Social Media: Which platform is right for your business?

In its infancy, social media was designed to connect people- but has since transformed into one of the most used business tools that allow brands of all sizes to increase their brand awareness and engagement. With the ability to offer free organic marketing or paid targeted marketing, social media platforms has taken the center stage and become a big part of big brands’ marketing channel mix.

Social media continues to grow rapidly. The number of people using the top platform in each country has increased by almost 1 million new users every day during 2018- totaling more than 3.26 billion social media users each month in 2019 (Kemp, 2018-19).

With more than 200 social media sites available (see left) to the public, it may be hard for a business to distinguish which ones they should be present on. It’s easy to feel pressured to be on all of the platforms, but a company should consider a few key points before integrating social media into their marketing campaigns. Like any marketing plan, social media requires research and strategic planning before launching.

Establishing what social media is- and isn't. 

Before a business begins securing their social media accounts on a number of different platforms, it is important to start with determining what kind of business they are. The business type should inform and drive social media strategy.

For example, a furniture business, such as Wayfair, may find a lot of value from visual platforms such as Instagram or Pinterest.  A service-based company might find more leverage in LinkedIn, Facebook, or even Twitter.

Ultimately, it is important for a business to know their goals, and determine how social media can help with those marketing goals. Consider this- organic social media marketing can help with:

• Assisting with web traffic
• Raising brand awareness
• Increasing or improving engagement with key audiences.
• Increasing customer loyalty

These all sound great, right? Social media is incredible for a number of things, but brands need to also be aware that social media is not the solution to all of their problems. If you take a look at the list of things social media can help a business with, you will notice it is not inclusive of increasing the web traffic and conversions through organic reach- it can assist, but it won’t be the main driver of organic or referral traffic. The list also does not give social media the responsibility to drive revenue.

In fact, according to The CMO Survey, 44% of marketers haven’t been able to show the impact of social at all, much less point to real ROI. This does not mean that social media is not effective, but it does mean that businesses are having a harder time measuring the impact than ever before (Baer, n.d.). All things considered, social media is a tool that- if successfully used- can help build or increase brand awareness, and improve a brand’s engagement with their key audience to possibly drive traffic to their websites, and increase customer loyalty. To quote Jeff Bezos’ popular saying, “your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”

How to Choose the Best Social Media Platforms for Marketing

Similar to establishing paid marketing plans, an effective social media plan should answer a couple of important questions, such as: What are the business’ goals? Why should the brand be on social media? What is the target market and where does the competition engage with them? Considering these questions will assist in creating a social media plan for businesses of all sizes.

1. How will a social media plan support the business goals?

Before a plan is established, there needs to be a clear idea of what is meant to be accomplished. Like a marketing strategy, the social media plan should be directly related to business goals, objectives, and KPI’s.

According to Sukhraj (2017), some organic social media KPIs that should be measured include engagement (typically measured by clicks, likes, shares, brand mentions, comments, profile visits, etc.), reach (followers, impressions, traffic), leads, and customers.  Looking at these metrics and determining what is right for the business can help create specific business goals and KPIs to work towards once the social media plan is rolled out. It is important to be realistic, and attaching a specific timeline to your goals- such as a 90-day plan- can help create a more targeted and realistic marketing plan (Gregory, 2019).

It is also important to note that your KPIs may change depending on the use of organic social media or paid social media (PPC).

2. What is being accomplished, and why?

Although it may not play a direct role in the marketing activities, the social media plan should directly align with the brand’s mission statement- what they are trying to do and why. To get down to a more granular level, it is important to determine what social media is going to do for the business. Is the brand using organic social media to connect with their audiences? Or is it using paid social media to increase targeted reach and drive traffic to the websites and increase conversions?

3. Who is the target audience, and where do they spend their time?

The target market is the “the specific audience you want to reach with your products and services or the group you are trying to sell” (Gregory, 2019). The more details available on the target market, the more valuable it will be in order to create content (organically), or to create specific segments (through PPC)  to target a specific market. Figuring out who has the need for the product or service, but also who is most likely to buy it, is important. Demographics and psychographics are typical in your target audience profiles.

It is also important to see what major social media platforms are accessed by your target market. In 2018, Pew Research Center found that “ a majority of Americans use Facebook and YouTube, but young adults are especially heavy users of Snapchat and Instagram.” Knowing the profile of your target market helps guide brands on how to read such reports and making decisions based off their research.

The answer comes in your research and planning.

Social media- in its organic form or paid form- can be a successful tool for a business who has done their research and have taken the time out to create a strategic plan. Identifying business goals, locating prospects, securing channels, and developing a content strategy and execution plan are a few of the core steps that a business needs to take in order to be successful on social media from day one.

Resources:

Accion. (n.d.). Choosing the Right Social Media Platform for Your Business. Retrieved from https://us.accion.org/resource/choosing-right-social-media-platform-your-business/

Baer, J. (n.d.). Why Is Social Media Measurement So Hard? Retrieved from https://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-strategy/why-is-social-media-measurement-so-hard/

Gregory, A. (2019, February). 10 Questions You Need to Answer to Create a Powerful Marketing Plan. Retrieved from https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-to-write-a-small-business-marketing-plan-2951749

Kemp, S. (2018, January 30). Digital in 2018: World's internet users pass the 4 billion mark. Retrieved from https://wearesocial.com/blog/2018/01/global-digital-report-2018

Kemp, S. (2019, January 30). Digital 2019: Global Internet Use Accelerates. Retrieved from https://wearesocial.com/blog/2019/01/digital-2019-global-internet-use-accelerates

Lewis, M. (2012, August 29). 3 Shocking Social Media Stats That Will Amp Up Your Marketing. Retrieved from https://www.americaninno.com/boston/3-shocking-social-media-stats-that-will-amp-up-your-marketing/

Lua, A. (n.d.). Why I Think Social Media Is For Branding and Engagement, Not Traffic or Revenue. Retrieved from https://buffer.com/resources/social-media-is-for-branding

Marketing Charts. (2018, March). Social Platform Use by Demographic. Retrieved from https://www.marketingcharts.com/digital/social-media-82642/attachment/pew-social-platform-use-by-demographic-mar2018

Patel, N. (n.d.). Social Media Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide. Retrieved from https://neilpatel.com/what-is-social-media-marketing/

Smith, A., & Anderson, M. (2018, March 1). Social Media Use in 2018. Retrieved from https://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/

Sukhraj, R. (n.d.). 10 Social Media KPIs You Should Track and Monitor. Retrieved from https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/social-media-kpis