Social Media Marketing Strategy Development

Social media marketing strategy development begins with your audience and understanding who you are talking to. Then, it flourishes with our social media planning template.

Every social channel varies within its users. Based on the user, the content shared on that specific platform may be addressed differently. Although it may be the same information, the message, the title, and the photos should reflect your users’ interests.

Let’s compare some basic user stats such as age and gender within popular social media platforms. These two factors only skim the surface of a user demographic, but they also put into perspective the obvious, sometimes overlooked differences.

For starters, over 2.5 billion people use these networks, which makes them a huge potential market for your social media efforts. Women, on average, spend 9% more time on social networking sites than men.

According to recent reports:

Facebook has over 1.86 billion active monthly users, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd.

• Age 25 to 34, at 29.7% of users, is the most common age demographic
• 68% of all American adults use this platform
• 88% of all those ages 18-29 use Facebook
• Especially appealing to women, 60% female and 40% male

Twitter has 1.3 billion user accounts with 319 million average monthly users. 

• 59% of users are ages 18 to 49
• Top demographic age of 18-29, make up 36% of users 
• User ratio is 48% male and 52% female

Pinterest has over 150 million users.

• User ratio is 79% female and 21% male
• Top demographic age 18-29 makes up 36% of users 

Instagram, a mobile phone social app, has over 400 million active users each month.

• 59% users ages 18 to 29
• 55% of users are under 29 years old
• Daily user ratio - Men 35% and women 65%
• 59% of 18-29-year-old cell phone users

LinkedIn, for a more professional audience, has 106 million active monthly users.

• User ratio 44% female users and 56% male
• 67% of users are 18-49 years old  
• 77% of all users are 30 and older 

Tumblr has over 34 million monthly users.

• 61% of users are 13-18 years old
• 68% of visitors are women

Google+ tends to be used by professionals and has 375 million users.

• 26% female and 74% male users
• Just 16 million people post and engage on Google+ each month

YouTube has over 1.3 billion active users

• Reaches more U.S. adults aged 18-34 than any cable TV network
• Users are 62% male and 38% female
• Over 30 million daily users

Your audience may very well be the most important factor in determining whether your message is on target. You may believe you have the best written content ever, but if it is not relevant to the users of that platform, it might as well be invisible.  Pay attention to your audience responses and requests, both negative and positive. Feed them what they like and they are more likely to come back for more. 

Now that you understand the differences in users on social media, you need to get to know your own audience and how to address them.

Develop a Persona

One of the best ways to determine your buyers and users is through persona development. Persona development is key for mapping visuals and messages to your target audiences. If you can get inside your audience’s head, you will be able to understand what works for them.

Buyer personas are a fictional representation of your average existing customers. Developing these can help you discover who they are, their goals, how they think, and what influences their buying decisions.

This process allows you to get to know who your buying audiences are; to put yourself in their shoes. Based on the information you gather, you can determine what channels will really grab their attention.

Most personas are based on data collected from real-life interviews - which capture behavior patterns, goals, skills, attitudes, and environment. A buyer persona is based on demographics including:

• Age
• Gender
• Profession
• Level of education
• Role in buying cycle
• Income
• Shopping habits
• Interests
• Purpose (why are they buying the product)
• Search and social habits 

Only 67% of internet users are active on social media. Conducting buyer persona research will help you determine if social media is the best way to reach your potential customers.

To ensure the best and most effective return on marketing efforts, you need to market your products and services to those most likely to make a purchase. Understanding those particular people, is crucial to expanding your brand, your buyers and ultimately your business. Check out our introduction to social media marketing for more tips.