Have you clearly defined your target demographic? This is an important first step in growing your social media audience.

1)   Linked In: Linked in is good for business-to-business types of services. If you are looking for business to consumer, this is likely not your platform. According to linked in data, the average user spends about 17 minutes on linked in a month, so it is not a platform to spend a lot of time on content. Sixty percent of linked in users are millennials. [i]

2)    Instagram is largely made up of millennials and gen Z’ers. In fact, one study showed that this is the number one platform for gen Z’ers (even above TikTok). This being said, Gen X’ers are starting to use at increasing rates so it is a reasonable platform to focus on for Gen Z through Gen X. United States, Brazil, Russia d Indonesia are the top countries on this platform. This is a site most people come for entertainment and not news. The demographic of this platform tends to be highly educated. [ii]

3)    TikTok is the fastest growing social media platform currently. Most users are Gen Z. TikTok’s users are highly engaged with 90% of users being on the platform multiple times/day. It is currently the highest downloaded non-gaming app. China is the country that we are seeing the most use with TikTok with the United States coming in second.[iii]

4)    Facebook has become a common place for people to get their news more so than any other social media platform. Facebook is used mostly amongst other millennial and younger Gen X’s. Most users get on Facebook once daily so it is a pretty active platform. Asia pacific has the highest number of users.[iv]

5)    Snap Chat has just under 300 million users making it smaller than some of the other platforms, but it has grown 85% since 2016. About 1/3 of users are in the United States, about quarter of users are in Europe and the rest are spread globally. Most Snap- Chatters are Gen Z or millennials. [v]

6)    YouTube is the second most visited website in the world. Seventy percent of users have bought something from an ad they have seen in YouTube. While YouTube is watched across generation, what each generation typically watches on YouTube varies. Gen Z will commonly watch content that is nostalgic or helps them to relax. Millennials will tend to watch unboxing things, product reviews, fun/entertaining content, to learn something or help them feel inspired. Gen X will watch to reminisce or learn something new, and Boomers will watch to save time. Therefore, targeting your content creation while considering the goal of your demographic on this platform is key. [vi]

How to Use Social Media: Remember This…

No matter what your reason for marketing on social media, take the time to pick one or two platforms and spend the effort to do them well. It is better to really work at getting one or two off the ground then to be spread so thin that your efforts are futile because you are so slammed that you don’t have the time/energy to do any one platform well!