Step 2: Select the right Social Channels
Deciding which social channels to run your social campaign on can be intimidating considering there are over 60 different social channels. Many people are under the impression that they need to be active on each and every social channel to run a successful campaign; however, this is nearly impossible. We created a social channel guide to provide you with an insight into the most popular social channels as well as a few niches social platforms, but we highly recommend you try out these social channels firsthand to observe the content published and topics discussed, so you can adjust your campaign content accordingly.
Let’s start with the largest social channel, Facebook. With over 2.7 billion monthly active users and growing, Facebook is a great place to advertise your campaign. Although Facebook can be used to target any demographic, users 65 years of age and older are the fastest growing group on Facebook. If your campaign goal is to create a community of loyal customers to discuss and advertise your campaign, Facebook is the platform for you. Facebook has Facebook groups which are less intimate than group messaging, but intimate enough for brands to speak directly to their customers. Groups are great for starting conversations, receiving feedback from customers, asking, and answering important questions and overall building a deeper connection with customers.
Instagram is the most popular social platform app with nearly 1 billion active monthly users. Instagram relies on visually appealing photos, videos, and stories to generate likes and follows. Like Facebook, Instagram attracts all demographics; however, it is more popular among younger users. If your campaign goal is to attract a younger audience through aesthetically pleasing content, take advantage of Instagram. Instagram works best for businesses related to food, art, beauty, and retail. Their growing influencers market also gives brands a great opportunity to increase brand awareness and increase sales. If viewers see their favourite influencers promoting a product, they are more likely to purchase.
YouTube
YouTube is the most popular video based social platform with over 2 billion monthly users. Even with such a high user count, many businesses do not view YouTube as a social platform and hence they miss the opportunity to advertise on it. In turn, this platform is saturated with amateur creators, influencers and youtubers who make a living off making videos. This gives brands the opportunity to collaborate with influencers and reach more people. YouTube also allows its creators to monetize their videos which can be a great way to earn some extra money, especially for small businesses. YouTube appeals to all demographics, but it is mostly used by those under 50 years of age. If your campaign goal is to grab audience attention through engaging videos, YouTube is probably the way to go!
Twitter is a social messaging platform with around 330 million monthly active users. It is mainly used to discuss worldly events and start trendy conversations. Twitter is unique because it allows brands to talk one on one with their audience in 280 characters or less. Since people use Twitter to receive news, engage with others and learn new and interesting things, insightful content is key to be successful on Twitter. Your content should not only be aligned with relevant events, but they should also include latest trends. If your campaign goal is to deliver news and invoke curiosity by sharing captivating content with your audience, make sure to include Twitter in your social channel mix.
LinkedIn is a professional social platform used by businesses and individuals to show off their skills, educate readers and find employment opportunities. LinkedIn is a powerful platform as a large percentage of their 300 million monthly users hold the power to make big business decisions. LinkedIn is best for sharing educational content, business-to-business advertising, and business to customer advertising. LinkedIn allows its users to get specific with their target audience which many other platforms don’t offer. You can narrow down your audience based on company name, degree, job titles, job seniorities, skills, company growth rate and more. Popular content on LinkedIn includes personal and educational blog posts, industry news and research and third-party content. If your campaign target audience are professionals or other businesses and your social media campaign goal is to educate readers in order to build brand awareness, consider LinkedIn as one of your social channels.
Niche Social Channels
Niche social channels cater to a very particular demographic. Many brands do not consider running their social media campaigns on niche social channels as they do not see enough potential; however, this is untrue. Niche channels are less noisy than mainstream channels which makes it easier for brands to engage their audience. A Few popular niche channels that we recommend include, Tiktok, Pinterest, Quora, Esty and Reddit.
Tiktok
Tiktok is a newer social platform compared to the above mentioned; however, it already has over 600 million monthly active users. Tiktok engages its audience through short videos that range from 60 seconds to 3 minutes long. When creating campaign content for Tiktok, brands must be quick to pick up on trends because tiktok fads only last for a short period of time. Social media challenges, dance videos, lip sync videos, cute animal videos, art videos, satisfying videos and voiceovers are the most popular on Tiktok. In order to successfully advertise on Tiktok, you need to integrate your product/service seamlessly with the latest Tiktok trends.
Tiktok’s main user demographic consists of teens and young adults, so if your campaign audience consists of those under 30 years of age, be sure to add Tiktok to your mix!
Quora
Another niche channel is Quora. Quora is a question-and-answer platform where experts answer questions about particular topics. Popular questions include those related to jobs and careers, dating and relationships, politics and medicine and healthcare. Companies can answer questions related to their industry and if answers are well curated, they receive likes which increases reach and builds brand reliability. After you’ve answered enough questions, your audience automatically views you as an expert in your field which means they are more likely to reach out to you if they need your product or service. Quora has around 300 million monthly active users and is primarily used by young adults. If your target audience is between the age of 18-24 and your campaign goal is to build reliability, check out Quora.
Pinterest is an image sharing platform used to share creative content such as DIY projects and design tips. Users can “pin” their interests and group them together into “boards” for easy using retrieval. A pin is similar to saving a post on any other social platform. Pinterest has around 460 million monthly active users. The most consumed content on Pinterest are home décor ideas, recipes, DIY and crafts, fashion, art, and beauty. Pinterest drives more traffic to your website compared to other social channels because when a user presses on a pin, they are automatically taken to the source of that pin. The key to Pinterest marketing is creating engaging content with an appealing thumbnail that spikes interest and increases clicks. Consider Pinterest in your social media mix if your target audience is millennials and your content consist of blogs, aesthetic product images or educational images.
Etsy
Etsy is an ecommerce website used by small businesses to sell homemade, vintage, or custom items. The most popular products sold on Etsy are jewelry, art, clothing, home décor, bags, toys, etc. Etsy has around 80 million monthly active users, but this number is bound to grow as we enter an era of social responsibility. People like to support small businesses, shop sustainability and purchase products that are ethically produced. Etsy is great if you’re just starting a business and you don’t want to invest more money and time into a website. Consider using Etsy if your campaign goal is to sell luxury handmade or vintage items and if your main target demographic are high income females between 25 -40 years of age.
Finally, there’s Reddit, a social news and discussion-based platform used to share images, videos, links, text etc. There are forums within Reddit called subreddits which are dedicated to specific topics. There are millions of subreddits on Reddit, each targeting a different niche market. This makes Reddit great for advertising as there are endless categories to target. The three most popular subreddits are r/announcements, r/funny and r/askreddit. Add Reddit to your marketing mix if your target audience is those between ages 25-29 years and if you’re looking to have meaning conversations with your audience and receive customer feedback. Similar to Facebook groups, brands can create their own subreddits as a way to engage their target audience.
Now that you’ve learned about the most popular social channels, you can create the perfect marketing mix for your campaign.
click here to read about step 3, staying active and monitoring your social media activity.
About GlobeSign
GlobeSign is a Canadian web solutions and digital marketing company helping clients grow their revenues online using our Digital Marketing services including Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing (SMM), AdWords (i.e., PPC, CPC) and Content Writing. We keep up to date with the latest technology and trends, and we continue to provide best in class digital marketing solutions for our clients in Canada, in the US and Globally.