What Social Channel Is Best For Your Brand?

When it comes to building a brand online, it can be tricky to figure out a starting point. The social world is ever-evolving: something that may have been a hit on Facebook years ago or caused a video to become a YouTube sensation probably won’t gain any traction these days. Often, that’s not even due to the quality of the content involved, but rather the shifts in algorithms and data that inform strategies for these platforms.

 

 

Take the notorious behemoth that is Facebook, for example. For most of the platform’s life, posts were displayed chronologically, allowing users to engage with posts from anyone they follow, whether it be a friend, a brand, or a topic. Since implementing the Edge-Rank Algorithm, Facebook has now become a place that tries to present content based on how likely a user is to engage. This means many more things are missed unless intentionally sought out, and could also mean that Facebook might not be the best place to concentrate efforts unless your brand arrives with a hearty, built-in following.

How to Make the Facebook Algorithm Work for You in 2021

 

 

While Facebook skepticism has increased significantly over the past few years, Instagram has only continued to grow. The platform now boasts a staggering surplus of 1 billion monthly users. According to insights from Hootsuite, 81% of Instagram users tend to use the platform for research — often, research like assessing the vibes of a buzzy new neighborhood bar or comparing two destination hotels.

 

For marketers, though, the stats that really matter fall into the shopping category, which may have informed Instagram’s recent decision to add a Shopping tab of its own (a decision that sparked a pretty significant backlash from general users). Over 130 million Instagram users tap on shopping posts every month! From there, 50% of users have visited a website to make a purchase after seeing a new product or service. Tapping into that kind of demographic is on every marketer’s list.

 

 

Meanwhile, Twitter tends to be viewed as its own little world — and often, this assessment is accurate. While perhaps less likely to drive direct purchases, Twitter can be fantastic for increasing general brand awareness and particularly for establishing a brand voice. Twitter is a place where information is disseminated extremely quickly, critical in breaking news, making the platform a place that cycles at the speed of light.

Just a few days off Twitter can leave people entirely out of the loop — the truth is that the next big meme often originates on Twitter, gets screenshotted and shared to Instagram, and then lands on Facebook weeks later. (Even if Twitter isn’t the right platform for your brand, consider having someone on your team who is tweet savvy…just to make sure you don’t end up a brand that’s way behind the times.

 

These three corners of the Internet have proved relative staying power, and while there may be a new player in town named TikTok, it’s much less likely that this is the right starting point for a brand that, once again, doesn’t already have a platform on the app. It’s a wildly creative place, though, and is yielding actors, writers, thought leaders, and changemakers. For you and your brand, though? It might be best to stick to some classics for now.