In the increasingly digital world that we live in, most people recognize the importance of being on social media platforms. The lines between the digital world and the real world have been blurred almost to the point of non-existence. This is especially true for businesses.
However, just because you recognize the importance of being on social media doesn’t mean that you know how to do that well. Many people that I talk to want to be active online but have no idea where to start.
For the next several weeks we’re going to be sharing some simple steps to help you develop your social media presence. This week we’re going to discuss knowing which social media platforms your brand should be on.
What are Social Media Platforms?
Social media platforms are simply the different social websites and apps (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok etc.) There are lots of options out there. However, no one person can be on every social media platform successfully, nor do they need to be. You have to determine which platforms are going to be the best outlet for you and your business.
How Do I Decide Between Them?
A great way to do this is by figuring out who your audience is and what your product is. If your audience is 25 to 65-year-olds looking to buy life insurance, then you probably aren’t going to get much meaningful traction on an app like TikTok or Twitter. You also might not necessarily want to spend your time on Instagram. That’s because your product isn’t something physical that you can show in images and pictures. This isn’t a hard and fast rule but is more of a guideline.
In a later blog, we will go through some of the most popular social media platforms and talk about who their average user is and what kind of content is used on that platform, but here is the crash course.
The Two Basics
Facebook is a universally good platform for promoting your business to adults. According to Statia, the highest concentration of Facebook users are 18-44 but there are plenty of younger and older people on Facebook. Despite not being the “sexiest” of the social media platforms, Facebook is by far the most versatile and is, therefore, a good place to start for everyone!
Instagram is great for posting pictures and short videos of products and sharing the day-to-day processes or updates of a company or brand. The largest demographic of Instagram users is 25 to 34-year-olds. However, Instagram is not a great place for sharing lots of information or testimonials because long captions aren’t generally read, and long videos are generally skipped through.
Having a social media presence is important, but a bad social media presence can be detrimental to your brand and its reputation. Start off on the right foot! Next week, we’ll discuss how to create content and get inspired, especially if you don’t feel very creative.
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