Social Media Participation

There are a variety of social media platforms for marketers and their organizations to choose from, it is easy to get overwhelmed. But, it is essential that marketers factor social media marketing into their mix. It allows for marketers to reach their target audience swiftly, effectively, and inexpensively. In addition, it is easy to track competitors and the marketer's own analytics via social media channels. (Henderson. 2020)

Marketing agencies have a decision that they have to make when marketing via social media channels. They have to decide whether they want to allocate their resources and market evenly across the wide range of platforms, or focus primarily on one or two channels. Considering this, there are several things that the marketer should keep in mind, and the first thing they must consider is what channel or channels their target audience is housed within.

Different social media channels have a different audience. Instagram hosts a higher percentage of teens, 25-34-year-olds and females. (Barnhart, 2021) Instagram also primarily relies on visual aesthetics, so this could be beneficial for a fashion or creative arts agency. (Pedotto, 2018)

Facebook caters more to a middle aged audience (Pedotto, 2018), while 80 percent of Twitter users are affluent millennials. (Omnicore, 2021) Twitter limits users to 280 characters and presents more of a short-form blog style social media experience. 

TikTok has a rapidly growing audience comprised mainly of users between the age of 10 and 19-years-old. (Alexandra, 2020) Pinterest is used mainly for creative endeavors and has an audience that is interested in arts and crafts, fashion, cooking, design and other things. 

Another thing that it is important for the marketer to keep in mind when making a decision are the goals for the campaign and how the brand intends to go about achieving those goals. A brand could be looking to spread brand awareness and use micro and nano-influencers. If that is the case, then a social media platform like Instagram or YouTube would be most beneficial.

If the goal is to alter brand perception, then Twitter would be a great place to start. On Twitter, there is an increasing number of people that say whatever comes to their mind. Everything that users say on Twitter is public, and it is easy to monitor what users are saying about your brand through the use of hashtags and searching your brand name. 

If the marketer's budget isn't as large as some bigger companies, then they might opt to focus their advertising efforts on one or two platforms. On the contrary, a larger corporation such as McDonalds has the resources available to advertise across all social media platforms.

 

 So, while I know that you might not like this answer, it just depends. Not every brand should follow a specific outline when it comes to their marketing efforts. Some brands have target audiences that are present on multiple platforms, other brands have certain goals in mind when creating their marketing campaigns. There are excellent examples of companies that have focused on a specific social media platform and, on the contrary, there are those that have succeeded in a widespread social media marketing approach.

With that being said, I think that a brand must be intentional about the channels that they chose to market on and since not all social media platforms have the same audience or features, a lot of times it is wiser to focus primarily on one or a few channels.

Boohoo is a United Kingdom based online fashion retailer that includes brands Pretty Little Things and Nasty Gal. These clothing brands focus their aim toward 16-30-year-old women. When you think of 16-30-year-old fashionable women, you think of Instagram. As I said earlier, Instagram hosts a younger primarily female audience, and Boohoo considers that when it comes to their marketing mix. 

Influencer endorsements have enabled the brand to engage a young audience on Instagram. In 2018, Boohoo reportedly spend 80 million euros on influencer marketing. (Gilliland, 2020) These efforts have boosted their sales up 45 percent in the quarter to the end of May 2020. (Gilliland, 2020) Another reason for their recent success is their campaign that they launched in the midst of the pandemic, #BoohooInTheHouse encouraging those that wear their clothing to sport their stay-at-home style.  

Currently, Boohoo has 7.2 million followers on Instagram. That is the most out of any of their other social media channels. But their reach extends beyond Instagram. While it can be seen that most of their marketing efforts are spent towards their Instagram, they have over 3.7 million followers on Facebook and over 500 thousand Twitter followers. 

It is evident that the majority of Boohoo's audience is housed within the Instagram platform, and they have taken advantage of that with their use of influencers to generate engagement and hashtags to cultivate user-generated content that can help them as a brand grow organically. In this instance, it is clear that Boohoo made the right decision focusing primarily on Instagram with their marketing efforts. But just because Instagram has made such an impact doesn't mean that down the road they should fully neglect the channels that they are present on.

Content and conversation are two really important factors when making the decision to focus on marketing on one or several social media channels, but as I stated before, it ultimately comes down to what the brand is looking to accomplish with their marketing efforts.

Not every campaign is geared towards content creation, and not every campaign is geared towards brand perception. Using Boohoo's campaign as an example, both content and conversation were utilized. Boohoo created content of its own as well as user-generated content and a conversation was stemmed via engagement in the comments of their own account and their influencer's accounts.

Hence, as I said before, intentionality is crucial when making the decision which channels to market through, and brands need to consider their goals and their audience when making these decisions. Because each channel is different, it would be considerably harder to market efficiently and  simultaneously across all social media platforms. With that in mind, it is wise to choose one or a few channels to prioritize when coming up with campaigns and marketing mixes.

References

Alexandra, K. (2020, September 8). What are the Benefits of TikTok for Business: Is It Worth It?. from https://blog.iconosquare.com/benefits-of-tiktok-for-business/

Barnhart, B. (2021, March 9). Social media demographics to inform your brand's strategy in 2021. from https://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/

Gilliland, N. (2021, June 25). 30 Brands With Excellent Social Media Strategies. from https://econsultancy.com/30-brands-with-excellent-social-media-strategies/

Henderson, G. (2020, July 2). The Importance of Social Media Marketing. from https://www.digitalmarketing.org/blog/the-importance-of-social-media-marketing

Omnicore. (2021, July 6). Twitter by the Numbers: Stats, Demographics & Fun Facts. from https://www.omnicoreagency.com/twitter-statistics/#:~:text=Roughly%2042%25%20of%20Twitter%20users,monetizable%20daily%20active%20Twitter%20users.&text=38%25%20of%20U.S.%20Twitter%20users,%2475%2C000%20or%20more%20use%20Twitter.

Pedotto, L. (2018). 7 reasons to advertise on social media. from https://strikesocial.com/blog/social-media-advertising-benefits/