Social media marketing has become a staple of almost any business strategy today. Since it provides your business a direct way to communicate with your audience and offers a great return on investment, it is important that you make it a part of your overall marketing strategy. However, one important decision associated with developing a social media marketing strategy is the selection of the right social media platforms.
Today, there are a number of popular social networking websites, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and many others. All these websites have millions of active users, and therefore, it’s understandable for a layman to believe that all social media channels work equally well for businesses. As a matter of fact, different social media channels offer different opportunities to different businesses, and the selection of a social media platform depends on a number of factors, including the nature of business, target audience, type of product, etc.
In this article, we are focusing on the three most-used social networking websites – Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We have summarized the users’ demographics of these websites and the reasons why a business should market its offerings on any one or more of these social media channels.
Facebook
With over 1.59 billion users, Facebook is the no.1 social networking website today. Over 70% of the Facebook users check their accounts daily and are counted as ‘active’ users. But does that make Facebook the right marketing channel for you? Yes.
Facebook has the most diverse users group in terms of demographics. While majority of its users belong to the 18 to 35 years age group, the website also offers you an access to a large number of elderly users. This means that no matter the nature of your business and the type of product or service you have to offer, Facebook offers you numerous marketing opportunities provided you use it the right way.
Twitter
Twitter is the third most widely used social networking website today. It’s loved for its unique 140-character tweet limit by its 305 million users, but this tweet limit doesn’t restrict your marketing opportunities in any way. You can write creative tweets and add external links and photos to make your tweets look more appealing to your users.
Is it suitable for your business? Yes, particularly if you’re targeting an audience group that’s known for its on-the-go lifestyle then Twitter is perfect to deliver your marketing message to them. Also, a survey recently highlighted the fact that over 39% of online users prefer to read marketing message on Twitter than on any other social networking website. So, now you’ve got another reason to market your business on Twitter.
LinkedIn
Considering the fact that LinkedIn targets professionals, it is particularly suitable for B2B businesses. If you’re in retail or leisure industry, you may not be able to generate a considerable number of leads from this platform. However, if you’re a technology company or a business consultant, you can benefit a lot from the unique user base of this social media website. But in order to convince these users to transform into customers, you’ll have to do a lot of hard work as LinkedIn users spend 4 hours or less per week surfing the website.
While there are a number of other social media websites that you can use to reach your audiences, it’s recommended that you start with the three most-commonly used websites discussed above. Learn the basics and when you think you’re ready to market your business on other websites, take a leap to Instagram and Pinterest.
