According to Yahoo, 50% of consumers have made a purchase based on a recommendation on social media.
A lot of businesses have taken to social media to promote their goods and services as the need for this cannot be overemphasized.
However, before going online, business owners need to understand what platform works for their business and the kind of content they would be putting out to avoid a waste of time, effort and money.
Being strategic about what social media platforms to market your business on is very important and this article highlights the most important things to note before taking that huge step.
Identify your target audience
This involves understanding what specific audience your business appeals to and it helps you connect better with your customers while satisfying their needs.
Read more on how to identify your target audience!
A thorough understanding of who your customers are would help build a solid foundation for your business, create an audience profile and help you find your customers on social media.
Locate your target audience
Every social media platform is unique to its users.
For instance, research has shown that 83% of Pinterest users are female and that the platform works more for B2C than B2B.
From this, it’s pretty obvious that it would be easier for a dress store to make sales on Pinterest than for a video game store.
Also narrowing this finding to types of businesses, Pinterest would work better for a shoe store than for a financial services firm given that the former is B2C and the latter B2B.
It is essential for you as a business owner to find out what platform your target audience uses to connect with them and effectively monitor and engage conversations on your business.
Know your business and benefits of each platform
Knowing your business means understanding what kind of industry it belongs in, what your business goals are and a whole lot more.
Every platform has content peculiar to it, as well as its strengths and weaknesses. It’s best to align your business goals with what you hope to achieve on social media.
Listed below are some platforms and their characteristics:
According to gs.statcounter an estimated 19.6% of Nigeria’s population is active on the platform. (*whew quite a large market right?*)
Twitter is great for fast-paced businesses as you can inform your audience of the latest happenings in your industry by posting steady tweets daily and engaging your community.
Instagram:
As of October 2019, 8.9% of Nigeria’s populace make use of Instagram regularly. If your business is product type, Instagram is a great platform to showcase your goods on. With the right marketing strategy and aesthetically pleasing picture, content businesses can promote their products and services on the platform effectively.
Almost any kind of content works on Facebook and the platform records the most number of users than any other social media channel.
Recent statistics by gs.statcounter also shows that an estimated 59.14% of Nigeria’s population own a Facebook profile. The platform is great for businesses to showcase, regular posts, videos, blog posts, pictures, etc about their products and services.
This platform is more professional than the others and you’ll usually find more corporate individuals and organizations here. Paid promotion on LinkedIn is more expensive than other platforms but the platform has a growing market especially for B2B businesses.
Understand what content-type works on each platform
The kind of content that works for one social media platform doesn’t work for the other in most cases. Let’s take the case study of the shoe store and Financial services firm from point 2, both businesses are of varying types, B2B and B2C respectively and would, therefore, have different content types.
The shoe store would make use of more pictures, unlike the financial services firm which would post more articles and enlightening videos from time to time.
Their target audience differs as a shoe store is more targeted to individuals from all walks of life and the financial services firm targeted to corporate individuals.
For B2C businesses like the shoe store which are more product inclined, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest will work better for them but the financial services firm will get more value from a professional platform like LinkedIn where most B2B businesses are located.
Content types vary from just regular posts to pictures to videos. It is important to choose a platform best suitable for the content your business is delivering.
Yes, social media marketing is essential for your business as it creates an avenue for businesses to connect with more customers and make more sales but it’s a lot better if your business is doing great on 1 or 2 platforms than being average on every platform.
Selecting what channel works best also helps you, monitor, track and achieve your social media business goals more effectively compared to being active on every platform there is.
What social media platforms do you currently promote your business on and what other channels are you looking to try?
If you have any questions or comments, kindly drop them in the comment section.
