Social media networking sites are one of the most utilized marketing platforms for ecommerce and online businesses. It is a common target of different marketing strategies because of the multitude of people using social media. The latest 2021 data shows that there are roughly 4.62 billion social media users in the whole world. And, it’s expected to balloon to a whopping 6 billion by the year 2027. 

Taking this into consideration, social media platforms make one of the best places to start reaching a target audience and drawing traffic. However, social media marketing is not as easy as one might think. 

Not all marketing strategies work on all social media sites. Therefore, digital marketers need to understand the differences between the most popular social media platforms. This will help them come up with better and more suitable marketing plans for each site. With that, here’s a brief social media platforms comparison and an overview of the most effective social media marketing strategies.

 

What is Digital Marketing?

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Also referred to as online marketing, this is the process of promoting brands, companies, or businesses to customers on the internet. It’s a newly developed marketing field that focuses and uses a variety of digital, web, or online marketing tools and strategies to a target audience. 

Digital marketing is a pivotal aspect of any online business. Its role emphasizes the need to establish a brand as well as develop brand awareness among target communities and potential customers. The purpose of digital marketing is to draw attention to and increase the awareness of internet users of your brand, product, or service. 

However, what makes digital marketing crucial in a business’s growth and success has something to do with competition. There are millions of online businesses and ecommerce websites. Several share the same niche or service specialty. This makes competition for customers and potential buyers even tighter between competing brands. It is typically up to the digital marketing team to come up with a marketing strategy that puts the company above competitors. Some of the factors that digital marketing teams need to consider when conducting social media campaigns include:

 

  • Demographic ( average age, gender, social status)
  • Time differences
  • Type of content
  • Target market and audience
  • Social media platform

 

Marketing Strategies on Different Social Media Platforms

 

Facebook

Facebook is the most popular as well as most used social media platform globally. Recent research shows that Facebook has a monthly active user count of roughly 2.9 billion people. Most of which come from Asian countries such as India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Western nations such as the United States, Brazil, and Mexico also top the ranking of the highest Facebook monthly active users. The majority of the global Facebook users belong to the Millennials and Gen Z groups (ages 18 to 34 years old).

Marketing on Facebook is in a league of its own. Many even consider Facebook as a more influential marketing platform than search engines such as Google. In a 2020 survey, marketing professionals in the US ranked Facebook as the second most important social media platform for broad-spectrum content strategies next to LinkedIn. 

Facebook offers digital marketers the perfect platform to increase visibility and draw traffic. Because of the sheer size of Facebook users in the world, it’s relatively easy to draw some people’s attention. According to a 2018 report, the primary goals of digital marketing strategies on Facebook revolve around:

 

  • Increasing brand awareness.
  • Building solid communities.
  • Boosting sales and lead generation. 
  • Engaging audience.
  • Distribute digital marketing content.

 

Given the demographic of Facebook users, certain digital marketing strategies are considered more effective than others. One of the newest updates to the app is the introduction of Facebook Shorts. This allowed users to post short-form content that can easily draw the attention of its millions of users. 

Facebook advertising is also a widely used marketing tool for online businesses. The social media site offers marketers a comprehensive platform to conduct personalized digital advertising campaigns. However, it is a paid service that businesses need to invest in in order to access and enjoy.

Facebook ads allow companies to advertise using their voice, style, and format for targeted ad campaigns. It even includes ad analytics that reports the level of engagement, views, leads, and traffic generated by each campaign. This can help businesses manage, change, or adjust their marketing strategies depending on the campaign results.

 

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a renowned social media platform primarily used by working professionals and companies. Recent data from the website states it has an average monthly active user count of 810 million. The majority of LinkedIn users belong to the 25 to 34 age group. Of which 48% are female while the remaining 52% are male. When it comes to frequency of use, the latest survey shows that 68% of LinkedIn users log on to the website at least once a week. However, only 22% mentioned using LinkedIn daily. 

Linked as a social media platform has relatively fewer users. However, digital marketers use the platform for slightly different marketing and advertising purposes. Aside from individuals, the LinkedIn website is also composed of company profiles. 

This is because the site is also used as an employment platform where companies can send out job postings and hiring announcements. Therefore, the marketing strategies used on LinkedIn differ from more popular social media platforms such as Facebook or TikTok.

The website also features LinkedIn ads. This marketing tool is used to drive traffic, boost brand awareness, increase engagement, as well as generate leads. However, one notable feature of LinkedIn ads is that it is focused on B2B (business-to-business) campaigns. This allows marketers to draw high-quality leads and valuable accounts instead of simply advertising to a broad audience.

 

TikTok

TikTok is one of the newest social media platforms utilized for digital marketing. Unlike sites such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, TikTok uses short-form video as its primary form of content. According to the latest records, the social media site has approximately 1 billion monthly active users, the majority of which are between the ages of 10 to 19 years old. 

The platform’s popularity grew exponentially during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. By the first quarter of 2020, TikTok experienced more than 315 million app installs. Not only are users multiplying, but the average time spent on the platform is also significant at roughly 90 minutes per day. 

Although the app uses short-form video content, it has proven to be an effective tool for raising brand awareness. Research shows that almost 40% of Gen Z TikTok users’ purchasing habits are influenced by the content they saw on the app. This ranks higher than other social media marketing campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, and other websites. 

 

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