Social media platforms for businesses

Social media platforms are powerful tools to expand your customer reach and build loyal relationships. Customers today expect their businesses to have a solid social media presence and a timely response. While social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram may seem like platforms to socialize, their benefits to businesses are manifold too. Read on to find out which social media channels your business should be present on, how social media marketing can benefit your business, and how you can use these channels to engage your customers in Phillipines and in international markets.

Major social media channels for your business

A thorough understanding of the top social media platforms worldwide and their target audience is essential to devising an efficient social media marketing strategy for your business. We glean insights from Statista as we discuss the different social media platforms below:

Facebook

Facebook is commonly used to connect people with those that they care about. Users would share in-depth information and posts on the platform. The number of monthly active users of Facebook is 2.91 billion, with the leading age group being 24-34. Of these users, 57% are males, and 43% are females.

Instagram

Instagram users share photos to their followers. The largest age groups of Instagram’s target audience are 24-34 and 18-24, of which 48.4% are females, and 51.8% are males. The total number of its users is 2 billion. Its primary target audience includes the Millenials and Gen Z.

TikTok

TikTok enables users to share videos to others. The number of active TikTok users is 1 billion, with 61% females and 39% males. The leading age group on this platform is 10-19 years.

Twitter

Similar to Facebook, Twitter allows users to share information but in brief snippets. It has 211 million users, with the largest age group being 18-29 years, 38.4% of them being females and 61.6% are males. One-third of Twitter users are highly-educated with a high-earning base.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is used for business and professional networking purposes. Out of the 810 million LinkedIn users, 48% are females, and 52% are males, with the target age group being 25-34 years. 25% of LinkedIn users are located in the US, making this platform an excellent means for APAC businesses who wish to break into the US market.

Pinterest

Pinterest is different from Instagram in that it is used to create or save images by others. Their target audience is equally distributed across all age groups, making it an interesting platform with which you can reach people of all ages. However, this platform is unevenly distributed by gender. For example in the US, 78% of users on the platform are females and 22% are males.

Snapchat

Snapchat is a form of image-messaging application. Users would message others using snaps. The primary target audience of Snapchat is teenagers, with the largest age group being 15-25 years. 54.4% are females, and 44.6% are males.

YouTube

YouTube is used to watch longer videos. Although it has more than two billion monthly users, most viewers use the platform to stream entertainment content rather than find products and brands, reports Sprout Social. Businesses need to work harder if they plan to utilize this platform for marketing and advertising.

Differences in social media usage across countries

Like the rest of the world, social media is quite popular in the Philippines due to the constant need for social interaction. According to Statista, as of the third quarter of 2021, Facebook was the most used social media platform in the Philippines, with 96.2% of internet users accessing the platform. For any business that wants to create a social media strategy in the Philippines, reaching out to Facebook’s target audience is essential to boost sales and increase brand loyalty.

When venturing into overseas markets, it’s key that businesses perform thorough market research on the popular social media platforms used by target audiences there. For example in China, the social media platforms used vary significantly. Statista’s figures reveal that the messaging app WeChat is the most popular platform, followed by China’s version of TikTok, and also made by Bytedance, Douyin.

How is social media marketing effective for businesses?

Businesses today run quite differently than how they used to 30 to 40 years ago. Companies need to focus on new ways to sell their products. Depending on traditional marketing alone is no longer effective. Businesses must employ omnichannel marketing strategies to keep their competitive edge. Companies need to invest in social media distribution to reach a larger target group. The following strategies describe how social media marketing can be effective for companies and how they can benefit from a social channel strategy.

• Companies can reach the exact target audience through social marketing channels based on demographics, including age, gender, location, behaviors, and others. Thus, advertising to the right individual through target marketing efforts saves you from the cost of wasted ads.

• Companies can use the data that businesses gather for targeted marketing to build audiences and target them later with contextual advertising and irresistible offers.

One of the most significant ways digital marketing social media channels are effective is that they allow you to track your return on investment from the targeted marketing campaigns. Facebook’s Ads Manager Platform holds all related information about your marketing campaigns, allowing you to make decisions based on how your ad spend is performing. Thus, you can cut back on the campaigns that are not bringing good ROI and invest further in the ones showing better results.