It is possible to make a profit for online shops to prioritize social media marketing. There are many platforms available, each catering to a different audience, with different characteristics and locations.
Spreading yourself too thin can prevent you from being successful. What social media platform should your focus be? How can you combine your efforts to achieve success?
Comparing popular social media platforms
Who is on it?
Facebook is the most popular social media platform. You can reach:
- 2.5 Billion active monthly users across all age groups.
- Seniors are the fastest-growing demographic. Nearly 40% of people born before 1945 have a Facebook account.
- There are people all over the globe — about 10% of users live in the United States or Canada.
What can you do to help?
You can reach past site visitors and target ads based upon interests and affiliations. It also allows you to collect leads, promote videos, photos, testimonials, send direct messaging, and more. You can set up a business page for your store to share information, get reviews, gain followers and interact with customers.
A Facebook shop can be created. This allows users to view products on the platform and then buy them from your WooCommerce website. This extension syncs all of your store data so that you don’t have to manually add each product.
Who should use it
Facebook has many tools and audiences that can be used by almost any brand. This is the best social media platform to focus on if you have only one.
Who is on it?
You can reach:
- 37% of Americans, and as high as 75% of 18-24 year-olds.
- There are more women than there are men.
- Many things appeal to fashion, cars, and food lovers: nature, sport, travel, wellness, and so much more.
What are you able to do?
Instagram is all about images. Instagram is all about images. You can interact with your followers and add text, but most people scroll through their feeds quickly and only stop to admire the photos they like.
It is owned by Facebook. You can use it to reach Instagram users, even if your store doesn’t have an account. You can also advertise directly on Instagram’s platform, but your targeting options are more limited than with Facebook.
Businesses have found influencers on Instagram to be incredibly valuable. While they may be celebrities in some cases, many are well-known for their work on Instagram. They have built credibility and attracted attention by creating unique, relevant content.
The right influencer can help you promote your products and provide instant validation.
Who should it be used?
Instagram is the ideal platform for visual brands such as artists, designers, and clothing boutiques. Companies in almost any industry can use Instagram to communicate their brand and products visually.
Who is on it?
You can reach:
- A targeted audience of approximately 145,000,000 users with paid ads
- There are approximately 50 million Americans, 36.77 million from Japan, and 14.1million from the United Kingdom.
- Younger people, more educated, involved in politics, and community causes, and have higher incomes tend to be better off than the average person.
What can you do to help?
Text-based messages can be sent with a maximum of 280 characters. Twitter hashtags are a system to organize types of content. Many people use them to search for relevant tweets.
Recent years have seen videos and pictures become more popular. Tweets that contain multimedia or include hashtags are more engaging.
Twitter is different from Facebook. While you might want to limit how often you post, Twitter allows you to update multiple times per day. You can even update every hour if you add value to the community.
Who should use it
Twitter could be a good choice if you want to reach young, well-educated people who are open to learning and willing to take an active role in society. Twitter is also useful for providing quick service to customers.
YouTube
Who uses them?
YouTube boasts nearly two billion monthly users. You can reach them at:
- It’s used by 73% of American adults — it’s the most popular social media platform for adults.
- 81% of U.S. 15- to 25-year-olds are in this age group
- Global audience — Only one-third of videos are in English and only 15% of the platform are made up of U.S. citizens.
What can you do to help?
You can publish and sponsor your videos and also advertise using banner ads or video ads. Advertisers can be targeted based on their interests, demographics, and purchase intent.
YouTube ads are the same platform used for Google Adwords and remarketing ads. Targeting is more precise than AdWords. While you can predict user preferences and shopping intent, it’s still not the same as being able to show up when someone searches for “designer flea collars” for dogs.
YouTube is a search engine that makes it easy to find information. A potential buyer for your masonry equipment might search “how to build fire pits,” which could be a great topic to create a video. This will help you gain customers and help them reach their goals.
Who should it be used?
YouTube can be used by almost all businesses, just like Facebook. This is particularly true for businesses whose products can be displayed “DIY style” or demonstrated.
Videos are a great tool for many companies. Although you may not believe that cosmetics need a lot of explanations, makeup tutorials have become very popular. You can make previews of your online classes with high-value content to convince people to buy the entire course.
Who is on it?
Pinterest allows you to:
- 300,000,000 active users, with one-third of them in the United States.
- More than half of all U.S. millennials.
- Between the ages 18 and 64, up to 80% of U.S. women have children.
- 83% of women aged between 25 and 44 are female.
This is why it’s so important. These are the same people who make the majority of U.S. household buying decisions. This means that even though the audience size is not to be ignored it offers a huge opportunity for buying power.
What can you do to help?
Pinterest is similar to Instagram in that its main focus is on imagery. However, it also has a powerful search function which makes it an excellent resource for anyone planning anything, from a week’s dinner menu, to major home renovations, weddings, and vacations.
Many people view Pinterest as more of a search engine rather than a social networking platform. Many pictures will be displayed if someone searches for “healthy Italian chicken recipes”. Users can save the images they like to “boards” so that they can return later to create their menu. Consider creating a pin for recipes that use ingredients from your business. You never know who might choose your recipe and then include it in their grocery lists.
Who should use it
People are looking for entertainment, information, and interaction on social media platforms. Marketers need to interrupt the experience with their message, hoping that people will respond positively. Pinterest is a great tool for businesses, as people use it to plan purchases.
- Pinterest is used by 85% of women to plan their lives.
- 58% of respondents say it helps them make better shopping decisions.
- 70% of people use it to search for watches and accessories.
- It is used by 50% of people to search for food and drink ideas.
Pinterest is a great place to showcase your visual products if they are connected with life events such as weddings, home renovations, or vacations.
A great tip for Pinterest users: Group boards can help you maximize your time. Group boards are designed around a particular topic, such as outfit ideas, healthy recipes, and educational resources. All members can contribute pins. The group board’s content is shared with both your followers and the followers of other members. This gives it a much greater organic reach. To find similar-minded businesses, you can either join boards on Pinterest directly or use tools such as Tailwind Tribes.
Who is on it?
LinkedIn has almost 700 million users. You can reach them:
- 25% of Americans have a college degree, and 50% of Americans have a bachelor’s degree.
- Global audience — 70% of users are not in the United States, with 211 million Europeans.
- The majority of LinkedIn’s young professionals are aged 34 or younger.
LinkedIn is a great platform for people looking to advance or start their careers and for companies searching for talent.
What can you do to help?
To post updates, photos, and other content, you can create a company Facebook page. You can also allow your team members to link their employment to the page.
LinkedIn’s advertising capabilities make it easy to hire new staff and establish business relationships. Like many social media platforms, you can also target past website visitors or upload customer lists.
Your ability to target specific people, such as those with specific job titles or who work for specific companies, is the best thing about targeting specific industries. You can reach all sales reps working at companies in your industry by using this method.
Who should it be used?
You can sell to other companies or offer products that professionals might be interested in — such as clothes, gadgets, office furniture, and time-saving meals. LinkedIn is the right place for you.
Social media is in action
We’ve created two fictional businesses to give you an idea of how social media can be used to your advantage.
WooGroom: Service and retail combination
WooGroom is here! WooGroom is a fictional dog grooming business that has a physical location. They offer services and sell products in the store. They also have an internet shop where they sell grooming tools.
Facebook:
WooGroom is WooGroom’s home base for all things Social. They can post reviews, share their contact information and address, as well as share irresistible photos of dogs and useful blog posts. To make it easier to sell on Facebook and Instagram, they’ve connected their WooCommerce shop.
WooGroom understands that content is king. This is why they use WooCommerce and WordPress together. They publish a blog about dog grooming each week and use Facebook’s remarketing pixels to share the posts, along with any new offers, with anyone who has visited their site previously.
They’ll be able to prove their worth to potential buyers by regularly showing beautiful dogs and getting great reviews. Although they don’t advertise any special offers constantly, their followers are often happy to receive them.
Pinterest:
WooGroom makes new pins each day. They showcase before and after photos, new products, and tips for home grooming.
To connect with their audience, they post photos featuring dogs of different colors and styles. They also add relevant keywords to Pinterest’s search engine so that they appear before potential customers. They join a Pinterest group board for pet care and reach a new audience of dog owners.
WooGroom has many followers who love to see cute animals on their feeds. Many of their followers are dog owners, and they purchase shampoos and other supplies through their online store.
Instagram:
People love to follow animals via Instagram — Jiffpom has nearly 11 million followers. With some advertising and effort, our groomer connects with local pet owners looking for adorable dogs.
WooGroom partners with an influencer, who posts photos of her dogs after being groomed and videos using their products.
YouTube:
WooGroom makes how-to videos that are useful for dog owners who want to groom their dogs. This also creates new business opportunities as viewers become impressed by WooGroom’s work. This is a way to “showcase” your dog and it is more popular than disruptive ads.
WooGroom manages to show its products in these videos and provide links to buy them. They don’t need to make a lengthy sales pitch but provide more useful content on their website. WooGroom can reach YouTube viewers again using remarketing ads to turn many of them into customers after they have read the content.
WooFirm: Service-based business
Social media is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think about lawyers, accountants, and financial advisors. They can, however, if they use it to deliver value to their ideal audiences, too could succeed. Here’s how WooFirm, our fictional accounting firm, would use social media.
Twitter:
WooFirm is a Twitter community that engages with current issues. We join the discussion about financial events by sharing helpful tips and knowledge. Twitter hashtags are perhaps more important than any other platform. WooFirm uses them for finding conversations about relevant topics.
One might tweet: “Stuck on this QuickBooks problem. What is wrong with my sales taxes? Are there any #accountants? WooFirm can quickly respond to questions and gain a new clients.
LinkedIn:
WooFirm publishes thought-leadership blogs on WordPress and shares them on LinkedIn to build credibility with potential clients. LinkedIn’s advertising platform allows them to reach certain business types and people who have relevant job titles.
WooFirm posts job openings on LinkedIn. This allows them to advertise to anyone with an accounting-related education in their region.
WooFirm’s sales team uses LinkedIn for old colleagues to build new relationships and connect with them.
Facebook:
WooFirm clients are on Facebook so it’s a great spot to share general business information, updates, blog posts, offers, and other updates.
They also use Facebook for remarketing to potential clients with valuable, non-intrusive content and advice.
YouTube:
WooFirm understands that YouTube users are often looking for solutions to their problems. They reach business owners by answering accounting-related questions and demonstrating an Excel trick or showing a quicker way to complete a task within QuickBooks. Many of them become clients.
Many countries around the globe created financial programs that were specifically designed to assist businesses in the COVID-19 crisis. WooFirm filmed a video on how to apply in their area for help and posted it to YouTube. It is highly informative, adds value to the community, and encourages business owners to contact WooFirm to get professional assistance.
A client is also interviewed once per month. They then turn this into a short video of three minutes that tells a story and praises their services. WooFirm also posts the video on YouTube and LinkedIn. They also use Jetpack’s video hosting service for WordPress.
Just get started
Social media can make almost any business successful. The trick is to choose the right platforms and concentrate your efforts. Instead of posting the same content everywhere, use each platform to its strengths. You can increase your reach, show expertise, create excitement, capture new customers, and build customer loyalty by combining several touch points.
