Which Social Media Platform Fits Your Marketing Goal?
How does a marketer know if a campaign is working or not? By tracking ROI. The formula for most marketing ROI is simple. But when it comes to social media, the lines get blurry. Quantifying ROI is hard. So, deciding if the social media platform you’re using actually fits your marketing goals is nearly impossible.
Let’s make it simple.
Answering which social media platform fits your marketing goals
Deciding which social media platform fits your marketing goals is a cycle. You first need to know what goal you want to achieve with the campaign. And based on that, you can pinpoint which social media platform would fit best. The opposite is also true.
Say, you hope for increased visibility, then Facebook is likely your best choice. The reason being, different platforms give different results. In short, you pick the social media that aligns with your goal, which can be:
- Visibility (E.g., a story registers the name of your brand in the mind of a viewer.)
- Awareness (E.g., a viewer clicks on the link attached to the social media post.
- Consideration (E.g., a user searches your brand online after stumbling upon it on social media.)
- Recall (E.g., a consumer remembers that your brand is good for the ‘X’ thing.)
- Purchase (E.g., a user buys your product or service.)
For brand visibility and awareness, pick Facebook
We know Instagram is the hot platform. But when it comes to reaching, there is no better social network than Facebook. Reach here means more people seeing your campaign.
So, when you’re a new brand or launching a new product, the social media platform that fits your marketing goal is Facebook. It has 2.936 billion active users every month worldwide. That’s a lot of eyeballs with the potential to skyrocket any business. With one post, you’ll reach more people than anywhere else.
There is an exception to this rule. If your target audience is young, say, under 24, another social media platform would be a better fit.
For brand consideration and purchase, choose Instagram
If your marketing goal is to have more people aware of and interacting with your brand, then Instagram is the better choice. While leveraging Facebook is excellent, Instagram outranks Facebook in terms of engagement. Facebook has an average engagement rate of 0.09% per post, whereas Instagram’s per post engagement rate is 1.60%.
The social media platform is predominantly visual with snackable content, so it doesn’t require concentration. It keeps the users glued to and focused on the content, sparking conversation and consideration.
So, even though Instagram has a lower number of active users, the mentions, comments, likes, saves, followers, tags, shares, and sales your brand will get are higher.
For recall and customer service, select Twitter
Twitter is one of the most overlooked platforms by businesses. It has the potential to revamp your image and reputation by improving your customer service.
Good customer service will get you to the top of the consumer's Everest. When you want to talk to existing customers and make them happier, Twitter is the water cooler of choice.
It is the fastest of all social networks. Plus, because it is essentially all-public, it is the chosen place for people to drop in customer requests. Leverage its power to establish better relationships with your customers.
64% of people on Twitter feel that brands with a dedicated support handle are doing more for their customers, and Twitter customer care interactions generate a 58% more favourable attitude towards brands.
For brand authority, use Quora
While Quora may not seem like a good social media platform fit for your marketing goals at first, it can help build authority. It’s a question-answer-based platform where you can professionally reply to the queries your target customer may ask or those that fall in your business niche.
Moreover, you can add links to your site, boosting SEO. But there is a catch! Reply in a manner that looks “informative” and not “salesy”.
Quora has more than 400,000 topics, and some of the leading ones based on followers are health, technology, entertainment, and daily life. If your business falls under any of these topics, it’s high time to get your foot on this platform.
For B2B marketing, choose LinkedIn
While LinkedIn is a go-to network for connecting with professionals and getting hired, it is also an ideal social media platform for marketing to other businesses. So, if you sell a product or service that caters to other startups and businesses, use LinkedIn to reach them.
So, which social media platform to use to achieve your marketing goals?
Is social media relevant for marketing is not a question anymore. It increases both exposure and traffic. Not using it to the fullest is akin to sleeping on major opportunities. That begs the question of which platform is the best for your business.
There is no single answer.
It depends upon your objectives. Do you want brand awareness? Or reach? Or leads? Once you find out which part of the purchase funnel you want users to move down, you can pick the right platform. Then create a campaign and the outcome will be through the roof.
Still, confused about which social media platform fits your marketing goal?
