You Don't Need a Brand Account on Every Social Media Site
- Jesse Panchenko
- Aug 19, 2021
- 5 min read
If you're active on social media, it can feel like a rat race trying to get people to pay attention to your brand. Many small businesses will have several social media accounts, sometimes on 4 different platforms or more. So, is having a ton of accounts the key to social media success?
Not always.
In fact, by running more social media accounts than you can effectively manage, you're likely to end up with too much on your plate and provide an uninteresting social media presence.
If you're wondering which social media you should use, then, fret not. I'll be going over the most fitting types of businesses for all major social media networks, as well as audience expectations for each site, below.
1. Facebook
Facebook continues to reign as the world's most popular social media site, despite countless opinion pieces claiming it's dead. In fact, 70% of the Canadian population uses Facebook.
Facebook may not be the most trendy or stylish social media platform, but its unique customer communication make it an irreplaceable site for small business owners.
User base: 2.85 billion
Best for: Communicating with customers, encouraging discussion
Demographic: 25-34 year olds, fairly even gender split but mostly males, low income households, rural area residents, residents of Asia Pacific
Note: Seniors are Facebook's smallest, but fastest growing age group
What to post: Company updates such a product launches and sales, thought-provoking content, "shareable" content
2. Twitter
Twitter is the king of short-form text content. Apart from that, it's popular as a type of "service desk" for many companies, as customers can message or reply to brands through the site with questions or comments. The company's research has shown that consumers' perception of a brand is more positive when they answer messages quickly.
Twitter's user base may not be as expansive as Facebook's, but the site offers some unique targeting features. For example, you can target users who have used a specific keyword in one of their tweets, or only target users who have engaged with your posts before.
User base: 397 million
Best for: Promoting your long-form content from other websites, encouraging discussion
Demographic: 25-34 year olds, males, middle-upper class, residents of the U.S. and Japan, mobile users
More than 80% of Twitter's user base is less than 50 years old
What to post: Text tweets under 100 characters, links to your video or blog content from other sites (especially listicles or how-to articles), polls, images
3. LinkedIn
If you're reading this, you probably already use LinkedIn. It's the world's largest professional network, making it a great platform for B2B businesses. Relationships on LinkedIn tend to be more formal than other social media sites, and are based heavily on trust and mutual benefit.
Advertising on LinkedIn is an effective way to reach B2B customers, and their cost per lead averages 28% lower than Google AdWords.
User base: 774 million
Best for: Developing B2B relationships and other business networking, recruitment, promoting business events
Demographic: 25-34 year olds, males, residents of the U.S. and Europe
What to post: Videos, blog posts, commentary on third-party content, long-form (1900+ words) text content
4. Instagram
Instagram originally launched in 2010, and catered to iPhone users with its unique 1:1 photo and video format, and an image size that matched the iPhone screen. In fact, the app wasn't available on Android until 2 years later. Because of the association with the iPhone, the app became a hub for content about all things extravagant and indulgent.
Today, the audience on Instagram has grown more diverse, but a focus remains on the luxury lifestyle and products.
Best for: Product-based, especially luxury businesses that can produce beautiful visuals. Travel, food, and music content is popular.
Demographic: 18-34 year olds, females (in the U.S. - in India, most users are male), residents of the U.S., India, Brazil, Indonesia, and Russia
What to post: High-quality images and video are extremely important. Popular types of content include questions for the audience, tutorials, behind-the-scenes footage, thought leadership content, and user-generated content
5. TikTok
Since its launch in 2016, TikTok has grown exponentially, overtaking Youtube as the most downloaded app in the Apple App Store in 2021. TikTok is the successor to the defunct lipsyncing app Musical.ly, and is known as Douyin in its homeland in China. Influencer Marketing Hub has a fantastic animated visualization of TikTok's growth here.
The app is now often called the holy grail of generating reach organically. TikTok's algorithm shows its users exactly the type of content they like to see, so if you land on someone's For You page, they are likely to be interested in your video.
Best for: Organically growing your reach and brand image
Demographic: 10-29 year olds - Gen Zers, females (in the U.S.), upper class (40.2% of TikTok user's households earn $100k+ USD), residents of the U.S. and Asia Pacific
What to post: Entertaining and/or funny content, trend videos - challenge, hashtag, and song trends, satisfying videos, product reviews by influencers (for product businesses)
6. Youtube
Youtube is the largest video-sharing platform in the world, and has gone through many stages of evolution, both in functionality and user base. With the popularization of other video platforms which focus exclusively on short-form content, Youtube's content has shifted more to long-form videos. Though, the recently introduced Youtube Shorts feature aims to provide a short form "story" type experience to Youtube users.
Best for: In-depth and long-form content that explains your brand
Demographic: 15-35 year olds (however, there's a fairly even mix of age groups overall), males, all income ranges equally represented, B2B decision makers, residents of India and the U.S.
What to post: Funny videos (funny animal videos are especially successful), tutorials and how-to's, vlogs, product reviews, hauls, and unboxings
7. Snapchat
When Snapchat first launched, its functionality was limited to only sending photo snaps. Over the years it added features like video snaps, stories, and chat. Today, the most valuable feature Snapchat has for advertisers is probably Discover, which features short-form ad content.
Snapchat is also well-known for its filters and lenses, which are sometimes used by companies for promotion. If you create a fun or beautiful lense or filter sponsored by your company, Snapchatters who use it and share the photos and videos taken with it will be promoting your brand.
Best for: Advertising and showing your customers "behind the scenes"
Demographic: 15-25 year olds, females, moms, middle-upper class ($70-80k), residents of the U.S. and India, impulse buyers
What to post: Interactive brand filters and lenses, cross-platform content, "takeovers" - allow someone not on your social media team to take over the account for a day and provide a different perspective on your business, such as another member or the team or an influencer.
8. Pinterest
Pinterest is a very unique social media platform not only due to its format, but also because it is the only major social media site used predominantly by middle-aged women.
Pinterest allows brands to post their products as "pins," allowing site users to like the posts and pin them to their own collections, or "boards." This functionality makes it ideal for project planning and content collection, such as recipe collections or wish lists.
The best part about Pinterest is that their user base is primed to shop - according to the company, their users are "75% more likely to say they're always shopping, vs. people on other platforms". Further, 95% of Pinterest searches are unbranded, meaning its users are open to try new brands.
Best for: Product-based businesses, advertising, curated collections
Demographic: 30-49 year olds, females, middle class ($50-75k per year), residents of the U.S.
What to post: Aesthetically-pleasing and lifestyle content, DIYs, recipes, links to your blog posts (use vertical graphics for the cover photo)
So how do I choose the right social media network?
Start by making sure you've defined your target audience, then eliminate the social networks that would definitely not fit them. For example, if you want to target 20-30 year old women, Twitter and LinkedIn might not be the best ways to go. There are always nuances to this decision, but at its most basic it's a matching game.
If you have any questions about this article, or would like help with your social media marketing strategy, feel free to email me at jessepanchenko@gmail.com.
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