Selecting Social Media Platforms 

Amal Shalabi 

West Virginia University 

12^th of June, 2023 

202305-IMC-642-900

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction 

In today's digital age, social media has become essential to any successful marketing strategy. It allows businesses and individuals to connect and engage with their audience on a global scale. However, with the multitude of social media platforms available, choosing the right channel for a specific business can take time and effort.

 

The process of selecting the right Social Media platforms

Type of business: 

Yankson (2023) states that while B2B and B2C companies benefit from social media marketing, the strategies and tactics used can differ significantly. She adds that B2B aim is to build brand awareness, showcase their expertise, generate leads, and create long-term relationships, whereas B2C companies focus more on driving sales, boosting brand visibility, and cultivating customer loyalty.

Business Goals: 

The first step is to identify business goals and objectives. Different social media platforms offer unique features and functionalities to help achieve business goals. Sides (2022) explains that clear social media goals provide a target to aim for and can help get the buy-in from top managers or other stakeholders. He adds that once goals are identified, it will be easy to manage the available budget, steam line workflow, and prove ROI.

Sides (2022) lists nine business goals that can be achieved using Social media channels: 

1.     Increase brand awareness 

2.     Manage brand reputation 

3.     Increase traffic to your website 

4.     Improve community engagement 

5.     Boost conversions or sales 

6.     Generate leads 

7.     Deliver customer service 

8.     Gain market insights with social listening 

9.     Attract candidates for open positions

Identify target audience : 

The next step in selecting the right social media platform is identifying and understanding the target audience. Different social media platforms cater to different demographics and psychographics; choosing the ones where the target audience is most active is essential. AOF (2022) recommends the following questions to be answered: Who is your typical customer? How old are they? Are they male or female? What is their income and education level? What are they interested in outside of your product and service?

Other questions Ram (2021) recommended: Where does your audience live or work? Is your audience on the younger side? Do they enjoy more serious or lighthearted content?

 Once the target audience is identified, we can narrow down the most beneficial platforms the brand should stick to. 

Understand social media Platforms:

With more than 15 social media platforms, each having its unique characteristics and user base, businesses should consider which platforms best serve goals and objectives. 

Forbes (2019) explains that it is a common mistake for businesses to push content to every available platform and stretch themselves too thin. Just because it is free to have an Instagram page does not necessarily mean we should. 

To select the right platform, Figure 1 from AOF (n.d.) demonstrates the demographics of social media platforms and their associated benefits. 

Figure 1: Social Media platforms and characteristics

Facebook is popular among older audiences and is considered an excellent platform to show the business's human side and build loyalty among the existing customer base. However, organic reach on Facebook is limited; therefore, it is better to consider paid posts, which offer powerful targeting capabilities and higher ROI.

Instagram is a visual-based platform that works well to showcase businesses in fashion, beauty, and many others. Most of its audience is aged between 18-34 years. Hill (2022) explains that Instagram is essential in reaching GenZ and Millennials through influencers and content creators. Also, Burn (2022) recommends using this platform to grow organically or via paid ads because it has better engagement rates than other SM platforms. 

YouTube, as described by Burn (2022), is a video-sharing platform that stands out for the most educational content, such as how-to videos and product demos through; both recorded and live-streamed videos. He adds that the most influential audience is GenZ and younger, while Gen X and baby boomers are a fast-growing customer base. 

LinkedIn is a social platform mainly used for B2B marketing, organically, and paid ads. 

TikTok is a fast-growing channel mainly used by GenZ and gaining popularity with Millennials, Gen X, and baby boomers. Burn (2022) explains that Organic and paid posts work similarly to most social media sites. However, creator partnerships are where TikTok stands out.

Twitter, with over 500 million daily tweets, is considered the best organic social channel for creators and entrepreneurs, according to Burn (2022). 

 

Analyze competitors:

 Researching competitors' activities on social media, such as used channels,  posting frequency, and engagement, will help to get a sense of the industry's popular platforms. 

 

Be realistic about your available resources:

Keeping up with different social media in terms of posting and active engagement is time-consuming and costly, so it's essential to be realistic and allocate budget and Human Resources towards the best platforms that work for our audience 

 

PartisanWorld 

PartisanWorld Is a homegrown business for events styling and party decoration specializing in kids’ Birthdays. The business was established in 2015, with the primary target audience being mums aged between 20 and 45 years residing in Abu Dhabi. 

Upon researching the local market demographics, it was found that Instagram and Snapchat are the main social channels the target audience uses. Although the first social media platform was Facebook, a decision was made to shift resources and focus on Instagram or Snapchat due to a lack of engagement. 

Since resources are limited, Instagram was selected as the primary business channel due to high engagement rates and competition needs. Both paid and organic posts are used to drive leads.

So far, a website or a blog has been optional as the target audience prefers to use social media platforms to search for birthday services. Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and LinkedIn are not used due to a lack of audience activities.

TikTok is under evaluation as it has been growing among the target audience.   

 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, selecting the right social media platforms for your channel is crucial to achieving your marketing goals. By understanding your target audience, identifying your objectives, and considering your available resources, you can choose the social media platforms that will work best for your business or personal brand. With the right strategy, social media can be a powerful tool for building brand awareness, engagement, and success.

 

References

AOF, (n.d.). Choosing the Right Social Media Platform for Your Business. https://aofund.org/resource/choosing-right-social-media-platform-your-business/

Burn, R. (2022). Organic posts and paid campaigns work similarly to most other social media sites. That third type of marketing — creator partnerships — is where TikTok stands out. Podia. https://www.podia.com/articles/how-to-find-best-social-media-platforms

Ram, A. (2021). How to choose the right social media platform for your business. https://www.zoho.com/social/journal/how-to-choose-right-social-media-for-business.html

Sides, G. (2022). How To Set and Exceed Social Media Goals [9 Examples]. https://blog.hootsuite.com/smart-social-media-goals/

Yankson, H. (2023). B2B VS. B2C Social Media Marketing: Every Marketer should know key differences.https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/b2b-vs-b2c-social-media-marketing-key-differences-every-yankson