How Many Social Media Platforms Should You Focus On?

One of the challenges that a lot of companies struggle with is that they know that to be successful, you need to be visible on social media. But how many social media platforms is the right number for you?

When it comes to the number of social media platforms to be on, I believe that the answer is always the same: focus on the platforms that are most relevant to your business. It doesn’t matter if you’re a small business or a large corporation, there’s one thing that remains true for everyone – it’s better to be active and engaged on a few platforms than spread yourself too thin across many. That being said, how do you decide which social media platforms are right for your business? Let’s take a look at some of the factors to consider when making this decision.

What Are The Demographics of the Social Media Platforms ?

Here’s a breakdown of demographics for some major social media platforms:

Age

Facebook: Skews slightly older, with the most active users between 25-34 years old. However, it remains widely used across various age groups.

YouTube: Popular across ages, with a concentration of users between 15-34 years old.

Instagram: Leans younger, with a large portion of users in the 18-24 age range. Usage tends to decline with increasing age.

TikTok: Primarily Gen Z and young Millennials, with the largest user base between 18-24 years old.

X (formerly Twitter): Skews younger, with the largest and most active user base between 18-34 years old.

LinkedIn: Focuses on professionals, with a dominant user base between 25-64 years old.

Gender

Facebook: Fairly even gender distribution, with a slight male majority

YouTube: Generally consistent usage across genders.

Instagram: More popular with females than males [Sprout Social].

TikTok: Gender breakdown varies depending on source, but leans towards females.

X (formerly Twitter): Leans towards males, with a male majority of around 63%.

LinkedIn: More balanced than some platforms, with 43.6% female and 56.2% male users.

What Social Media Platforms Does Your Audience Use?

Now that you understand the age and demographics of each social media platform, the next step in deciding which social media platforms you should focus on is determining who is your target audience? Different audiences have different preferences and engage with different types of content, so it’s important to understand who your customers are before you decide what social networks they use most often. Take time to create buyer personas and survey your existing customers about their preferences. This will help you determine which networks are best for reaching them and engaging them with your brand.

Know Your Goals

In our experience, it’s crucial to prioritize KPIs that align with your specific business goals. Are you aiming to grow brand awareness? Increase website traffic? Drive sales? Identifying these goals will help you choose the most relevant KPIs to track and measure your progress.

Tracking Your Growth

For any social media presence, understanding your follower or subscriber base is crucial. The total number of people who have chosen to follow your pages reflects the appeal of your content to your target audience. A steadily growing follower count indicates you’re successfully building a community around your brand and that your content resonates with your target audience.

However, it’s not just about the raw numbers. The audience growth rate delves deeper by analyzing the percentage increase or decrease in your following over a specific timeframe. This KPI helps you understand how quickly your social media presence is expanding and allows you to pinpoint periods of significant growth or areas where your efforts might need to be adjusted.

Measuring Engagement

Engagement goes beyond simply having a large following; it’s a key indicator of how well your social media content connects with your audience. Likes, comments, shares, and even brand mentions all contribute to your engagement rate. A high engagement rate suggests that your content is interesting, informative, and sparking conversations with your target audience.

Understanding Reach and Visibility

Reach and impressions provide valuable insights into how many people are seeing your content. Reach refers specifically to the unique number of users who saw your post at least once, regardless of whether they interacted with it. Impressions, on the other hand, represent the total number of times your content appeared on users’ feeds, even if they scrolled past it without noticing. By tracking both reach and impressions, you can gauge the effectiveness of your content in capturing your audience’s attention.

Driving Website Traffic and Conversions

Social media shouldn’t function as an isolated entity. Instead, it’s a powerful tool for attracting users to your website or landing pages. Website traffic, measured by clicks on links within your social media posts, indicates how effectively you’re driving users from social media to your main platform. Click-through rate (CTR) takes this a step further by calculating the percentage of users who see your post and click on a link. Finally, the conversion rate dives into the ultimate outcome: what percentage of users who clicked on your link take a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter? Tracking these KPIs allows you to assess how well your social media strategy is contributing to your overall business goals.

Choose A Few Channels And Invest In Them

Once you know who your audience is and what social media channels they use, it’s time to make the decision about which platforms to focus on. By focusing on one or two platforms instead of trying to be everywhere at once, you are able to create better relationships with customers and build trust with them over time. Through effective engagement strategies such as responding quickly to comments and messages, answering questions people have about your product or service, or providing helpful advice related to your industry, you can deepen these relationships even further. And this leads directly back to increased sales for your business!

When it comes down to it, there is no hard-and-fast answer as far as how many social media platforms a business should focus on. It all depends on factors like resources available, target audience demographics, and results from testing various strategies and approaches across different networks. However one thing is certain, having an effective social media presence is essential if businesses want their brands seen by potential customers in today’s digital world!

If you need help amplifying your website content via social media, contact Braveheart Digital Marketing. We’re a social media agency in Manchester NH that can help you reach your target audience and achieve your marketing goals. Contact us today to learn more!