Which Social Media Platforms are Best for Your Business?

Pull out your marketing/social strategies, because it’s time to re-evaluate where your digital marketing efforts are being focused.

There is a single, most important question to ask yourself when deciding which social platforms to focus your business energy on:

Where are your customers?

Facebook has readily-available, built-in tools for scheduling and analytics, but if your customer base isn’t there, it’s a waste of your time. Twitter is considered the online “newsroom”, so does that fit your ice cream shop’s business model?

To know where your business should be, you need to learn more about your target market (customers). What’s their age range? 71% of Instagram users are under 35 years old while Snapchat holds as the strongest social platform for users under 24 years of age. Does your business utilize augmented reality? Snapchat was the first social platform to include AR and filters.

Pinterest gained 100 million users in just 2020, most likely due to everyone stuck at home, planning dream vacations and baking bread. If you’re a tourist destination, Pinterest will get you seen by those planning trips using “boards” to organise.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the top social media platforms in North America:

Facebook

Active Users 2.74 Billion, with 1.3 Billion on FB Messenger

Largest Age Demographics While Facebook’s largest group is generally between the ages of 12-34, Atlantic Canada’s user majority falls more in line with 25-44 (men) and 35-54 (women). This may be due to the aging demographic of the region, but is still worth noting.

Unique Aspects

• Facebook has groups that can be great to create privacy amongst niche’ markets, such as a weight-loss challenge group for your gym.
• Meta Business Suite allows for scheduling of posts and stories without a 3rd party app needed.
• Meta Business Suite shares analytics with you to help you learn more about your customer base, including age breakdown, countries, and cities of users following your page.
• Messenger Chatbot to automates answering general questions from customers, saving you time.
• Recent additions include adding Menus, booking appointments, shopping, etc.

Cautions

• Facebook is very strict on using Pages for business accounts, so ensure you aren’t creating your business page as a private, individual account.
• Facebook has strict terms of service regarding giveaways/contests, making it best to avoid hosting any on this platform at the risk of a lifetime ban.

YouTube

Active Users 2.29 Billion, however anyone can use Youtube, regardless of being a registered user; therefore this number is most likely substantially higher.

Largest Age Demographics Difficult to tell due to the lack of need to register for use, but music videos, reviews, and Informational (DIY, fix-it, etc). are amongst the most popular viewing types. Nearly 75% of North Americans say they use YouTube, with 80% of parents saying their kids use the platform (PewResearch) .

Unique Aspects

• YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world (after Google – but it’s also owned by Google so does that really count?)
• It uses the idea of “subscribing” to content creators rather than following or just “liking” them.
• Roughly 1 billion hours of video is watched daily on YT. (YouTube)

Cautions

• Consumers are 3X more likely to watch an intstructional video than read instructional manuals, so if this is relevant to your brand/product/service, it may be time to get comfortable in front of the camera.
• 70%+ viewership occurs on a mobile device, so be mindful of close ups when making videos, as small details will need to be zoomed in.

Instagram

Active Users 1.3 Billion active users

Largest Age Demographics 71% of users in 2022 are under 35, but Canadian GenX has a strong hold on the platform, particularly those that are more outdoor/adventure seeking. Instagram has become a common search engine for travel, both locally and internationally.

Unique Aspects

• Unlike Facebook and YouTube, your brand can work on engagement outreach, seeking out prospective customers, liking and commenting on their personal (public) profiles to build relationships away from your brand’s page.
• If you connect your Instagram to Meta Business Suite, you have all the same analytics and scheduling capabilities as your Facebook Business page, and they don’t have to be identical.
• Generally, Instagram’s pictures see around 23% more engagement that the same pictures posted on Facebook.

Cautions

• Understanding how to use local ambassadors, brand advocates, micro and macro influencers takes time, energy, and usually money. Collaborate wisely.
• While a massively popular B2C platform, B2B has less success on Instagram.
• User Generated Content (UGC) is a great tool for this platform, but must be done carefully to avoid any legality concerns. Remember that explicit permission is always better than implied. Just because a user tags you, doesn’t mean you have a right to their creative content.

Feeling overwhelmed with this information? Consider these top three social platforms and decide what may be best for your business. We’ll cover the next three in the next marketing blog post, so that your brain has a chance to decompress.

Bottom Line: You can’t avoid social media if you want your business to organically reach your target audience. Social will help you be seen, build your community, and get new leads invested in your brand’s story.