SM marketing, narrow focus or broad appeal?

If you’re planning to market your business on SM you need to develop a strategy that works best for both you and your business.

After all, there are many platforms to choose from, as well as LI there’s obviously, Facebook, Twitter, Insta and TikTok, so there are plenty of options to promote your business on.

But what is the best tactic for success?

Do you market across all the main platforms, or do you focus on where you consider your ideal customers will be?

Here we examine the factors that have a bearing on which route you decide to take.

Time

How much time do you anticipate spending on your SM marketing?

Remember there are only 24 hours in a day, in which you have to fit in the actual running of the business plus ensure that you have the right work/life balance.

Are you going to be handling all the marketing yourself, or does someone in your business have specific responsibility for it?

Do you intend the marketing to be done in-house, or are you considering outsourcing it?

If you are a one-person-band or a small startup it is unlikely that you will have the time to do your business justice on every platform.

Budget

Do you have an allocated budget for your marketing activities?

Large companies invariably spend more on their marketing than smaller businesses and are more likely to employ marketing specialists to handle it for them.

But a large marketing budget doesn’t mean that throwing money at every platform is going to guarantee success, especially if you market on platforms that aren’t used by your target market.

For example, TikTok has a young demographic, would it be the best use of money to market a mobility aids business on the platform?

A successful marketing strategy involves doing your research to find out which platforms your target market can be found on, if they aren’t represented in significant numbers on any particular platform is it worth spending time effort and money on it?

DIY or outsource?

Time is the biggest enemy of any business owner looking to promote their business on SM.

It’s hard enough actually running a business while balancing it with your family life.

Do you have the time to spare to market properly?

Consistency is a vital aspect of SM marketing, it takes time and commitment to build your brand.

If you can’t spare a lot of time how can you do yourself justice?

Plus how can you possibly expect to build a meaningful presence across a range of platforms when you don’t really have the time to even focus properly on one of them?

One option might be to outsource your SM marketing to a specialist agency, such as Social Jems.

Content creation, engagement and managed on your behalf.

Agreed purpose and an agreed strategy to deliver it.

A good SM account manager is worth their weight in gold, not only can they create your content, be it posts, blogs or videos, they can also like and comment on your behalf, so the whole process is taken care of while you focus on core business activities.

If you are swamped for time, it’s definitely worthwhile considering outsourcing to specialists who can take care of it all for you.

Now, let’s have some stats to help you decide which is the best platform for you to connect with your target audience:

Platform demographics: 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 demographics:  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 a SocialPilot survey, the average Twitter user only uses the platform for 2.7 minutes a day.

31% of UK Twitter users considered quitting  in 2020.

Platform demographics:  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 is set to reach 10 million users in the UK by 2021.

Platform demographics: 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.

Conclusions

Don’t fall for the cliches, not all LinkedIn users are in the higher age demographic, just as not every TikTok user is under the age of 16!

The key to where you market on SM is to know who your target market is and where you are most likely to find them.

If you’re a sole trader or small business it makes sense to concentrate all your efforts on a limited number of platforms, too many and it will be too diluted to make an impact.

Larger businesses with higher marketing budgets have more scope to market across multiple channels, either through outsourcing or through appointing an in-house SM manager.

Whatever your budget and time allocation, you’re more likely to win if you don’t spread too thin!