range of purposes: brand awareness, website traffic, and conversions, being just the tip of the iceberg in a long list of ways to create relationships with prospective buyers.
LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network on the internet. With over 766million users globally and 310million active users monthly, it is now one of the top social media platforms.
In terms of the demographics, 57% of users are male, and 67% are aged between 25 and 49. Four out of five LinkedIn members drive business decisions at their companies.
LinkedIn is often overlooked for social media marketing or thought of as too corporate. However, with some outside the square thinking, businesses can offer their audiences fresh professional content, or, even use the platform for attraction and recruitment purposes.
It’s also an excellent lead converter. In a study of over 5,000 businesses, HubSpot found that traffic from LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.74%, almost three times or 277% higher than both Twitter (.69%) and Facebook (.77%). Although it should be noted that this is B2B traffic. Also, according to Sprout Social a staggering 79% of marketers say that the platform is a prime source of new leads.
