Even in 2023, social media usage continues to grow in both number of users and time spent on platforms. In Australia, 21.45 million users are spending an average of 2 hours a day perfecting their TikTok dances, catching up with old friends on Facebook or updating their work colleagues on LinkedIn each day. For businesses, those users represent 21.45 million potential sales opportunities that you may be missing out on with the wrong social media marketing strategies.
Users will gravitate towards platforms that fulfil their needs (be it social interaction, entertainment, alignment of values or concentration of like-minded individuals) and knowing how best to target users on these platforms is the first step to success in your social media marketing journey.
Identify the platforms your target audience uses
People are drawn to different social media platforms for different reasons, and it’s important to understand the demographic breakdown of each social media platform. Remember, those users may become a new potential audience with the right advertising!
For example, TikTok is currently reaching 755 million users worldwide, with over 56% of those being between the ages of 15-24 while only 26.3% of Facebook’s users are within that age range. On the flip side, Facebook has a much higher market share of the 25-34 age than TikTok does. Creatives often flock to Pinterest, TikTok or Twitter to show off their work, while LinkedIn is used by professionals looking to upskill, network and promote themselves.
Look into your current and potential target audiences and see where they fall in age, gender, location, interests or any other relevant metric and research where they come together online. You’ll find you have a better chance of reaching them through both paid and organic content on platforms they actively use. Don’t just stop at the top platform, note down the top three or four platforms. Maximise your reach opportunities!
Identify the content your target audience wants from each platform
Each social media platform fulfils different needs for each user, and when maximising your user engagement, crafting content to match each platform is critical. While each platform is unique, they can be broadly broken down into a few categories:
- Social Networking – Users prefer to network or interact with other users
- Photo Sharing – Users prefer to share and interact with visual content
- Video Sharing – Users prefer to share and interact with video content
- Youtube
- Vimeo
- Interactive Media – Users prefer to create, share and interact with content inbuilt with AR/VR filters, music overlays and interactive games
- TikTok
- Snapchat
- Community – Encourages user discussion and sharing of individual content, usually around niche industries or topics
- Tumblr
Each platform’s users are looking for different things, and creating engaging content (either paid or organic) for your target audience is key. Creating a well-performing TikTok video using the latest trending audio may not translate as effectively over to Twitter or Facebook users, so you would need to consider creating unique content for different platforms.
Create unique and consistent content across multiple platforms
Success over multiple platforms often comes down to two factors: Being Unique and Consistent
Unique Content will help you stand out from the crowd in a sea of options thrown at users on social media. Focus on a unique product feature, core company belief (like environmental awareness or charitable donations with each order) or even price when story boarding ideas for social media content, and see if the competition has created similar content. If they aren’t posting about it on a social media platform, do it before they do! Some brands may also not be active on certain platforms, so you may be able to carve your own unique footprint and reach a new audience.
Consistent Content helps foster brand trust and recognition, as your audience sees you as genuine across each platform. While your brand tone (how your company says things) may change to match the audience on each platform, your brand voice (what your company says) needs to be consistent, no matter the platform. Flip-flopping your brand values to catch the latest trend may have short-term benefits, long term or existing customers may not appreciate your brand changing so fast.
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