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Find Your Brand the Best Suited Social Media   

With 3.2 billion people worldwide using social media an average of nearly two and a half hours a day, it’s a no-brainer to use social media platforms to market your brand. After all, 54% of people use it to research products. Potential customers await!

Just because a platform is popular doesn’t necessarily mean it is a good fit for your brand. Every business has a limited amount of time, money and energy to plug into social media marketing efforts. So, which social media platform should you use? Let this guide you.

Start from ground level

Before taking any steps to move forward with a social media marketing strategy, it is vital to understand your target audience. When you do, you’ll identify which platforms these people are more likely to use most. If your customer base is not using social media or not using a specific social media platform, you’re throwing valuable marketing dollars to the wind. 

Secondly, you have to be clear about your goals for using social media. A lot of failed social media marketing is due to randomly posting, reposting, liking, and following that strays from brand message. Be sure to identify your purpose. How do you plan to utilize social media as part of your overall marketing efforts?

Here are 4 of the most popular platforms.

Facebook

Facebook is the most widely used social platform and has more than 2.41 billion daily active users. When used well, Facebook can help increase brand awareness, website traffic, and lead generation. Many different industries choose to use Facebook because the platform has a wider user base and demographic of users than other platforms. In fact, 77% of B2C brands have acquired customers through Facebook. 

Quick stats:

• Of  all the people on the Internet, 83% of women and 75% of men use Facebook
• Age demographic is 25 to 34
• Photos account for 93% of most engaging posts
• 42% of Facebook fans like a page in order to get a coupon or discount
• There are 1.59 billion mobile users; 399 million users only access Facebook via mobile

Industries that do well on Facebook: 

• Auto
• Entertainment
• E-commerce
• Fashion
• Health and Wellness
• Real Estate
• Retail
• Sports

Keep in mind that Facebook is “pay to play;” you’ll likely need an advertising budget to reach your target audience by boosting posts and with Facebook ads. However, businesses seeking local customers should consider this investment. This is because search engines look at business’ Facebook profile as an indicator for local search results. 

Twitter

Twitter has 336 million monthly active users and 93% who follow small- and medium-sized businesses on this platform say they plan to purchase from the brands they follow. Another 69% have already made a purchase because of something they saw in a tweet.

Due to the way consumers can interact with brands via Twitter, this platform is great for customer service; 85% of users say it’s important for businesses to provide customer service via Twitter.

Quick stats:

• Slightly more women than men use Twitter
• Age demographic is 18 to 29
• Most Twitter users in the U.S. live in urban centers, followed by suburban and rural areas
• Twitter users have above average incomes; 30% U.S. users earn $75,000 annually

Industries that do well on Twitter: 

• E-commerce
• Fashion
• Finance
• Health and Wellness
• Retail
• Sports
• Travel and Hospitality

Using hashtags is a great way to engage new potential customers. Consumers looking for something specific can find it via hashtags. Twitter is also a good platform for getting creative with customer interaction. Many brands run polls or contests and send discounts to users in exchange for engagement.

Instagram 

People remember 80% of what they see as opposed to what they read or hear. There are more than 25 million business profiles on Instagram and 60% of users say they discover new products on the platform.

It’s important to note that Facebook owns Instagram. Thus, there are many of the same features and ad targeting options with regard to brand awareness and engagement. 

While it’s true this platform has a younger crowd (users under 35 make up more than 70% of 800 million active accounts), 21% of 50- to 64-year-olds and 10% of Americans age 65 and older say they are also using Instagram.

Quick stats:

 More women than men use Instagram

• Six of the top 10 most-followed Instagram accounts owned by women and include: Selena Gomez, Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift
• Black Americans use Instagram the most (43%) compared to 38% Hispanic and 32% of white respondents to a Pew Study

Industries that do well on Instagram: 

• Fashion
• Food and Drink
• Health and Wellness
• Retail
• Service
• Sports
• Travel and Hospitality

Whatever your business, if you’ve got a visual product, consider using this platform. Be sure to use good editorial judgement with photo selection. Just because you have a photo doesn’t mean it’s a photo worth posting. Instagrammers have come to expect high-quality images that convey a story. 

 LinkedIn

Four out of five LinkedIn members drive business decisions, and LinkedIn’s audience has twice the buying power of the average web audience. Users often post more accurate information about their employers and positions than other social media platforms. 

Quick stats:

• Age demographic is 25 to 45
• 45% of adults making more than $75,000 per year are on LinkedIn
• 49% of LinkedIn users are college graduates
•  65% of B2B companies have acquired a customer through LinkedIn
• 40% of B2B buyers say they use the platform to research technologies and services to purchase

Industries that do well on LinkedIn: 

• Education
• Employment
• Financial
• Health and Wellness
• IT
• Legal
• Manufacturing
•  Marketing
• Professional Services
• Science and Technology 

Businesses that target consumers based on job titles will find LinkedIn can be a powerful tool. B2Bs should consider LinkedIn as their main social media platform.  

Get social

Social media marketing is more effective for some industries than others, but every business can take advantage of these platforms.Utilizing social media to market your brand is important and can be used to reach your target audience in many different ways.