Choosing the right social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat
Last week, Facebook announced it had hit the 2 billion mark, meaning a quarter of the world’s population logs into Facebook at least once a month.
Facebook may be the most used platform, but is it the best platform for your brand? This article gives an introduction to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat to help you choose the right platforms.
Facebook is by far the most used social network (especially taking into account that Facebook owns Instagram and Whatsapp). It appeals across generations and has a fair balance of male to females using the network. The largest age demographic on Facebook is those aged 25 to 34.
Facebook gives brands the tools to be creative, with features such a live video, slideshows and offers.
Facebook makes most of it’s of its $1 billion (per quarter) profit from advertising. The social media platform has transformed advertising, especially for small businesses, allowing companies to fine-tune who they target and find the right customers. This has also made it increasingly difficult to grow your audience organically through unpaid posts. However, it’s easy to do big things on a small budget with clever content and targeting.
From B2B to consumer, small to large, Facebook is a great platform for all types of business from plumbers, sports teams, hair salons, just be prepared to spend a little.
Instagram launched in 2010 as aphoto-sharing app that allowed users to apply various digital filters on their iPhone photos. Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion and since then has begun adding more and more features.
The network currently has 700 million daily active users — the majority of its users fall into the 18–29 demographic (59%). But data shows that the app is also becoming increasingly popular with older generations. Slightly more females than males use Instagram.
Instagram is all about photos and videos — allowing your visual content to speak for itself is key.
Instagram has also launched a ‘Stories’ feature which allows users to upload short videos that disappear after 24 hours. ‘Stories’ is a great way for brands to allow their customers go ‘behind the scenes’ by sharing less polished images and footage. Instagram Stories also offers fun video tools such as boomerang, rewind, custom location emoji and face filters.
Although Instagram has a smaller user base, it’s the fastest growing social media platform. Even if your brand isn’t very visual, Instagram gives an opportunity to be creative, do something new and really stand out.
Instagram is great for building a brand community. Businesses such as gyms, clothing brands, restaurants and chefs do particularly well on Instagram.
Quite surprisingly Twitter has a relatively small monthly active user base, but Twitter’s influence spreads far beyond its users.
Launched in 2006, Twitter is popular with journalists, politicians and celebrities, it is often the first place that a news story will break.
Twitter is the perfect tool for targeting specific people. With clever use of ‘Twitter lists’ and social listening, it’s a fantastic tool for B2B marketing.
Live events is another way Twitter beats the other platforms hands down. Using an event hashtag allows you to follow events and promote your own event to a much wider audience.
Despite its popularity, Twitter has never made a profit in its ten year history. Unlike Facebook, organic content does well on Twitter and there’s often no need to pay for sponsored posts, however this may change in the coming year as Twitter desperately tries to monetise the platform.
Twitter is particularly great for organisations that run events, startups and businesses in the tech sector. Any brand that wants to position themselves as thought leaders and any businesses that wants to reach journalists can benefit from Twitter.
Snapchat
Snapchat is the youngest of the platforms (launched in 2011) and also has the youngest user base (60% of Snapchat users are under 25). Snapchat is perfect for brands who want to target a younger demographic.
Snapchat was the first platform to introduce ephemeral videos, videos that disappear after viewing. The app now has much more to offer with Stories, face filters and the recently launched ‘Snap Map’. Snap Inc also launched ‘Snapchat Spectacles’ that allow users to film short videos through the sunglasses.
Unfortunately for Snapchat, Instagram has copied most of its features, it’s popularity seems to be declining as Instagram’s growth increases.
Snapchat is a great platform for clothing brands, films, individuals — any business that wants to be seen as cool to under 25s should definitely put time and resources into Snapchat.
However, unless your brand is specifically targeting a young audience it would be more worthwhile to put your resources into building an Instagram following. Many brands got excited about Snapchat throughout 2016, but according to a report popularity has now declined.
Choosing the right platform for your business is key, it’s better to use one platform really well than a few badly. As well as the four mentioned there’s LinkedIn, YouTube, WhatsApp, WeChat, Vimeo… the list goes on!
If you find yourself struggling to choose just get in touch and I’d be happy to help!
