Let us help you decide which social media platforms are worth your business investing time and money on.
There are hundreds of social media platforms out there. It would be almost impossible to maintain a strong presence across all of them, (without a dedicated social media team or agency support) let alone begin nurturing interest in your products and services from your target audience.
With new social media platforms being created such as Threads, and pre-existing platforms such as Instagram introducing new in-app features, it can become overwhelming what platform suits you best.
But with data gathered from GWI insights and our own experience, we’re going to shed some light onto social media and help narrow your focus to help you decide
Which social media platforms should I be using for my business?
The main focus areas for deciding on the best social media platforms are:
Who are your audience and where do they spend their time? E.g. What platform are they on.
The type of business you have E.g. B2B vs B2C
What your social media goals and objectives are
Your strategy for achieving these goals
Facebook is a strong platform and now is under the umbrella of Meta, which also includes Instagram.
Growing organically via Facebook can be an uphill struggle, as the platform wants you to invest and monetise your content. However, organically Facebook still provides great exposure and if your posts are shared within targeted groups, you can see great results.
If you do want to maximise your exposure, we recommend utilising paid media, and if you have the correct content and tailored audience, you can expect to see low costs, great results and objectives met.
In a GWI report, it was reported that Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers were seen as the top demographic, with the main usage being to follow and find information about products and brands.
The data highlights the importance of being presence, as there’s a high chance you’re missing out on users discovering your brands.
X
In recent years, we have seen a shift in X usage due to new ownership. It’s resulted in many users changing their habits and adopting new platforms such as Threads, TikTok and Instagram.
X formally known as Twitter has introduced many paywalls, including analytics, characters within a post, blue ticks and many other features free on alternative platforms.
However, X is still popular with millennials and many brands are consistently keeping an active presence on the platform.
TikTok
A popular app amongst Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers is TikTok. It’s changed the way we’re consuming video and has shifted the social media landscape.
Many believe the app is just to create and watch catchy videos, but it’s been reported by GWI, that TikTok users are using the app to keep up to date with news/the world, message family and friends and share content.
But the most important usage reported is to follow and find information about a product or business, highlighting if you’re not using TikTok, you may miss out on a potential new customer.
The introduction of TikTok shop, provides product-based brands to directly sell to their customers utilising social media, with many brands reporting great success due to TikTok lives and influencers.
TikTok requires a lot of time and energy, and you need to be able to adapt and change with the new functionalities introduced, but if you invest, the results could be magnificent.
In 2023, LinkedIn saw a 44% increase in engagement rate and is currently the fastest-growing audience within millennials. It’s become a serious powerhouse when it comes to growing brand exposure, potential sale opportunities and attracting talent.
In the last 12 months, we have seen the importance of employee advocacy, with LinkedIn reporting companies sharing quality content are 58% more likely to attract talent. If you’re looking to adopt a new platform into your portfolio, LinkedIn should be within your top three, with new opportunities and growing engagement rates, it’s an exciting time to utilise the platform.
Instagram is a staple in many organisations’ social media portfolios, due to its visual and easy-to-share platform features, we see Instagram as a friendly face.
With it being popular amongst Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers, all key target audiences utilise the platform, making it a perfect platform to target a range of audiences.
In a GWI report, we also saw 70% of social media users watching videos on Instagram in the last month. The importance of a video-first approach content strategy is here, and brands with a visually aesthetic product or service need to adapt to video.
Surprisingly Pinterest has been stated as the fastest growing platform for Gen Z with Gen X and Baby Boomers also utilising Pinterest.
Commonly known for creating mood boards, we’re seeing a rise in Gen Z users adopting the in-app features to share travel, fashion and beauty inspiration.
YouTube + YouTube Shorts
YouTube for brands is an interesting one, and with the adoption of YouTube Shorts, we’re seeing YouTube expand its reach into both long and short-form video.
YouTube has the power to become a real community for any brand but it is very time-consuming. There also comes a point where a reasonable size brand is expected to deliver high-quality video – then you’ll need the resources to produce professional-looking material.
Okay, let’s stop messing about, here, which platforms should you set up, keep updated and use proactively?
For the majority of B2C businesses, an Instagram account will be useful and for B2Bs, LinkedIn is as important as any other platform at your disposal.
Of course, larger brands, with the capacity, resources or social media management budget can afford to spend more time on a wider range of platforms to cover their bases. It stands to reason visual brands would benefit from thriving Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and Snapchat accounts.
Having a social media audit conducted is the most useful way of defining which social media channels your business should be spending its time on.
Social Media Manager
