Choosing the Best Platform for Your Brand’s Social Media Marketing Goals
Lately, I've been indulging in my guilty pleasure of rewatching New Girl. Have I seen it at least five times already? Absolutely. Does that stop me? Not a chance.
There's something about the characters that just draws me in. Not only are they all hilarious, but each one brings something unique to the group. Whether it's turning to Jess for creative ideas, Schmidt for style advice, or Nick for his "unconventional" wisdom, they all offer something special.
Choosing the right social media platform for your brand is like assembling the perfect ensemble cast — or picking the right roommates! Each platform brings its own strengths and can help you achieve different goals. In this blog post, we'll explore how to choose the ideal platforms to align with your brand’s social media marketing goals and effectively reach your target audience.
Revisiting Your Social Media Marketing Goals
Let’s kick things off by revisiting your social media marketing goals. What are you really aiming to achieve?
Your social media goals should mesh perfectly with your business’s mission and values, as well as your bigger business objectives, like boosting sales or increasing customer repurchase behavior.
Possible social media goals include:
Increase brand awareness by expanding reach and familiarity with your brand.
Engage your audience by fostering interaction and building a brand community.
Drive conversions by turning your audience into customers, subscribers, etc.
Establish brand authority by positioning your brand as an industry expert.
Understanding Your Audience
Getting to know your audience is key to picking the right social media platforms. Each “view” or “like” comes from a real person with their own needs and interests. By understanding who your audience is, you can pick the platforms where they’re most active and craft messaging that truly resonates.
Before choosing a social media platform, make sure you can answer these questions about your audience:
What are their demographics — age, gender, location, occupation?
What topics, hobbies, or activities get them excited?
What drives their decisions and influences their choices?
How do they like to engage with digital media and content?
What are their expectations when interacting with brands on social media?
With these answers, you'll be in a great position to select the platforms that will help you connect with the right people!
Overview of Current Platforms
One of the largest and most versatile social media platforms. Ideal for community building, brand awareness, and customer engagement.
Key Features: Advanced targeting options for ads, diverse content formats (text, images, video, live streams), and great analytics tools.
Audience: Broad audience, including many adults ages 25-54.
Focuses on visual content, specifically photo and video. Ideal for brand storytelling, collaborations, and visual marketing.
Key Features: High engagement rates, emphasis on aesthetics, Stories and Reels for short-form content, and integration with shopping.
Audience: Younger audience, mostly ages 18-34.
X (formerly Twitter)
Known for real-time updates and brief, text-based posts. Ideal for trending topics, news, and public conversations.
Key Features: Trending topics, hashtags, threads, and a fast-paced news feed.
Audience: Varied audience, with a strong presence of news enthusiasts and professionals.
A professional networking platform. Ideal for B2B marketing, thought leadership, recruiting, and networking.
Key Features: Long-form content (articles, posts), professional networking tools, and great analytics.
Audience: Primarily professionals and decision-makers, ages 25-54.
YouTube
Leading platform for video content, primarily long-form videos. Ideal for in-depth educational content and video storytelling.
Key Features: Video hosting capabilities, live streaming, powerful search, and monetization options.
Audience: Broad audience, with varying use behavior across age groups.
TikTok
Specializes in short-form video content with an emphasis on trends, challenges, humor, and user-generated content.
Key Features: Great video editing tools, algorithm drives content discovery despite follower count, and a potential for viral reach.
Audience: Primarily younger audience, ages 16-24.
A visual discovery platform, allowing users to create and share boards with images and ideas. Ideal for driving traffic to websites and showcasing your product/service in the context of everyday life.
Key Features: Focus on inspiration and planning, powerful search, and integration with e-commerce for product pins.
Audience: Predominantly female, with an interest in DIY, fashion, home decor, cooking, etc.
Why Choose?
It might be tempting to dive into posting on all of these social media platforms, but that’s not always the smartest strategy. Instead, zero in on a few platforms that align with your social media marketing goals and target audience. For example, if you’re aiming to reach retirees, TikTok might not be the best choice. By focusing on a more targeted approach, you can prioritize quality over quantity and manage your workload more effectively.
The Temptation of Emerging New Platforms
I’m looking at you, Threads…
I get it — when a new, trendy platform starts getting everyone talking, it’s tempting to drop everything and go all in on the shiny new thing. But before you add another social media platform to your strategy, take a moment to see how well it aligns with your goals and audience.
Do some research on its features, demographics, and engagement potential, and run a low-stakes pilot test. Seriously! Think 4-6 hours of work, tops! Use these insights to decide whether to integrate the platform into your strategy or focus on optimizing your existing channels.
Even if you’re not planning to use a new platform now, be sure to secure your brand’s handle early to protect your “online identity” and keep your options open for the future!