Which Social Media Platform Is Right For You?

The other day I had asked a friend what the website to their father's construction company was, her answer shocked me. Nowadays, it seems only natural for any and all companies to have some type of social media presence so when I find out through a friend or try and search a company on one of my many social media platforms with no luck, I am confused. With social media being one of the most influential forms of marketing in the business world today, it is a shame for those companies that misunderstand its use and advantages. 

Not to say that every company should have each form: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, the whole nine yards but with an ever growing online presence of consumers, it may be wise for companies to look into which form fits their customer the best. Below, I have listed out the top factors to consider when choosing a social media platform no matter what type or size of company you are.

1. Target Market

Like in a business plan, a company must determine their target market in order to pick an appropriate social media platform. Simple demographics such as age, gender, income, field of work, etc., are all needed when determine if your company will chose to rely heavier on Facebook than Twitter. Psychographics are also an important indicator when choosing social media, what does your consumer like to do in their free time, what are their views on different products, etc. In the chart below, Avalaunch has broken down each social media network (using super cute kittens) in terms of what they are best for and why your customer may using them. Using the target market, companies should focus their energies on sites that their target market uses the most. As it says below, if your target market in interested in pictures then you should use Instagram but if your target market is more concerned on "How-to's" you should use Pinterest or Youtube because that's what your target market is using.

2. Competition 

On social media, it's more than just knowing your competition, you should research and understand what your competition is doing on social media as well. Knowing which platforms they are and aren't using can be an important factor into choosing which platform your company should use. If your competitor isn't using any platform, you are at an advantage because your company is the one most consumers will see first. However, if your competition has a strong social media presence, you can use that as an advantage for your company because you will be able to see what they are doing right and wrong. If your competition has have traffic or use on Facebook, you may want to consider using an additional platform along with Facebook to boost traffic and engage with more of your target audience. Using the chart below, you can determine which top platforms your company should invest.

3. Usability

With more than a handful of successful social media platforms on the market and thousands of companies using them, it's important that not only your customers understand how to use them but your company does as well. Misuse of social media can be a driving factor into why your company isn't doing as well as you projected. However, the correct use and full understanding of the benefits each platform has to offer you is important to effectively reach your target. Chuck Cohn of Forbes.com has listed 3 steps companies should take to properly use their social media. 
1. Chose the right platform
2. Set goals
3. Organized activity/posting
Another helpful site gave insight on features of Facebook that business should and can use to optimize their online profiles. Anything from page insights to promoted posts, if a company is unaware of the different ways to evaluate and reach their target audience on their selected platform, the sole purpose of having a social media outlet becomes pointless.

Lately, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn have been my most viewed social media outlets. Instagram because I'm always on my phone and looking for brands/people to follow. LinkedIn because I'm trying to start my career and Pinterest because I am always looking for ideas for my other blog. So these are the 3 social media platforms I will use when evaluating which demographic would use it and which IMC elements and Ad's should be used.




Instagram
Demographic:
Females between the ages of 18-25 whom are educated and possess a higher income. These women tend to be on the artsy side or like to view things in a more eye pleasing manner. This women shares her life via social media or maybe in combination with a blog and she is most likely into fashion, keeping up to date with major social events or up & coming companies.
IMC elements/Ad's: Contest, giveaways, links to shops, promotion of customers or celebrities using products will be the best way to reach this demographic. By engaging with their target through giveaways and making followers feel like they are appreciated with promotions, companies can effectively use Instagram to reach this target if done correctly.

LinkedIn
Demographic:
Male between the ages of 30-40 who are highly educated and posses a higher income. This male mostly has a white collar profession and views business interactions as a way to meet others and advance themselves. This male enjoys networking on personal levels as well as stay up to date on companies of interest.
IMC elements/Ad's: Encouraging users to be apart of networks or groups, sharing business news/stories, and posting openings in your company is a great way to catch the attention of this individual.

Pinterest
Demographic:
Female between the ages of 28-39 who have higher education and are likely apart of a higher income household. They may be a stay-at-home mother, into DIY, fashion, baking, and like to be able to view different types of products in one site because they are caught between work and getting their children to soccer practice or a nightly PTA meeting and cooking dinner.
IMC elements/Ad's: Click-through links on pictures and company pages can help direct this target market to your site. Getting others to pin your products or services via 'Pin This' links on your website or using hashtags can be seen as an effective way to get your target market to interact with you and your site.

Spam Purge: Hitting Instagram's Biggest Accounts Hard

Instagram: a self-promoting social media hub. Whether you're just another non-famous Instagram user or a well-known brand or socialite, Instagram is your go-to for putting your life or brand out there for the world to see. For individuals it's a way to express your creativity, share your life, or simply show off but for brands it's more than that, it can drive sales, increase site traffic, and spark conversation (Ridge, 2014).

As an Instagram user myself, I found my follower numbers increasing, at the time I thought it was my photography skills or my friend level or my semi-annoying use of hashtags...but I was wrong. Spam Accounts; they were the culprit for my increasing numbers and when Instagram noticed and eliminated these accounts from their app, my numbers dropped. 

 You'd think Instagram users would appreciate the deletion of spam accounts on their profiles in order to see a more accurate portrayal of their popularity or following but not ever user was amused. 

 According to Rich McCormick from the Verge.com, rapper Ma$e proceeded to delete his Instagram account when we went from having over 1 million followers to just over 100,000 due to the spam purge. While most will disregard this resolution to fake followers, many users have become upset. Apparently people can purchase Instagram followers through online sites to bump up their numbers (McCormick, 2014). When I first heard of this upset, I instantly had 2 questions: why are people so concerned with having tons of followers and are companies, brands, and 'celebrities' buying their followers to come off as more popular? 

 At first thought, some might believe that this might be damaging to brands that use Instagram as a way to connect with their customer but I believe, like Eric Brown from the article below, that this might be one of the best things that have happened to these brand accounts. The point isn't how many "followers" you have but more importantly how well your brand is connecting with the actual followers and customers you have. 

 For those of you who don't believe in Instagram and social media in general to be a successful marketing tool for public figures and brands of all short, just look at the stats. According to a recent poll by L2, Instagram has the most "engagement and conversation from browser to shopper." (Gillett, 2014). I've included a diagram (above) that shows the different statistics through adoption, engagement, and content of a brand. While companies are starting to jump on the Instagram bandwagon due to it's astonishing numbers, it still remains one of the most underused forms of social media available (Gillett, 2014). Either brands haven't placed Instagram as one of their top priorities or they haven't considered using it at all. While Instagram may not be for every brand, they should consider it's 300 million users as a reason to start. 

To avoid spam "followers", companies should invest time in their social media platforms. By setting accounts to private, companies are able to better select who can follow their brand and weed out the spam accounts in the process. Although that might take up a bit of time and resources, brands should be able to easily access the same program Instagram used to get rid of all the inactive or spam accounts.

While most brands may not have the time or resources to engage in such time consuming work, there are alternate ways to hone in on the true "followers" by connecting with them through their fans accounts. Benefit Cosmetics have done an amazing job with engaging with their true followers by having fans submit photos of themselves using products that Benefit supplies. 11,900 fan submissions later, Benefit is now able to show the Instagram world that not only are they a brand but they are a brand that real people use (Gillett, 2014). The article by Rachel Gillett, gives 7 tips, from promoting new products to holding follower competitions and contests, for Instagram brands to adopt for optimal brand exposure and connection to followers.

The big debate; which is more effective, Instagram or Twitter. After doing some research into what others have found, my intuition was correct. With more impressions, likes, and views, Instagram takes over the social media world. The graph below shoes that although Instagram has less brand posts compared to twitter, they have a larger interaction on less content. So while companies are busy tweeting their hearts out, they could be spending time on other things while occasionally posting to their Instagram accounts (Elliott, 2014).

There is a great article by Socialbaker Analytics that compared Instagram and Twitter's post engagement and profile interactions and once again, Instagram blew Twitter out of the water. But why? Why is Instagram so much better than Twitter? In the article by Vindu Goel of the New York Times, Instagram not only has more users than Twitter but it also have more authorized accounts than Twitter and photo and video social media is what is in demand for marketing at this time (Goel, 2014). 

While both Instagram and Twitter have their pro's and con's, I believe that Instagram is a more effective social media platform for engaging with customers due to their ability to easily communicate with their followers and share images and in my opinion, images sell better than words.

Want to check out the article for yourself?

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Works Cited

Mairead Ridge

Nate Elliott

Rachel Gillett

Rich McCormick

Socialbakers

Vindu Goel