How to Choose the right Social Media Platforms For You

Social media is at the forefront of the conversation when starting a business, promoting your upcoming book or wanting to grow your audience. So often, narrowing down the right social media platforms to help you reach your goals can be challenging. 

So why is it so hard to choose the right social media platform for your business? Because there is not a one size fits all answer. Each business, person and story are different and connect with their audiences in a unique way.  

The critical thing to remember is to focus on your values, mission and overall goals when choosing which social media platforms to utilize to connect with your ideal audiences. Authenticity and honesty are key! 

One of the first things to consider is that each social media network’s demographics are different. According to Sprout Social, these are the current demographics for Facebook, 

Facebook: 

• Number of monthly active users: 2.91 billion

• Largest age group: 25-34 (31.5%)

• Gender: 43% female, 57% male (no data on other genders)

• Time spent per day: 33 minutes

Instagram:

• Number of monthly active users: 2 billion

• Largest age group: 25-34 (31.2%), with 18-24 close behind at 31%

• Gender: 48.4% female, 51.8% male (no data on other genders)

• Time spent per day: 29 minutes

Tiktok:

• Number of monthly active users: 1 billion

• Largest age group: 10-19 (25%)

• Gender: 61% female, 39% male (no data on other genders)

• Time spent per day: 89 minutes per day

Twitter:

• Number of daily active users: 211 million (up from 187 million)

• Largest age group: 18-29 (42%)

• Gender: 38.4% female, 61.6% male (no data on other genders)

• Time spent per day: 31 minutes

LinkedIn:

• Number of monthly active users: 810 million

• Largest age group: 25-34 (58.4%)

• Gender: 48% female, 52% male

• 63% of LinkedIn users access the network weekly, and 22% daily

Pinterest:

• Number of monthly active users 431 million

• Largest age group: 50-64 (38%)

• Gender: 78% female, 22% male (no data on other genders)

• Time spent per day: 14.2 minutes

The next thing to consider is, what can you or your team execute best and maintain consistency? Staying consistent on social media is crucial to your success; therefore, creating and implementing a strategy you can maintain will impact your engagement and reach. 

There are five steps to take when considering which social media platforms suit you. 

Step 1: Who is your target audience?

• Age

• Gender

• Location

• Education

• Income levels

• Consumption habits 

Step 2: What are your competitors doing?

• How to analyze your competitor’s performance on social media:

• Look at how long they’ve been on the platform?

• How often do they post?

• How much engagement do they get? 

• Is their audience growing?

• How many followers do they have? (Make sure to check for bots).

Step 3: What are your goals?

• Research and create your short-term and long-term goals 

• Keep those in mind when researching social media platforms 

• Create a strategy to reach your goals and view social media as a tactic 

Step 4: What resources do you have available?

• Who will your social media team be? 

• Do you or your team need training before getting started? 

• How will you maintain your strategy? 

• Who is a trusted advisor you can ask for help and support?

• What other resources or tools do you need to purchase to help your social media, such as Canva, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Lightroom, Adobe products or others?

Step 5: Experiment and measure the results.

• Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate. 

• Be willing to pivot if things are not reaching your goals 

• Understand that social media is a long-term tactic to reach your overall goals. 

• You will not see success overnight but be willing to step outside your comfort zone and try new things. 

What’s the moral of the story? You don’t need to jump onto the latest trend like TikTok just because others are doing it. And you don’t need to be on every single social media network. Every business is different, so you must create a strategy and pick what’s right for you.

Remember, slow and steady wins the race.