What Social Media Sites Are Most Powerful For Your Industry?

You can't deny that social media marketing is a pivotal component of all current online marketing strategies. But how do you do it right? How can you best position yourself to get in front of your ideal customers?

With so many social media platforms to choose from, it can seem overwhelming. A lot of businesses have already thrown up the hands and given up, feeling like social media just doesn't work for them. But in many cases, this can be attributed to the simple fact that they're doing it wrong. They're not connecting with consumers in an effective manner, and they're not getting in front of the right audience.

Let's look at the different social platforms and discuss their demographics.

FACEBOOK
While Facebook isn't necessarily the cool kid anymore, it still poses a huge opportunity for many businesses. With 1.65 billion active monthly users, it continues to grow 15% each year. 72% of all American adults use the site, and 76% of women use it.

So if your target audience is women, you definitely need to establish a presence on this platform. Their largest demographic, about 30%, are aged 25-34. Engagement is 18% higher on Thursdays and Fridays. If your target audience falls within these limits, there is a huge opportunity on this network for you.


TWITTER
Twitter is an entirely different beast than Facebook. With 1.3 billion registered users, only 100 million of them use it every day. About 23% of internet-using adults are on Twitter, and that number has remained unchanged since 2014. Oddly enough, 15% of the tweeters sent out 85% of all tweets in 2015. Entertainers and sports stars dominated the bulk of the tweets and popularity, followed by politicians, industry leaders and brands. Twitter remains popular amongst young adults, wth 30% of people aged 18-49 using it. In the blogging world, Twitter serves as a major platform to share and distribute your work. When you're limited to 140 characters per tweet, pushing content that is housed elsewhere is often the only option.

INSTAGRAM
Instagram has a younger demographic, with 55% of its users aged between 18 and 29, and 28% of all online adults using it. As a visually focused platform, it's become extremely popular amongst young adults and many brands have been extremely successful in growing large followings by engaging their target audience. Slightly skewed demographics show that 31% of women use Instagram, while just 24% of men do as well.

Fashion, lifestyle and luxury brands are extremely prominent on the site.


SNAPCHAT
Although SnapChat was only launched in 2011, it already has well over 100 million active daily users. 18% of social media users are on it, but 30% of all millennials access it regularly. Many Snapchat users like that their parents aren't on it, and that their photos disappear. 54% of users access it daily, and close to 9,000 snaps happen every second.

While it's primarily a younger base, the majority of its users don't seem interested in brands or marketing whatsoever -- users are more engaged with their friends, and themselves of course. But, this hasn't swayed big brands from spending big bucks, trying to capture that younger audience. According to one report, 87% of Snapchat users say they "never buy" anything they see advertised within the platform.

LINKEDIN
The people on LinkedIn represent 25% of the adult internet users, and are primarily B2B customers. So if you're selling anything to other businesses or professionals, this is the place for you. LinkedIn doesn't work the same way the other platforms work, when it comes to engagement. You can easily have a business FB page that is chatting with customers, but with LinkedIn, it's not that simple. LinkedIn really comes down to the actual person behind the page. While many companies have business LinkedIn pages, it's their personal page where the opportunity lies. LinkedIn is a fantastic place to network with like-minded individuals, and connect with prospects, if you're in the B2B industry.

It's an ideal place to share your content and participate in groups where you have the opportunity to establish yourself as an industry expert. If you're interested in taking advantage of the opportunity on LinkedIn, I'd suggest trying out some of the free courses from LinkedIn expert Melanie Dodaro.

PINTEREST
31% of adults who are online are on Pinterest. Women dominate usage, as 44% of online adult women use the site. 37% of users are between ages 18 and 49, and the majority earn well over $30k each year and have post-secondary education. Pinterest has become known for it's DIY environment, offering tips and inspiration on boards that users have complete control over.


So if you want to use social media marketing effectively, it's important that you get clear on who your target customer is.

You also need to understand the method behind connecting with social consumers. People aren't browsing through their feeds because they want to be marketed to. They're looking to connect with friends, and brands that provide value. So if you can deliver value to your target audience, you can make the volume on social media sites work in your favour.

Regular people check into their social media accounts multiple times each day -- so would it not make sense to be there, in a meaningful way? Just start with making an educated decision on where the biggest opportunity lies for your industry.

If your target market is mothers, it's clear that you need to be on Facebook. If your target market is professionals and other businesses, all roads are leading you to LinkedIn. If you're a fashion brand, I'd be running towards Instagram.