Debra Fisher, PR and Marketing Manager

• Creating a social presence that’s right for your brand
• Utilising social functions
• Staying on top of social trends

Social media is fast, ever changing and a constant algorithm adventure*.

According to Statista, there are 17 social networks in the world with the most used platform, Facebook, having 2,797 million active users globally and the lowest used platform Quora, with 300 million active users. In recent years, brands have come to use these platforms to reach the millions of social media users to sell, promote and raise awareness of their products and services. Sometimes though, brands get it wrong.

Before creating a presence on a platform, it is essential for a brand to consider what it does, how it functions and ask:

1. Is my target audience using the platform?

2. Are the users based in the market I want to reach?

3. What are the features the platform provides and should I use all of them?

With the emergence of new social channels, some lasting and some transient – R.I.P Vine – it’s important to consider the audience on the platform. There have been many scenarios of brands creating an account on a new social platform without considering if their target audience is, or will be, using it. For example, TikTok is great if you want to reach teens but if your target market is above 60, you may want to think again.

A huge advantage of social media for brands is that it blurs geographical boarders, allowing interaction between multiple countries and time zones, but it’s worth being aware that different social media platforms are more prevalent in some countries than others. Brands should take the time to review a platform’s audience metrics to see where the largest user group is living, and should also consider if there are any government restrictions in the target countries too – think WeChat for China. 

With social media being an ever changing beast, it is important for brands to keep up with the latest functionalities, but this doesn’t mean jumping on the bandwagon and curating content for the next new thing. Keep in mind your target audience and the types of content that they engage with. Remember that, for social media content, it is always quality over quantity. No churn here please!

One example of this is back in late 2020, when LinkedIn took a leaf out of Instagram’s book and introduced its own LinkedIn Stories function. Created to be used on the mobile app version of the platform only, LinkedIn Stories was there to help brands and individuals show everyday professional moments in an instant. A fantastic feature for brands and organisations to profile internal day to day life, showcase culture to prospective employees and even give a teaser for an upcoming campaign. But for most corporates, potentially not a feature of the app to use.

Cracking the code to achieving great results on social media will always take practice, continuous tweaking and the acceptance that what you may think will be great content, may not land with followers. When new features and social apps come along, remember to ask yourself the above questions before adopting them for a brand’s social media presence.

*we use ‘adventure’ loosely in the world of content management and navigating everchanging algorithms