Details
The Social Marketer
Introduction

Introduction

Picture by Tracy Le Blanc from Pexels
Picture by Tracy Le Blanc from Pexels

Before deciding on which social network to invest your time and effort in you need to know which one is the most adapted for your business' customers.

There are two factors to consider when choosing the right social network: demographics and type of content.

Demographics refer to the age, gender and location of the users. Most social networks are used by women more than men. Facebook is the undisputed leader of social networks in terms of number of users and age range. In the following table you have some important data about the demographics of the main social networks:

AGE RANGE

18-29

30-49

50-64

65+

 

ACTIVE USERS PER MONTH

Facebook

86%

77%

51%

34%

 

2.45 billion

Instagram

67%

47%

24%

7%

 

1 billion

Twitter

38%

26%

17%

7%

 

330 million

Pinterest

34%

35%

27%

15%

 

300 million

AGE RANGE

18-24

25-43

35-54

55+

 

 

LinkedIn

21%

60%

17%

3%

 

303 million

AGE RANGE

15-25

26-35

36-45

46-55

56+

 

YouTube

81%

71%

67%

66%

58%

2 billion


In terms of content, the use of social networks differs not only in regard to the type of information you want to share e.g. gastronomy, fashion, sports... but also in regard to the format of the message (e.g. photos, videos, articles, short comments, polls...

  • Lifestyle, food or home: Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.
  • Technology, business or industry: LinkedIn and Twitter
  • Publishing videos: YouTube and Facebook
  • Publishing a poll: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
  • Pictures about your product/shop: Instagram and Pinterest
  • Long-form studies or opinion pieces: Facebook and LinkedIn
  • Inspirational pictures and quotes: Facebook and Instagram
  • Infographics: Pinterest
  • Photo collage: Pinterest

Task

Task

Picture by Negative Space from Pexels
Picture by Negative Space from Pexels

Once we have the basic notions about demographics and the contents that work best in social networks, there is no better way to learn than by watching from the experts and absorbing ideas and knowledge!

Your task here will be to choose three well-known brands or businesses and analyse their social media publications.

Tip: choose three very different options among them in terms of product!

What should you do? Answer the following questions:

  • What is their target audience: age, economic level, gender.
  • What resources have they used to connect with their target audience? Attractive photos, motivating sentences, long texts, surveys, videos...
  • What networks/social media have they used for this?

Once you have absorbed ideas, let's try to put them into practice!

Now choose three customers of yours/stores or shops in your neighbourhood and think about which social networks would work best for their products. Take into account their type of clientele, the type of product they offer, their facilities, etc.

Process

Process

Take a look at the resources in the Links section to get a broader idea of the uses of each social network.

When choosing your client list, try to make them different from each other in terms of activity, product and type of clientele. Don't forget that the objective is to strengthen their positioning on the internet and be known beyond their local area, which implies a greater number of clients. Perhaps your client wants to reach a target audience that they don't currently have and that will also be important when choosing which social networks to work with.

Think that it will not be the same to take the social networks of an insurance company as those of a bakery/cafeteria.

For the first one, you probably need to focus on LinkedIn and Facebook, sharing elaborate and technical content. Even YouTube could be a good option if your client, for example, would like to record informative videos about insurances for their customers.

For the second instead, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook will be your best friends, here the shape will matter more than the content, it will have to be more visually appealing. Also, if the business has a nice facility, sharing photos of it can be very positive.

 
Conclusion

Conclusion

As you can see, every social network has its peculiarities and knowing how to distinguish them will be fundamental for your work as a social media marketer to be effective and successful. Facebook works for almost all cases, it is undoubtedly the most used social network by people of all ages, but you must be careful to choose the other platforms properly.

It will be fundamental that you listen to the needs and desires of your client in order to know which social networks are best suited to them but you must have the necessary knowledge to guide and advise them. You are the expert Social Media Marketer!

However, social media is not an exact science, and part of your job will be to constantly reinvent yourself and rethink your strategies. You will also have to be patient, since the results in terms of increased followers and economic return for your client are not always obtained in the short term.

Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

Competence Area 1: IDEAS & OPPORTUNITIES
  • 1.3) I can explain that different groups may have different needs.
  • 1.8) I can identify the basic functions that a prototype should have to illustrate the value of my idea.
Competence Area 2: RESOURCES
  • 2.10) I can experiment with different combinations of resources to turn my ideas into action.
  • 2.12) I can discuss the need for investing time in different value-creating activities.
Competence Area 3: INTO ACTION
  • 3.5) I can create an action plan which identifies the necessary steps to achieve my goals.
  • 3.15) I can listen to other people’s ideas for creating value without showing prejudice.

Resources