What Social Networks Should I Use & Where Are My Customers?

As one of the first social networks to emerge and gain popularity in the modern digital age, Facebook provides many opportunities for companies to promote their brand online. Businesses can create accounts, business pages, and utilize various business tools within the site to their advantage. Moreover, companies may find it advantageous to reach out to influencers with a large or niche following on the platform to help spread the word about their brand.
Whereas the platform was once highly saturated with college aged students, Facebook has more recently shifted to attracting older, primarily middle-aged adults, to the site.

Highly saturated and undoubtedly one of the most popular social networks today, Instagram allows users to upload original photos and videos, as well as include a caption to go along with the proposed content. Businesses may find it extremely beneficial to create a business account on the platform and take advantage of uploading posts, as well as utilizing native tools on the platform such as Instagram Stories and IGTV. Moreover, companies should make the most of sponsoring influencers to help create branded content for the company.
Like many of the following social networks featured in the article, many active users on the platform consist of Millennials and Digital Natives.

Known as a popular video streaming platform which enables users to produce videos and broadcast themselves, YouTube creates many unique opportunities for companies to market themselves and their products. First and foremost, companies are able to take advantage of creating their own channel and gaining exposure for their brand through producing and promoting their own videos. This is especially useful to show consumers how to use certain products. Alternatively, companies may also consider sponsoring influencers within a specific niche.
YouTube provides an attractive marketing opportunity for many businesses because of the diversity of active users on the platform. The network receives visits primarily from Millennials and young adults, as well as from kids, Gen X, middle aged adults, and older.

Snapchat offers very different features for users from other popular social sites. Over 50% of active users on this exclusively mobile app are Digital Natives. While Snapchat’s model focuses primarily on short, disappearing photos and videos sent between friends or groups of friends, certain brands may find favor using Snapchat Stories and promoting themselves through paid advertising on the app.

A successor to the entertainment platform Vine, TikTok has recently gained rapid recognition across primarily Digital Natives, as well as a portion of the Millennial generation. This platform differs from YouTube with the integration of many unique features, and a focus on shorter videos. While many companies are slowly approaching this new platform, there still exists great opportunity for brands to sponsor popular influencers on the site.

Twitter is a unique social network which allows users to upload short posts of 280 characters or less. While a less popular platform for companies to take advantage of than the ones listed previously, Twitter can be advantageous for businesses to keep up with customer reviews of their brand. For instance, Wendy’s became a trending account on Twitter for their unconventional approach to responding to consumer comments, both positive and negative.
Millennials and Digital Natives represent the majority of Twitter users.

Big thanks to Dave Chaffey with Smart Insights for providing demographic information for these popular social networks. https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/

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