Social media was created to connect people. In a world that’s quickly growing more distant and isolated, people crave connection to others—even if it’s behind a computer screen. Because of this, and because social media is so convenient, brands have capitalized on the options it presents.
However, each social media platform has a unique format and appeals to different people. For this reason, it’s important that marketing professionals or those in charge of social media for businesses have a good handle on who exactly the audience is.
Let’s break down two of the most popular social media platforms and their audience behaviors, so as to give marketing professionals a better scope of understanding on how to target messaging accordingly:
Facebook users tend to skew slightly older, and much engagement is often gleaned from education. Of course, the algorithm that Facebook employs is tricky and requires some maneuvering to get content in front of users.
This is where authentic engagement comes into play. Facebook users like to feel emotions and relate to each other on like-minded views. For this reason, depending on the brand, it’s important to steer clear of polarizing topics such as politics or religion.
Instead, focus on getting a reaction that prompts users to engage with the post in a positive way. Just posting a video or a story that evokes that “feels” reaction, even if it’s a re-share of another post, can do wonders to boost the visibility of posts on the company page.
Steer Facebook content towards informative and emotive. Find content that resonates with users, such as a good blog post or interview piece, a photo album, or a video.
On Instagram, users tend to scroll and react quickly, not reading too deeply into captions or copy. For this reason, aesthetics matter more on Instagram than they do on Facebook. Not to say, of course, that poor quality images should ever be used, but it’s even more imperative to make a good impression on this platform.
Take the time and invest in good quality photography for Instagram. It’s also worthwhile to utilize presets for photo editing in software such as Lightroom, which enables users to see a clean, cohesive aesthetic on an Instagram feed.
Captions matter, too. But don’t plan to put paragraphs of information into an Instagram caption. Remember: most users are scrolling and reacting to the photo, not the caption. So keep it concise, creative, and engaging for the best results.
On both of these platforms, interacting with other users and pages can also help grow the page’s visibility and audience organically
This takes a bit of time and energy, but it’s a worthwhile investment to help a page truly perform at its best.
Social media platforms don’t stop with these two! Pinterest, Twitter, Reddit, and YouTube are other examples of platforms with their own individual audiences and voices. While not every business needs to use every platform, for everyone it does utilize it’s important to strike the right tone and appeal to users authentically.
