The Right Social Media Mix
When it comes to marketing your business, getting your products and messaging seen by the right people is key. With so many different platforms, social media can seem daunting, but the reality is you don’t need to be everywhere. If you don’t have the bandwidth to be on every channel, then simply having the right mix is a great way to effectively market your business.
Where should you focus your efforts? The answer will be different based on your target audience, which depends on the products you sell or the lifestyle your brand represents. Each social media platforms’ user base is different so digging into the demographics can help you decide.
Here are some basic demographic facts and suggestions to help you get started choosing the right mix based on your target customers:
Facebook
The most commonly used social platform, where you’ll find users of all ages, is Facebook. Facebook’s audience is so broad that any type of small business can establish a presence. Facebook also has the highest number of engaged users which means your audience will be checking their profile regularly, giving you more chance to be seen. That being said, Facebook’s new system means not all posts are shown to all people, so you may need to pay to promote your posts for a bigger reach.
Instagram
Instagram’s users tend to be under 30 but there is an equivalent mix of men and women. The demographics skew slightly towards users with a higher level of education and income. If you are going to be on Instagram, you need to make sure that you have access to very visually-appealing assets and not just photos of your products.
Twitter
Users on Twitter are also mostly in their teens and 20s and represent a wide range of interests. There are a lot of posts on Twitter all the time which means you’ll need to be very active in order to be seen. Make sure you can dedicate enough time throughout the day for posting and responding to tweets.
Tumblr
Tumblr has the youngest users of all the social media channels. It’s a great place to grow a following for t-shirt companies, streetwear brands, and quirky products. Gamers, sci-fi, and other specialty products will also do well as the mix tends to be more eclectic.
Pinterest
Pinterest users are mainly women so if you sell women’s accessories or apparel, then you’ll definitely want to be Pinning and creating boards. Jewelry, crafts, interior design, and other female lifestyle brands should all focus on Pinterest.
Having a social media strategy, instead of trying to be everywhere, will make your marketing efforts far more effective and reduce the time you spend. Repeatedly posting in as many places as possible probably won’t help, but quality posts that reach the right people will help you gain sales.
Here are some some good resources for more demographic information:
Data Diving: Social Media Demographics and What They Mean for You
