Introduction:
Social Media has become an irreplaceable part of our society and culture. What started initially as a means for individuals to express themselves has now become a full-fledged multi-billion-dollar marketing industry. At the moment, countless options are available to businesses online. This makes it important to understand what are the platforms that businesses need to be focussing on.
One of the key factors that brands need to consider while selecting their social media platform is “Their Objective”. The band objective can be broadly classified into the following 4 types:
Creating brand awareness
Creating consideration and generating leads amongst their target audience
Driving sales
Providing customer support
Once businesses have figured out their objective they need to choose the appropriate channel to meet those objectives. To do this, businesses need to figure out the format of “Content” that they would create for the social media platform. Popular formats include:
Short video (60 seconds)
Long format videos
High-quality photos
Blogs
White papers
Live streaming
Finally, businesses need to understand on which platform their audience exists. Selecting the wrong platform would mean targeting an irrelevant audience. There are 2 main ways in which brands can find out the social media platform used by their audience:
- Conduct research to find out the audience.
- Conduct polls so that the audience themselves inform the business about their preferred social media platform.
Once a business has figured out the objective, the content format, and the audience, it will have a grasp on which platform they need to market on.
Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world and boasts an audience size of more than 2.4 billion. This large reach makes the platform perfect for businesses that are looking to create awareness about their product and also increase reach. Also, the customer base is social and keeps growing continuously. Facebook is mostly used as a friendly marketing platform where user interaction, shares, and opinions are highly promoted.
Facebook’s true power lies in its versatility for the type of content that it supports. Facebook not only promotes the content by brands but also through users who create content. Thereby improving its visibility all around. It has a power Business Manager that supports different ad formats – photos, carousel, video, and lead generation pages. Facebook can also target niche audiences based on the demography and interest of the audience. When it comes to ads, the platform is considerably cheaper to run than ads on Google.
Facebook Live is the company’s most popular format for interaction and has seen massive growth in popularity in the last few years. Studies show that people are 80% more likely to watch a stream on Facebook Live rather than on actual television. Businesses can use this feature for the launch of new products and services and to create teaser campaigns. Popular content also includes behind-the-scenes takes of different businesses as this helps brands connect better with the target audience.
YouTube
Youtube is the second largest search engine in the world with a user base of more than 2 billion. It is also one of the oldest platforms in the world and has seen constant innovation to keep it relevant. In the past few years, the platform has garnered a lot of interest.
The primary form of content on YouTube is video. Studies have shown that users do not prefer to watch long-format videos online unless it is on YouTube. This is because the average attention span of users has been decreasing over the years. However, this is a big advantage for content creators who use long video formats on YouTube.
YouTube is a great platform for content creators to connect with their audience. The platform is also considered a legit source of information by almost everyone. This means that content creators have huge financial benefits if they have a good following on the platform. Some of the most popular topics of discussion on YouTube revolve around:
- Reviews
- Analysis
- News
- Vlogs
- Course Content
WhatsApp For Business
WhatsApp is an instant messaging service with the largest customer base spanning over 2 billion users. The popularity and the potential were noticed by Mark Zuckerberg in 2014 when Facebook purchased Whatsapp.
WhatsApp Business is an initiative that was started by Facebook for businesses to connect with their audience. WhatsApp Business is the perfect platform when it comes to customer support. Due to its widespread adoption, and trust, consumers can easily reach out to address their queries on the WhatsApp Business Page of the brand.
The platform is also perfect to drive sales. According to studies, customers are about 35% more responsive to texts on WhatsApp than on direct calls. Businesses can send out literature and offers and connect in a personal and informal manner on WhatsApp which can go a long way in driving sales. Furthermore, WhatsApp’s integration with audio and video calls make it a perfect tool for reaching out to prospective customers.
Instagram belongs to the Facebook family of apps. It is a leading platform for Social Commerce. Brands can organically drive sales by displaying high-quality photos and product prices to drive sales organically.
Instagram Reels has seen a massive rise in popularity in the past few years since users are focussing on short format videos. Brands that focus on creating visually stunning photos and videos with a unique take, thrive on Instagram. Instagram also has a powerful ads manager that can display ads in different formats to attract the audience.
This is a great platform for brands focussing on consumer goods and those who create high-quality content.
Tik Tok
Tik Tok is the fastest growing social media platform in the world and has over 1 billion users. Over the past year, the brand has grown by over 140%. The main attraction is the unique short videos shot by the content creators on the platfrom.
Marketing on Tik Tok is in the nascent stages since they did not have an ads manager till last year. But now that it has one, brands have started marketing on it. Tik Tok, like Instagram, supports ads in various formats. Considering that is new on the block, it is a great option to attract upcoming audiences.
Twitch
Twitch is focused on content creators with a love for live streaming their content. It had initially started as a platform solely focused on games but is now gaining popularity in other avenues. Twitch too has an ads manager that can target an audience aged 16 to 34 years. It is a great platform to market to youngsters.
Conclusion:
Overall brands these days have different platforms that they can market on. It all depends on their objective, the content, and where the respective audience resides.
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