How to Choose the Right Social Media Channels to Target Your Ideal Audience

These days it’s probably safe to say that most businesses have a presence on at least one social media channel. In fact, according to a 2021 Entrepreneur article, 97% of Fortune 500 companies rely on social media. The number is probably less for smaller companies, but it shouldn’t be. Social media can be a very cost effective way to raise awareness, generate leads, and build business.

There are a lot of channels out there, though, and not every channel is right for every business – or audience. Just because a channel is getting a lot of attention – take TikTok, for example – doesn’t mean that it makes sense for your business.

So, how can you decide which channels are right for you? Here we offer our “Top 3” tips:

• The demographics of your target audience and the sites that they use. Pew Research does a good job of breaking this down, I think, and they update their numbers annually. It’s important to stay on top of trends, because things change. Facebook, for instance, used to have a very young demographic, and that’s no longer true.
• How your target audience uses this channel, or their “frame of mind” when on the channel. For instance, people who use LinkedIn are in a business state of mind. It wouldn’t be a good channel, for instance, for a beauty salon to try to generate new clients. Conversely, Facebook is a very social channel where people are most frequently interacting with friends and relatives – it’s not a great place for business-to-business people to find leads or prospects.
• How your content can be best displayed. TikTok and Instagram are great channels (primarily for a younger demographic), but they’re also very visual channels. If your company/product/service doesn’t lend itself to visual representation, they’re probably not the right place for you to be. Content considerations also include how complex your product/service is. Twitter is a very brief and fleeting platform which might not work well for a medical device company, for instance. LinkedIn on the other hand lends itself to longer-form content.

Before selecting a channel, though, we’d recommend spending some time on the channel monitoring what others – especially your competitors – are doing, and the kind of engagement/interaction they’re achieving. Then experiment to find what works best for you. The analytics available through these platforms, combined with the analytics you can get through your website (via Google Analytics, for instance) can help you tell what’s working and what’s not.

About Us

Strategic Communications, LLC, works with B2B clients to help them achieve their goals through effective content marketing and management with both internal and external audiences. We work with clients to plan, create and publish high-quality, unique content. Whether on- or offline, or both, we’ll help you achieve desired results.

(Strategic Communications is certified as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise through the Wisconsin Department of Administration.)

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The original version of this page was published at:  http://blog.stratcommunications.com/how-to-choose-the-right-social-media-channels-to-target-your-ideal-audience/