How To Grow On Social Media
You’ve spent months or years developing your brand, ensuring that your product and business plan is up to par. You’re ready to let the world know about your prized idea but there’s a problem: how do I do that? We’re here to tell you the top 5 things to consider before starting your social media page!
What Social Media Platform is your Audience On?
In order to reach your brand’s target audience, you need to be where they are. In this day and age, that means knowing what social media platform your audience hangs out on. Knowing each platform’s demographic will help you decide which ones to focus your energy on.
Facebook: Facebook is the most popular social media platform in the U.S., particularly among mature audiences. It is used by 75% of Americans aged 30 to 49, 69% of those aged 50 to 64, and 67% of those aged 18 to 29. Additionally, 79% of American women use Facebook, compared to 56% of American men.
Instagram: The most used social media networks for people ages 12 to 34. Instagram is used by 78% of Americans aged 18 to 29. Additionally, 54% of American women use Instagram, compared to 39% of American men.
TikTok: TikTok is popular among younger audiences, with 62% of Americans aged 18 to 29 using the platform. However, engagement drops significantly with age, as only 39% of those aged 30 to 49 and 24% of those aged 50 to 64 use TikTok.
LinkedIn: A social media network for professionals. The USA has over 214 million users, making up 77% of the American population over the age of 18.
YouTube: YouTube has over 2.5 billion users worldwide and is widely popular in the U.S. It is used by 93% of Americans aged 18 to 29, 92% of those aged 30 to 49, and 60% of those aged 50 to 64.
Let me give you some examples. If I were working with a fitness trainer whose target demographic ranges from ages 45 and 65, I would prioritize Facebook. If I have a business-to-business consulting practice, I may focus on LinkedIn. Having a strong presence on the platforms your target audience engages with increases the chance that they engage with your own business. That being said, social media is a place to test and push the traditional boundaries of marketing, so spend the early days experimenting with different post types and various platforms.
Don’t Measure Your Success by Virality
Real Stat
In the age where Fortnite dances can rack up millions of views, it’s easy to get carried away in the pursuit of going viral. However, the amount of views you get isn’t always the best indicator of success. It’s more important that your content reaches a moderate population of an engaged audience rather than a large population of an empty one.
Say you’re a private equity firm whose target audience are business owners aged 45-70. While posting reels and TikToks of your CEO doing Fortnite dances may make you popular with the zoomers, it’s missing out on the clients who are actually going to make an impact on your business. Instead, create a content strategy that provides value for your base, such as sharing your market predictions for the year. It might not get the flashy millions of views that the Fortnite dances would, but it would connect with the audience that will make an actual impact on your business.
Look, we’re not saying that going viral is a bad thing. If you’re a content creator looking to maximize your viewership, going viral can get a lot of eyes on you. What we are saying is that viewership is nuanced, and that getting the right type of view is what’s important. Your own goals as a business owner or creator will determine your viewership priorities and what type of outcome you should try to achieve.
What should you post
Okay, you have an idea where your target audience is, but now what do I post? I’m going to answer a question with more questions. What makes your business unique? What problems does your business solve? What’s your story?
Let’s look at the sustainable clothing brand Kotn as an example. Over the past few years, Kotn has cemented itself as a formidable player in the fashion industry by answering the exact questions we asked. Instead of marketing themselves as just a clothing brand, Kotn cut through the noise by solving one of the clothing industries biggest problems: sustainably producing a high-quality product.
The thing is, Kotn didn’t relegate sustainability to a measly page on their website, they made it their ethos and brought their audience along for the journey. As you scroll through their Instagram page, you can see behind-the-scenes footage of their cotton being sustainably sourced from farmers and the ethical factories where the clothes are made. This lets the consumer see the effort and care they put into every piece, far beyond the fabric and stitching. This authentic content helped Kotn connect them with their niche, but large audience who deeply cares about sustainability. Kotn doesn’t just sell clothes, they created a movement, educated people, and built a community that values sustainability as much as they do.
As an established brand, much of Kotn’s content is highly polished, but yours doesn’t have to be. The key takeaway from their content strategy is to document to process. For an up-and-coming brand, don’t shy away from documenting your struggles alongside your successes. This creates a more real, relatable brand, and makes customers feel like they’re part of your mission.
Maximizing Your Time Effectively
While there’s no magic amount of time you should dedicate for social media marketing, having a frequent, consistent schedule is generally considered ideal. How frequent you post is determinant on your brand vision, but making sure you’re consistently producing high-quality content that keeps viewers engaged is key.
For most brands, roughly 3-5 instagram posts per week can serve as a basic guideline. However, it’s just a guideline. Your weekly marketing schedule should be dependent on how much content you can produce while still providing value to your audience. Whatever that amount is for you should be your goal.
To help manage your marketing schedule, consider using a social media scheduler. Social media schedulers, such as Hootsuite, Buffer, and Sprout, can be great ways to reduce the amount of time spent on social media marketing, allowing you to schedule posts to multiple platforms ahead of time. Social media schedulers can also offer analytics that take the guesswork out of marketing, informing you what days and times typically have the best engagement.
Overall Social Media Goals
You’re finally equipped with the practical skills needed to launch your brand's social media accounts. There’s one last question you need to ask yourself: what are my overall goals with social media? These goals should align with the overall mission of your business, helping you achieve your larger vision.
We can give you all the practical tips you need to help you along the way, but only you know the goals you are trying to achieve. Knowing your goals will help you leverage the previously listed tips to create a unique social media marketing plan that delivers real results for you and your business.
