Every day, businesses create profiles, accounts, and pages across social media and the digital space. This is towards ensuring they are in their target audience’s faces, with sales as the end goal.
This is a step in the right direction. Research such as that of Statista reports that the majority of people prefer online purchases compared to walk-in purchases.
The bone of contention here, however, is that the digital space is a wide universe itself. The internet is filled with multiple platforms, each with its nature, algorithms, and behaviors. The end result in many such cases is that businesses are online but disconnected from their audience. Either as a result of being on the wrong platform with the right approach or being on the right platform with the wrong approach.
For the latter, we have itemized 8 things you are not doing correctly on your social media page in 2024 to help boost their online presence. For the former, we will identify platforms according to audience behavior and recommend how your business can position itself to sufficiently benefit from a robust online presence.
DIGITAL PLATFORMS BY AUDIENCE BEHAVIOR
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media refers collectively to platforms in which people interact through media and text. People have conversations, create and share content, while also disseminating information.
Major social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and so on.
Now, social media is a vast ecosystem that cannot be treated like a single entity. We will not be doing justice to the ongoing conversation if we do not consider the complexities of social media.
To this end, we will be discussing the major social media platforms and their audience peculiarities.
Unarguably the world’s largest social media platform, Facebook has over 3 billion users, a significant number of whom is aged 25 to 35 years. Facebook is majorly for friends and family to interact using text and media. Ordinarily, by housing the most people online, Facebook is an attractive place to launch your advertising campaigns. Its large database, marketplace functionalities, and advanced targeting capabilities make it ideal for local businesses/startups, community-oriented organizations, NGOs, E-commerce and some service-based businesses.
Facebook is not without its problems, however; it has often been accused of unethical handling of consumer data as well as a number of customer privacy breaches.
Facebook is your best platform to grow your visibility, draw the attention of your target audience, and from there, build a relationship with them.
LinkedIn and Beezlinq:
These are social networks whose key focus is on professional networking. LinkedIn is the biggest networking platform, giving millions of people a platform to find employment opportunities, build professional relationships as well as learning the skills various in-demand skills. LinkedIn has also come under fire of recently for turning into a platform for low-quality relationships and for running facade jobs. This is why Beezlinq comes in handy; the professional platform enables one to create profiles, scan and upload business cards, and share business cards to as many as possible while building a professional relationship with them. If you offer services or B2B products, it is advised to utilize these networking platforms and prioritize them the most. This is in the same vein with professional service brands, educational institutions, SAAS brands, and tech startups trying to break into the market.
TikTok:
This is a video-based platform where people create, edit and share videos. TikTok is famous for setting and growing trends, especially among Millennials and Gen-Z which make up the majority of its audience. This makes the platform the most appropriate for services and products appealing to a youthful population. Skincare, recreational facilities, travel agencies, fashion and beauty brands, entertainment and media companies, food and beverage businesses, fitness and wellness products/services call it a home.
Instagram:
A gallery of pictures and videos, Instagram is itself a hub where young people dominate. The atmosphere there is mostly sanguine, a melting point of bright colors and shapes. Instagram distinguishes itself to Facebook, its twin meta platform by being more anonymous, encouraging the use of monikers and pseudonyms.
The platform is home to brands, businesses, and corporate bodies that have to blend and assimilate into the pop rave dominating the platform. Instagram is a place to stay in the faces of your audience and have fun while at it. These include visual-oriented businesses (photography, art, design), influencer-driven brands, travel and hospitality companies, lifestyle products, and so on.
Twitter:
The most melancholic of the major social media platforms, Twitter (X) is a platform for exchanging conversations about politics, life, faith, religion, and anything that pisses one off. The fact that it has the trend table feature all but proves it is a platform for jumping to the next hot-take. The businesses that trend have mastered the act of bringing what they do into ongoing conversations succeed on this platform. News and media organizations, tech companies, political and advocacy groups as well as customer service-oriented businesses are but a few categories of businesses that thrive in such platforms.
CONCLUSION
Your business having a vibrant social media presence is not the same as it being on all major platforms. The former involves proper audience research and a presence on platforms with a high concentration of its target market/audience actively. The former will always be more rewarding than the latter. Do not allow your brand to fall into the FOMO pit where it opens profiles, pages and accounts because everyone does the same. Ultimately, it is up to you to ensure your social media presence is not symbolic but an ROI-breeding aspect of your business.
