Choosing the Right Social Media

No company can afford to ignore social media. As social media users grow to the billions, and widespread internet and mobile usage continues to flourish, there’s never been a better time for a company to adapt to social media or optimize their current profiles. While some social media channels seem fleeting, or unlikely to adapt, each current channel offers not only social exposure but also advertising purposes. 

When looking at your company’s website analytics, one of the most important statistics available is where your traffic is coming from. Guess what? Social media platforms can drive traffic to your site. A successful social media, regardless of the platform, can provide your company with high-quality customers and clients who are interested in what you offer or find your information useful. To determine the best social media channels for any company, they must first ask the most basic but most direct question: where are my customers? 

Facebook

In 2018, Facebook had over 2.2 Billion active users (Sehl, 2018). That’s billion, with a ‘B.’ The demographics for Facebook are fairly widespread when compared to other social media. Even in the ages 65+ category, 41% of polled users in the Pew Research Center survey had a Facebook. The numbers only climb from there, with the highest percentage (82%) falling in the age range 25-29 (Sehl, 2018). A higher percentage of college educated individuals had Facebook accounts, as well as those making more than $75,000 a year and living in urban areas. So if you had to hitch your wagon to only one social media, more than likely, Facebook is the clear winner. 

Facebook launched ‘Facebook Local’ and ‘Facebook Places’ to help users find more information about things near them, like restaurants or shops (Porter, 2018). Given the high number of users on Facebook, a more convenient and very useful search engine within Facebook can allow for businesses to also stand out there in addition to standard search engines like Google or Bing. Facebook is already working on this, so I would expect in the near future that Facebook’s searches will only continue to grow in value to their users. 

One of the best parts of Facebook is the social and conversational aspect. Your company’s post can be shared - it can go viral! Friends of friends of those who like your brand on Facebook are the exposed to your content. If they like what they see, they’ll follow your page. This isn’t wholly unique to Facebook, but given the incredible amount of users on Facebook, the majority of your clients and customers will at the very minimum be Facebook users. Facebook added reactions to their posts in recent years, which also allows users to quickly express their initial reactions to your content. If you get lots of ‘loves’ and ‘wows’ - you might be doing something right. 

Twitter

In the first quarter of 2018, there were 336 Million active Twitter users (Tien, 2018). Millennials and Gen. Z are again the most avid users on Twitter, with 40% of people ages 18-29 using the site. Only 27% of people ages 30-49 use Twitter, and only 19% of those aged 50-64 use Twitter. Twitter demographics follow the same route as most of the other social media channels, with college educated, urban living individuals using the app the most (Sehl, 2018). Twitter was originally created to mimic a sort of SMS text, but to all your friends or ‘followers’ (Carlson, 2011). That’s why tweets were short and had a character limit. Through the years, the platform has evolved to include videos, photos, and even an extended character limit. 

Twitter is a great platform for the ‘now’ moments. Live updates, exclusive deals, quick news - these are all perfectly suited for this browsing social media. Whereas Facebook emphasizes relationships and sharing, Twitter is focused more on the pieces of the conversation. Facebook eventually overshadowed Twitter, however, with 336 Million users, Twitter should not be disregarded. For any kind of news site, whether it’s a magazine or a newspaper, Twitter is the perfect platform to post your content multiple ways and even run advertising. It’s also a much easier way for your content to get picked up by influencers or celebrities. Many politicians, celebrities, and important societal figures have Twitter accounts they manage themselves. More so than with a Facebook page, your company or you as yourself have a better chance of creating a tie with someone of importance on Twitter. 

Instagram

The expression ‘Do it for the ‘gram!’ is not lost on the 1 Billion active users on the platform (Worthy, 2018). Users under 35 make up 70% of Instagram’s users, with the highest percentages in the 18-34 age range (Worthy, 2018). Instagram offers a mostly visual experience for its users, with pictures and videos being the primary source of content. Captions are hidden after a certain length and videos in the main newsfeed are confined to one minute or less. The premise on Instagram is more to show it rather than to say it. Instagram also does not offer ‘hot links’ within the photo’s description, making it more challenging for brands to send people to the right part of their website. 

In recent years, Instagram has added the ability to link portions of stories, save those stories to ‘highlights’ which outlive the 24 hour life cycle of the story, IGTV to feature longer videos, and shopping tabs on photos. Last week, Instagram opened their in-app purchasing functionality for more than 20 companies, allowing for users to pay securely through the app itself (Adams, 2019). If all goes well, we can expect this to become the norm for all compliant companies in the coming years. For a retail store and travel destination, there is no better home than Instagram if your clients fit the demographics. 

YouTube

As the second most used social media platform, YouTube boasts 1.9 Billion active users who watch a billion hours of video a day (Cooper, 2019). Basically every single Gen. Z person users YouTube, with an astonishing 96% of respondents having an account. What’s interesting is that more than half of all people, of all ages, use YouTube. That includes more than 51% of those ages 75 and older. More than 70% of views from YouTube are on mobile, and YouTube was the top app in iOS for 2018 (Cooper, 2019). 

YouTube is a video platform, plain and simple. Unlike the other social media platforms, there isn’t a variance. Today’s YouTube is a combination of music videos, beauty tutorials, DIY tutorials, and essentially anything else you’re looking to learn or experience. Watch things to do at a vacation resort or learn how to change the oil in your car. With such high user rates, YouTube is also a great place for advertising if your target audience is on YouTube. 

Pinterest

About 250 Million people use Pinterest each month, with 77.4 Million of those users being American (Cooper, 2019). According to comScore, Pinterest reaches 83% of all women ages 25-54 in the Untied States, despite only 41% of women reporting they have accounts (Cooper, 2019). Where did the gap come from? Google Search Images. That’s right - Pinterest extends far beyond the walls of the platform. Women in that age range are deemed ‘deciders’ because they’re responsible for 80% of household buying and account for more than 50% of the wealth in America (Carp, 2018). 

Another fun fact that Hootsuite found was that Pinterest users were twice as likely to say their time on the platform was well spent (Cooper, 2019). So, essentially, Pinterest is a happy place for those who make almost all of the the household purchasing in the United States. Pinterest is used for a variety of things, including inspiration, organization, and planning. A shocking 85% of users reported they use Pinterest to plan ‘life moments,’ including weddings, new homes, and vacations (Cooper, 2019). Pinterest also allows for cleverly disguised advertising that can help promote your company or product during searches. 

Implementing a Social Media Plan: Railey Vacations

To decide what is really going to work, the marketer needs to really understand their audience and target markets. I’m going to use Deep Creek Lake based vacation rental company Railey Vacations as my example. Railey Vacations offers more than 400 rental homes, townhomes, condos, and wedding venues in Maryland’s most scenic hidden gem - Deep Creek Lake. Deep Creek is truly a four season resort area, boasting more snow than many places in Alaska, and a temperate summer climate that let’s you beat the city heat and enjoy the low humidity in the mountains.

As a vacation/travel oriented company, Railey Vacations is trying to attract renters to rent their properties. For insurance and legal reasons, renters are required to be 25 or older to sign the contract. Does this mean YouTube is out? Not necessarily. YouTube does dominate for Gen. Z, however, user rates are still incredibly high for all other age groups. What better way to showcase a vacation rental property or possibly wedding venue than with video? Imagine getting a bird’s eye view of nearby attractions or fun things to do the area. A healthy and well established YouTube channel could also offer the opportunity to create mini-series that showcase area attractions in addition to the properties. 

Another social media Railey Vacations should heavily implement is Pinterest. As I mentioned previously, Pinterest is used to plan life events! In fact, 50% of Pinterest users reported using the platform to help plan their vacations. Sharing easy recipe ideas, scenic photos, attraction photos, and more will allow for users to plan their dream vacation.

The final platform I think Railey Vacations should heavily focus on is Instagram. As a purely visual platform, Instagram is perfect for creating that Wanderlust feeling, especially for a vacation destination. With more than 400 properties and 10,000+ renters each each, there’s ample content to make an incredible Instagram page. It’s also a great platform to advertise on for Railey Vacations because a stunning ad photo will catch the user’s attention and prompt them to explore more. Need a vacation? We all do. 

All of that being said, having a great Facebook page is a must for any business that has a larger age range. While it doesn’t have to be the primary source of great content, Facebook does have its rightful place in the digital world. I do not believe that one social media fits all in today’s world. There is no one platform that can satisfy everyone. I believe that offering exclusive and different content on multiple channels is the best way to effective market your business in tailored ways that fit that platform’s audience best. 

Content vs. Conversation

Without conversation, content is just that, it’s content. For it to truly have an impact, there needs to be a conversation. Social media has allowed for that to easily happen. A news article about a supreme court trial will result in thousands of shares, comments, and reactions. A reporters words have started a conversation with a larger audience. Catherine Novak wrote a fantastic blog on this subject that I urge you all to read. Even in 2010, almost a decade ago, the shift had started.

“Content without conversation is just broadcasting, or just advertising. It goes to the listener/reader/viewer/visitor... and stops there. If the sender is lucky, it may lodge as a piece of information in the receiver's consciousness, and they may act on it someday. If the sender is luckier, or perhaps more engaging, it may be something that the receiver wants to talk about. And then the message gets a whole new burst of energy. The energy behind the message is what gives it meaning, and a life of its own. That happens because we humans like to communicate with each other. Thus the conversation begins.” - Catherine Novak, 2010.

Read the full article here. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/why-conversation-not-content-king

To me, conversation is essentially engagement as you see it on social media. If no one is reading or sharing your blog, was it successful? Your web analytics may say yes. There were 150 page views. But most people want to know their content is useful. Social media has allowed for some form of validation with that. Kaushik touches on this with his own blogging experiences and what he calls ‘personal ROI’ (Kaushik, 2009). Using metrics and analytics within Twitter, Kaushik can see what content is audience responded to through retweets and replies. Using this information, adjustments can be made to create more desirable content (Kaushik, 2009). Desirable content is anything that improves or strengthens your brand. You have to think that every share and comment is helping to do just that. 

References

Adams, P. (2019, March 19). Instagram Launches In-App Checkout for 20 Major Brands. Marketing Dive. Retrieved from: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/instagram-launches-in-app-checkout-with-20-major-brands/550809/

Carlson, N. (2011, April 13). The Real History of Twitter. Business Insider. Retrieved from: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-twitter-was-founded-2011-4

Carp, T. (2018, March 13). How to Connect with The Deciders. Pinterest. Retrieved from: https://business.pinterest.com/en/blog/how-to-connect-with-the-deciders

Cooper, P. (2019, January 22). 22 YouTube Stats that Matter to Marketers in 2019. Hootsuite. Retrieved from: https://blog.hootsuite.com/youtube-stats-marketers/

Cooper, P. (2019, February 27). 23 Pinterest Stats that Matter to Marketers in 2019. Hootsuite. Retrieved from: https://blog.hootsuite.com/pinterest-statistics-for-business/

Kaushik, A. (2009). Web Analytics 2.0 The Art of Online Accountability & Science of Customer Centricity. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Porter, A. (2018, February 16). Why Facebook is the Next Big Player in Local Search. Forbes. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/02/16/why-facebook-is-the-next-big-player-in-local-search/#448c79389c9b

Sehl, K. (2018, May 28). All the Facebook Demographics that Matter to Marketers. Hootsuite. Retrieved from: https://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-demographics/

Tien, S. (2018, June 26). Top Twitter Demographics that Matter to Social Media Marketers. Hootsuite. Retrieved from: https://blog.hootsuite.com/twitter-demographics/

Worthy, P. (2018, September 26). Top Instagram Demographics That Matter to Social Media Marketers. Hootsuite. Retrieved from: https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-demographics/