How to Pick the Perfect Platforms for Your Brand
In today's marketing landscape, your brand needs a strong social media presence. But with the ever-evolving social landscape, knowing which ones are right for your marketing mix can be hard. Each platform has its own unique audience, content culture and brand opportunities.
Here’s a guide to help you determine what platforms will deliver the best results for your brand:
1. First, Know Your Audience
The first step in choosing the right social media platforms is to understand your target audience. Consider factors like:
Demographics: Age, gender, location and income level.
Interests: Hobbies, preferences and pain points.
Online Behavior: Which platforms they use, how often they use them and how they interact with content.
Action Steps:
Use analytics tools to understand where your current audience is most active (lots of free tools exist on social platforms!)
Conduct surveys and polls to gather audience insights
Create buyer personas to visualize your target audience
2. Define Your Goals
Different social media platforms work to generate different types of results. Defining your goals will help you choose platforms that align with your objectives. Common goals include:
Brand Awareness: Platforms with large user bases and high engagement, like Facebook and Instagram.
Lead Generation: Professional networks like LinkedIn.
Customer Service: Platforms that allow for quick, real-time interaction, such as Twitter.
Sales: Platforms that support direct linking and e-commerce integration, like Pinterest and Instagram.
Action Steps:
Identify and list your primary social media goals
3. Analyze Platform Strengths
Each social media platform has unique strengths and features. Understanding these will help you decide which platforms will best showcase your brand’s content and connect with your audience.
Take a look at the major platforms used in Canada and their strengths:
Facebook: Large user base, diverse demographics, strong reach capabilities with Millennials and older demographic groups
Instagram: Visual-centric, popular with Millennials and younger demographics, strong ability brand storytelling and high reach.
Twitter: Real-time updates, good for news and customer service, high reach.
LinkedIn: Professional network, ideal for B2B marketing and thought leadership.
Pinterest: Visual discovery platform, great for driving traffic and e-commerce.
TikTok: Short-form video content, popular with Gen Z and Millennials, high engagement and high reach.
Action Steps:
Align your goals and audiences with the platforms that best fit
4. Allocate Your Resources
Managing social media platforms requires time, effort and budget. Assess and effectively allocate your resources to make sure you can maintain a consistent and quality presence on the platforms you choose.
Considerations:
Content Creation: Do you have the resources to create high-quality content tailored to each platform?
Community Management: Can you engage with your audience regularly and promptly?
Analytics: Do you have the tools and expertise to measure your success on each platform?
Action Steps:
Conduct a resource audit to understand your capacity
Prioritize platforms where you can maintain a strong and active presence
5. Measure and Optimize
An essential part of effective use of social media is regular measurement, reporting and optimization. Implementing a consistent measurement process will help your brand stronger content and continue to use the platforms that work best. Take a look at our blog post on effective measurement here for more in-depth recommendations on this topic.
Action Steps:
Set up performance metrics and KPIs for each platform
Regularly review analytics to assess results
Be prepared to adjust your strategy and adapt your tactics based on what the data tells you
