Social media has become increasingly powerful and persuasive as a form of marketing in the last 10 years. That being said the complexities and variety in social media and social media marketing has also increased exponentially. Long gone are the days of putting a post up on your Facebook page and reaching 100% of your target audience and followers and benefiting from large sways of organic traffic and reach. Social media companies are now continually developing and adopting complex algorithms to help improve the relevancy of marketing on social media platforms as well as allowing them to better monetise the paid marketing side of their business.

Due to these changes in how social media marketing works the importance of understanding your business, it’s needs and what you wish to get out of social media marketing has become increasingly important. With so much variety out there it is more important than ever that you understand what your audience wants, where to find them, and the best means of communicating with them. Once you have these things in mind it’s time to set about creating your social media marketing strategy. In this article we are going to look at the importance of knowing your audience as well as what factors you need to consider for a successful social media marketing campaign such as social media marketing for different industries.

1)     Targeting

Targeting essentially refers to how you are going to reach your customers or potential audience and how you are going to get your message across to them. Different social media platforms allow you to target you audience in different ways and with different techniques. For example newer social media platforms tend to be more organically friendly which is why you will find it easier to target your audience through discovery on platforms such as TikTok without having to pay for paid ads. On the flip side you can use paid advertising on platforms such as Facebook to create hyper targeted ads to the exact kind of audience or customer your brand serves. Consider using a buyer persona and customer data to determine the best way to target your audience.

2)     Relevance

Relevance, as with all things in marketing, is of the upmost importance when it comes to serving your audience on social media. Due to the large variety of platforms and the different demographics that use each platform the chances are there will be a platform that has strong relevancy to your company or brand. For example, if you work in a business to business (B2B) style industry then the chances are a platform like TikTok might not be right for you (as a rule of thumb) but using LinkedIn would likely provide much more relevancy in terms of your marketing messages.

3)     Branding

Branding follows a similar logic to relevancy when it comes to finding the right channels for your company or brand. Some platforms may allow you to build a stronger brand and profile than others, for example visually orientated platforms such as Instagram and TikTok would be a lot more on brand for a creative company than LinkedIn and may allow you to demonstrate what you are about in a way that feels more comfortable to you. In addition to this your companies brand may have certain aspects of their style, corporate responsibility, ethics and motivations that may not always be the best fit for certain platforms.

4)     Reach

Reach is an important factor and one of the main determining attributes when it comes to deciding how you are going to plan and create your social media marketing strategy. Different platforms have different ways of reaching your audience, if you have an existing client, fan or customer base then a platform such as Facebook where you can create a page for those people to find you might be your best bet, or you can create paid ads to reach those people. If you are a new venture looking to help people discover you for the first time then you will likely find more success on platforms that provide good organic reach such as TikTok or Linkedin.

5)     Features

Before you start to commit to your social media marketing plan it may be worth you considering what features you plan to incorporate the most into your campaign. Most social media platforms have similar functionality but some certainly specialise in specific features that may be advantageous. For example, if you plan on taking advantage of video content then you may want to consider using a platform such as TikTok or Instagram where video and imagery is often the priority. If you want to encourage discussion and conversation with your audience then groups on Facebook or conversations on Twitter can be a great feature to focus on.

6)     Industry

Social media marketing for different industries is an important factor when it comes to creating your overall marketing strategy as different industries comes with different expectations and demands. If you work in a business orientated industry then platforms such as TikTok and Snapchat might require a little more creativity to optimise where as LinkedIn is specifically designed for those operating in the business industry. Equally if you work in an ecommerce style business then using a platform such as Facebook or Instagram will give you additional avenues to sell your products through their store and shop features. We recommend you look at what others are doing in your industry for inspiration on what platforms to use, or alternatively do the opposite and be a disruptive force within your space!

7)     Demographic

Each and every social media platform has a different demographic and although there may be overlaps, understanding what demographics primarily use each platform can be hugely beneficial when it comes to optimising your social media marketing campaigns. Platforms such as TikTok and Instagram have a much younger demographic than the likes of Linkedin and Facebook. This tends to be the case with newer platforms as younger demographics are often quick to adopt new technology and services.

8)     Purpose

Going into your social media marketing efforts with a clear idea and purpose of what you aim to accomplish is very important for the success of your campaign. Setting out clear KPIs will allow you to monitor the performance of your campaign and these should be based around the purpose of your marketing efforts. If your purpose is to build a brand then you should be monitoring metrics such as following and engagement and similarly if your purpose is to increase sales then you should be monitoring and tracking what sales are generated from social media leads. The purpose of your marketing efforts can also impact what platforms you choose to use, for example if you are looking to gain new leads and sales then a platform with built in ecommerce such as Facebook or Instagram might be favourable. If you are looking to reach a new audience whilst minimising costs then a platform with high organic potential such as TikTok or Linkedin might be a better choice. Whatever you decide make sure you keep the purpose of your marketing efforts at the forefront of your campaign and revisit your strategy if the purpose changes.

9)     Community

As a brand of business that values their reputation your community and audience should always be at the forefront of everything you do, after all the foundations of your efforts are no doubt cantered around providing a solution to them be that in the form of a product, service or something else. Using community features as part of your social media marketing strategy can help you connect with your audience in unique and engaging ways and different platforms provide different functionalities for this. For example, Facebook is probably the best platform for engaging with your community, creating groups allows your community to actively engage in conversations related to your business.   

10)  Longevity

The longevity of your social media marketing efforts is an important factor, how long you plan on your campaign running for will determine what your results will be as well as what features and platform will work best for you and your business. If you plan to hit a short term social media campaign with the aim of getting quick results then the chances are you’d benefit more from paid advertising on a platform such as Facebook. If you plan to run your campaign indefinitely then it’s often worse utilising several different social media platforms and gradually building your companies profile and reach over time.

We hope that this article has provided some insight into some of the most important factors such as social media marketing for different industries. These factors are super important when it comes to identifying how to engage and understand your audience as part of a social media marketing strategy. This is just a short list of recommendations but often with social media the best approach can be trial and error, the beauty of social media platforms is there is so much data and insight dashboards that allow you to gauge your performance so if you try something and it doesn’t work for you then you will notice quickly and be able to adapt and pivot your strategy to something that does work.