Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Google+ allow those looking to get a lot of people engaged in social media marketing to do so by using photos, tweets, likes, pins and follows! Using timed posts and targeted ads, any brand can reach their audience in a meaningful way.
It should come as no surprise that Facebook is currently the largest platform for social media marketing engaging 71% of internet users and continues to grow. Those who communicate via Facebook are interested in sharing connections – either to family and friends or to products with which they feel a relationship. The age demographic for this group is 24-50 and the audience is closely split between women (76%) and men (66%). Therefore, marketing to this audience is crucial to promote any business. Creating ads and a social media campaign using Facebook Ads will allow your business to tap into this market share and demographic. If you’re looking for a free way to promote your business on Facebook, schedule your posts so that they appear during the peak usage times: noon to 1 on Saturdays and Sundays; 3-4pm on Wednesdays and 1-4pm Thursdays and Fridays. To take advantage of these ad windows, write your marketing content on Monday and Tuesday then post, post, post throughout the week!
I
f you want to target a younger demographic, use Twitter. Tweeting, hash tagging and pulling in 23% of online users, Twitter nabs the 18-29 year old demographic with a growing number of men and those 65 or older are becoming new users. Most tweets are posted between noon and 6pm and these tweets will contain images (55%) and links (31%). Users are more engaged during the week than on weekends, so to reach this audience and garner a high click through rate (CTR), you will need to post during peak times or purchase an ad through Twitter Ads. Reaching this young audience may mean that you can get brand advocates who will not only promote, but stay with your product for a long time.
Another tactic for reaching younger prospects (especially women) is Instagram. With an install base comprising 26% of all mobile devices and growing, Instagram is a great way to reach the 18-29 demographic. Best posting times for this platform are weekdays (except Fridays), between 6am and noon and around 5pm. Previously, advertising on Instagram was only available for large businesses; however, even small businesses can now buy ads and reach young ‘grammers.
Google+
One more area to create a marketing strategy is Google+ which has taken some hits in recent years, but having a presence on this platform is still the best way to rank well with the search engine. Google+ has moved Hangouts, Events, and My Business to subdomains but enhanced and promoted Communities (topic based discussion groups) and Collections (for images, similar to Pinterest). Google+ reaches a 60% male and 25% female audience and the principal age bracket is 25-34. If you are planning to utilize Google+ for Business to start ranking with this audience, you will need to create a local business page and have it connected with maps and display reviews.
Whatever strategy you pursue, you need to choose multiple ways to get your company’s brand shared out into the social world. You can extend your reach even further by combining social media marketing with targeted emails. Look for a future post where we will discuss this in more detail.
Citations:
Pewinternet.org http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/demographics-of-key-social-networking-platforms-2/
Twitter http://www.businessinsider.com/who-uses-twitter-2015-6
Postings: https://blog.hootsuite.com/best-time-to-post-on-facebook-twitter-instagram/
Google+: https://www.semrush.com/blog/boost-local-seo-rankings-google-plus/