Different Platforms Serve Different Purposes

Social media marketing is a powerful tool, but the key is to know how to use it. With a wide range of platforms, it is critical to know which one to maximize depending on your audience, your product and a host of other factors.

Last week, Twitter’s stock price fell to the lowest point since its IPO. What happened? They announced that their user growth was slowing… This has led to a number of sources claiming/questioning whether the platform is dead. What is interesting to me is that I use Twitter both in business and personally and while it isn’t Facebook, which I check daily (sometimes more frequently – cringe), it is the FIRST place I go to for breaking news. Was that just an earthquake I felt? Is Salesforce down for everyone or is it a problem with my log in? It’s unusually quiet today; is there something big happening that I am missing?

As marketers, it’s critical to know how people are using platforms, where your audience is spending its time and how best to get your message out. For example, if you are a B2B, you are probably going to get the best bang for your buck on LinkedIn which is undoubtedly the leader for business professional networking. Not only can you place ads and sponsored stories but you can post to group boards and link to people who might be in need of your services.

If you have a very visually-based product or are a high-end brand, you may want to maximize Instagram which focuses on the aesthetic appeal of their images. You can currently post beautiful, sponsored images and will soon be able to maximize Instagram video, as well.

For long-form videos, you obviously can’t beat YouTube. With over 1B unique viewers each month, they have a huge, captive audience that is inclined to seek out and watch interesting content. As we have discussed in the past, brands like Dove and Old Spice use this platform with great success.

Snapchat is great if you want to reach Millennials who are always on the hunt for the next best thing. The service has even introduced longer-term, “self-destructing” Snapchat Stories for marketers who want to send ephemeral “snaps” that will last for 24 hours.

And of course, Facebook is the big fish with over 1.3B active monthly users. At this point, a Facebook presence is almost a given for any major (and many minor) brands. But getting heard on the service is becoming more and more challenging, not to mention costly as organic brand reach is projected to eventually drop to zero. The solution? Sponsored ads delivered directly to your target audience. While no longer free, it is still far more cost-effective than traditional advertising.

These are just some of the points and platforms to consider when developing your social media marketing plans. Are there are any other tools we should be talking about? If so drop us a line and we’d be happy to answer your questions.