Throughout the last five years, we have seen businesses go from a small local business to a national phenomenon overnight. Virality has huge potential to improve business for many companies and organizations. 

In today's digital age, social media has become a valuable tool for businesses looking to expand their reach, engage with customers, and drive sales. With various social media channels available, each offering unique features and demographics, choosing the right platform for your business can be a daunting task.

We want to take a few moments to provide information about the different platforms and help you determine which channels might work best for you and your business.

The Social Media Channels

As a business, it might be tempting to try to be on every social media network. We would warn against this. It’s more effective to identify the channels where you will be the best received and where your main target demographic is.

To understand which channels you should be utilizing to promote your business, you must first understand the purpose of each channel, as well its target audience.

Facebook

With over 2.9 billion active users worldwide, Facebook remains the largest social media platform. It offers a diverse range of advertising options, including targeted ads, sponsored posts, and Messenger ads. Facebook is ideal for businesses aiming to reach a broad audience and engage with users through multimedia content.

As of January 2024, 24.4 percent of Facebook users in the United States were aged between 25 and 34 years. Individuals aged 18 to 24 and 35 to 44 are secondary popular audiences with 18.8 percent of the market.

Instagram:

Known for its visually appealing content, Instagram boasts more than 1 billion monthly active users. It's particularly popular among younger demographics and is ideal for businesses in industries such as fashion, beauty, and lifestyle. Instagram's advertising options include photo ads, video ads, carousel ads, and Stories ads. Reels have also become an extremely popular content type in the last few years.

According to Statista, “As of April 2024, almost 32 percent of global Instagram audiences were aged between 18 and 24 years, and 30.6 percent of users were aged between 25 and 34 years. Overall, 16 percent of users belonged to the 35 to 44-year age group.”

X (formerly Twitter)

With its fast-paced nature and character limit, X is ideal for businesses looking to share real-time updates, news, and announcements. It has approximately 550 million monthly active users worldwide and offers advertising options such as promoted tweets, promoted accounts, and promoted trends.

Twitter has constantly been scrutinized as a social platform unable to maintain relevancy and revenue. However, since being purchased by Tesla founder, Elon Musk, the platform has continued to be a topic of discussion. We will also note that a lot of viral content begins on X through trending topics and conversations.

“The majority (around 58%) of X users are under 35 years old,” said Exploding Topics.

LinkedIn:

Positioned as the go-to platform for professionals, LinkedIn has over 700 million members globally. It's an excellent choice for B2B businesses, recruiters, and professionals seeking networking opportunities. LinkedIn's advertising options include sponsored content, sponsored InMail, and text ads.

LinkedIn is a special social media account that focuses specifically on business and the industry.

According to LinkedIn’s website, 61 percent of their users are aged between 25 and 54.

YouTube:

As the second-largest search engine after Google, YouTube boasts over 2 billion logged-in monthly users. It's the ultimate platform for video content, making it ideal for businesses aiming to leverage the power of video marketing. YouTube's advertising options include TrueView ads, bumper ads, and sponsored videos.

Sprout Social let’s us know that “users aged between 25 and 34 account for 21.3% of YouTube's user base, making them the largest age group to use the platform.”

TikTok:

Making an appearance in 2020, TikTok quickly became a popular social media channel for many to engage, watch and create. With its explosive growth in recent years, TikTok has emerged as a powerhouse in the social media landscape. It's particularly popular among Gen Z users and offers a highly engaging platform for short-form video content. TikTok's advertising options include in-feed ads, branded hashtags, and branded effects.

TikTok is known for its short-form videos and creative content creation. It has also become a popular channel to perform viral dances, discuss life hacks and provide information that might not be known to the general public.

Eight Factors to Consider When Choosing the Platform(s) for You

Now that you have more of an understanding of the use and purpose for each platform, you are one step closer to determine which ones are right for your business. Before you make your decision, it’s important to consider the following factors. These will play a big part in determining where you should spend your time and energy.

1. Target Audience: Understanding your target audience is paramount when selecting a social media channel. We have provided age demographics for each of the most popular social media channels. Consider demographics such as age, gender, location, interests, and behavior. Choose a platform where your target audience is most active and engaged.
2. Content Format: Different social media channels support various content formats, including text, images, videos, and live streams. Determine which types of content align best with your marketing objectives and capabilities. For example, if your business excels in visual storytelling, platforms like Instagram, TikTok may be ideal.
3. Advertising Options: If you are interested in running ads, it’s important to evaluate the advertising options available on each social media platform. Consider factors such as ad formats, targeting capabilities, budget requirements, and return on investment (ROI). Choose a platform that offers advertising solutions aligned with your marketing goals and budget.
4. Engagement and Interaction: How do you want to engage with your audience? Are you into having conversations or would you prefer to just share information about your business? These are questions that you will want to answer before choosing your social channels. Assess the level of engagement and interaction on each social media platform. Look for features such as likes, comments, shares, retweets, and direct messaging. Select a platform where you can effectively engage with your audience and foster meaningful interactions.
5. Brand Identity and Image: Consider the brand identity and image you want to portray on social media. Choose platforms that align with your brand values, aesthetics, and tone of voice. Maintain consistency across all channels to reinforce your brand identity and enhance brand recognition.
6. Competitor Analysis: Conduct a competitive analysis to identify which social media channels your competitors are active on and how they are leveraging them. Learn from their successes and failures to inform your own social media strategy. Identify gaps in the market where you can differentiate your brand.
7. Resources and Capabilities: Take into account your available resources, including time, budget, and manpower. Social media may seem like an easy task, but to do it right and do it well takes time. Choose social media channels that you can effectively manage and maintain with your existing resources. Prioritize quality over quantity to ensure a consistent and impactful presence.
8. Analytics and Measurement: Look for social media platforms that provide robust analytics and measurement tools. Track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as reach, engagement, website traffic, leads, and conversions. Use data-driven insights to optimize your social media strategy and maximize results.

So, let’s get back to the main question:

“Which social media channel is the best to market my business?”

Well, the answer, as you can see, isn’t as simple as just choosing one of the many ones available. It will take a little research and self-evaluation, but afterward, you should have a clear answer about where you should start.

Keep in mind that there are also other options and outlets to connect with your audience. These are the more popular of social media channels, but there are also channels like Snapchat, Pinterest, Tumblr, Reddit and much more. As a business, it’s important to know who your target audience is, where they are and what you have the ability to do. Don’t hesitate to start small and grow as your business grows.

Need help developing your social media strategy?

Stimulus Advertising is a full-service advertising, marketing and web firm designed to help your business grow. If you aren’t sure where to start with your social media strategy, give us a call. Our team can help you evaluate your business, your target audience and your capabilities to give you a social media plan that you can implement and maintain. Give us a call or fill out our contact form to get started today.

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