Focus or scattergun

When it comes to social media and marketing your business, is it better to be focused or to scattergun your efforts?

There are many social media platforms out there. LinkedIn, obviously.

Then of course there’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest not to mention TikTok, BeReal, Lemon8….and now Post!

So what’s  a business owner to do?

Cover the lot, or choose to specialise?

Here we examine the best tactics to adopt to get the most from your social media marketing. 

The importance of doing your research

When you’re in business, you really need to know your target market well, which involves doing your research. Where do they prefer to show up online?

If your target market is found most on a specific platform, what’s the point in hitting the other platforms where you aren’t so likely to encounter them? When you know where your audience is found it makes sense to concentrate your efforts on where they are, rather than where they probably aren’t! So that’s one point for Team Focus. (can you keep score, we’ve lost the pencil?)

Who goes where?

Now this data changes with each day, so when we looked up these figures they were all shiny and new. By now, the numbers will have changed a little, but not massively!

Platform facts: LinkedIn

More than 77% of LinkedIn users are from outside the US.

Males account for 57.2% of the total LinkedIn users, while 42.8% of LinkedIn users are female.

There are 346.7 million female users on LinkedIn and 463.3 million male users.

20.4% of Millennials (18-24 years old) use LinkedIn.

59.1% of LinkedIn users are between the ages of 25 and 34.

Platform facts: Twitter

Twitter penetration in the UK was 24% in 2019.

Twitter users in the UK are spread evenly, with 56% being men and 44% women.

The main age group for Twitter users in the UK is 25 to 34 years.

According to SocialPilot, the average Twitter user only uses the platform for 2.7 minutes a day.

31% of UK Twitter users considered leaving in 2020!

Platform facts: TikTok

In May 2020, there were 6 million active TikTok monthly users in the UK.

It’s downloaded over 1 million times a month in the UK.

The average daily time spent on TikTok is 41 minutes.

The largest share of users (26%) in the UK is aged 18-24.

TikTok reached 10 million users in the UK by 2021.

Platform facts: Instagram

There were 27 million Instagram daily active users in the United Kingdom in November 2020, which accounted for 40.6% of its entire population.

Most Instagram users in the UK are aged 25 to 34, making 30% of all Instagram users in the UK.

Only 24% of Instagram users in the UK have considered leaving it in 2020.

56% of female social media users reported using Instagram in the UK in 2020.

Which platform does your target audience prefer?

Counting the cost

Marketing your business professionally can be an expensive process, and most marketing budgets will have their limits. Each platform you decide to market on is an additional expense to factor into your marketing spend. Spread too thinly, your marketing budget will just gurgle away like water down a plughole.

When budgets are limited it makes far more sense to identify the platforms where your target audience is located and concentrate your spend there. So, that’s another point for the Focus team….

Precious time

Fitting everything into a working day is a tough enough challenge at the best of times. Yes, we all get the same 24 hours but the things we have to fit into those hours are very different. 

Do you really have enough time to dedicate to a specifically tailored marketing campaign for each of the main platforms? As well as actually running your business?

Unless you outsource, you won’t have the time to do yourself and your business justice.

And if you outsource to a company that thinks it’s a good idea to saturate every platform, do they really have your best interests at heart?

Or are they just there to take as much revenue from you as possible?

There simply isn’t the time to have an effective presence on every platform.

And if it’s a platform your target market doesn’t use, what’s the point in being there at all?

Concentration is key

How can you do yourself justice if you spread yourself too thinly?

Many platforms done half-heartedly won’t be anything like as effective as one or two platforms done well.

Social media marketing isn’t a short-term fix, it takes time to build the connections and personal relationships that lead to business. All achieved by posting, commenting on the posts of others and interacting with the comments on your own.

If you spread yourself too thin you won’t have the time to do this effectively on any individual platform.

By concentrating your efforts on a chosen one or two platforms means you have the time to make proper connections with your potential customers.

Good marketing isn’t necessarily the cheapest, but good marketers have the expertise to develop and execute a marketing strategy on your behalf far more effectively than somebody finding their way through trial and error.

Scrambled Eggs?

It’s often said that it’s unwise to put all your eggs in the one basket.

However, when it comes to social media marketing, keeping your eggs in the one basket, or maybe two, makes far more sense than a few little eggs in a whole load of baskets.

Effective marketing doesn’t dilute its efforts by spreading itself too thin.

That’s how you get scrambled eggs!

And a scrambled, unfocused marketing effort won’t give you the results you are looking for.

If you are looking for a detailed, bespoke strategy for your business’ social media marketing, or even to have the whole kit and caboodle done for you, then get in touch with Jem and Anna. After all, it’s Easter and the only sort of eggs you want are the chocolate ones!