Determining if social media marketing is the key channel for your business requires careful consideration of various factors. Before you reallocate part of your budget and resources from key channels that are known to perform to social media, take a moment to evaluate the suitability of social media marketing based on your offerings, target audience demographics, and their online behaviors. After a deep dive into your consumer’s behaviors, buying habits, researcher journey, and online preferences, you may find that social media marketing is likely not a key channel for your business. For instance, enterprise B2B technologies, which cater to a niche market, might not experience a notable boost from social media marketing. Their buyers are often researching for complex solutions through industry-specific platforms, events, or direct referrals, rather than scrolling through social media feeds. Before you make any big moves, it is crucial to evaluate the suitability of social media marketing based on your specific industry, products, target audience demographics, and their online behaviors.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to how to evaluate whether social media is a key channel for your business.

Step 1: Understand Your Products and/or Services

Before you dive into social media marketing, assess the nature of your offerings. Consider the following aspects:

• Visual Appeal: Are your products or services visually appealing? The impact of visual appeal in social media campaigns is significant. Can your offering be effectively communicated through images or videos? Social media platforms are predominantly visual, making them ideal for showcasing visually appealing products such as fashion, home decor, food, or travel-related items.
• Shareability: Is your product or service shareable in nature? Consider the shareability of what you’re offering. Here’s an interesting take on content virality. If your offerings have an inherent social aspect, such as event tickets, exclusive experiences, or unique gifts, social media can be a powerful platform for your business. Users love to share interesting and exclusive content, which can potentially amplify your brand reach.
• Storytelling Potential: Also, think about the storytelling potential of your products or services. Effective storytelling techniques on social media can make a huge difference. Can your products or services be presented through compelling narratives? Social media provides an excellent opportunity to tell stories, engage your audience emotionally, and build a loyal community around your brand. This is particularly effective for businesses in the creative industries, such as publishing, entertainment, or art.

Step 2: Analyze Your Target Audience Demographics

Who are you trying to reach? Understand the age, interests, and social media habits of your audience. Understanding your target audience is crucial for any marketing strategy, including social media. Consider the following factors to evaluate if your audience aligns with social media demographics:

• Age and Generation: Social media platforms have different user demographics. For example, younger audiences are more active on platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok, while Facebook has a broader age range. Consider the age and generational preferences of your target audience and choose platforms accordingly. For insights into age and generation-specific platform usage, check out these demographic statistics.
• Interests and Hobbies: Does your target audience exhibit a strong presence on social media platforms related to their interests and hobbies? For example, if you offer fitness-related products or services, platforms like Instagram and YouTube, which are popular among fitness enthusiasts, can be a suitable choice. If you’re targeting specific interests or hobbies, here’s how to engage these groups on Instagram and YouTube.
• B2B or B2C Orientation: Different social media platforms cater to different business orientations. LinkedIn is widely used for B2B networking and professional connections, while platforms like Facebook and Instagram are more consumer-oriented. Consider your business model and whether your target audience is more likely to engage with your brand in a personal or professional context. For businesses with a B2B or B2C orientation, strategies differ. Learn about B2B marketing on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Step 3: Assess Your Audience’s Online Behaviors

Analyzing your target audience’s online behaviors will help you determine if they are active social media users and if social media marketing is an effective channel for reaching them. Consider the following factors:

• Platform Usage: Research the social media platforms your target audience prefers and spends the most time on. Consider their engagement levels, user activity, and the type of content they typically consume.
• Influencer Culture: Does your target audience follow and engage with influencers? Influencer marketing is a popular strategy on social media, especially among younger demographics. If your audience is highly influenced by social media personalities, it might indicate that social media marketing can be a key channel for your business. Keep in mind, influencers don’t just apply to consumer goods. There are also the Neil Patel’s of the world that influence and inspire professionals and industry experts (he’s one of my favorite accounts to follow!). Pro Tip: before you bank your strategy on influencers, it’s a good idea to start with a test and do a ROI analysis. While this strategy can be effective, it is often also costly.
• Online Purchasing Behavior: Research if your target audience makes purchase decisions based on social media recommendations or ads. If your audience is prone to exploring products or services on social media platforms and relies on reviews or endorsements, then social media marketing can be a valuable channel for your business.

Determining whether social media marketing is the key channel for your business requires a comprehensive analysis of your products or services, target audience demographics, and online behaviors. By understanding the visual appeal, share-ability, and storytelling potential of your offerings, and evaluating your target audience’s demographics and online behaviors, you can make an informed decision about leveraging social media as a powerful marketing tool. Remember, each business is unique, and it’s essential to continually evaluate and adapt your marketing strategies to maximize your reach and engagement with your target audience.