As a small business owner, your time is short. That’s probably the understatement of the year. Your time and dollars are in short supply, but promoting your business is still crucial, so where to focus your attention?
The Stats
2022 stats by GWI.com show which social media platforms rule globally. Not surprisingly, WhatsApp, which is used extensively internationally was ranked first in the global data. Here in the U.S., sending SMS text messages is essentially free to most with a mobile phone. This is not the case in other countries. Those outside the U.S. use WhatsApp to communicate instead of text. So putting WhatsApp aside, clearly Instagram and Facebook dominate here in the United States.
Which is the more important platform?
Depends on the age of your customer. Trying to reach Millenials? Gen Xers? Or maybe Boomers?
According to the data from GWI.com, Insta largely pulls Millenials between the ages of 16 and 34, where Facebook skews a (slightly) older crowd. FB is king among those aged 35 to 64. When time is ticking and in short supply, Twitter and TikTok just don’t have the same value for your time investment.
The good news is you don’t really have to pick between Facebook and Instagram. Because FB owns Insta, you can set up and then connect your accounts. If you make a post for Facebook, it can easily be shared to Instagram at the same time. Points for tweaking it for Insta, but it’s easy at that. And, you can schedule your posts, get insights into the best times to publish them and even get suggestions for themes on which you might post like National Ice Cream Day.
Don’t Forget
It might not be considered a social media platform, but don’t forget about your Google My Business account. Once you write something for Facebook, don’t forget to copy it there too to keep Google apprised of your freshest content.
Remember, regardless the platform, don’t forget to push people back to your website to take actions. You need them to sign up for emails, buy products, schedule tours, become a member, complete an application and more. When it makes sense, push those social media users to your website to maximum conversion.
Want to talk more about social media strategy? Need help coming up with content? Let’s talk.
