07 Jul The Right Social Network for your Target Persona

If you know anything about marketing, target personas are foundational to marketing strategy. A target persona is the ideal customer you are trying to reach with your marketing efforts. In order to do this, you must create a demographic breakdown of the target persona’s name, pain point, need, traits/qualities, job title, and preferred social channels. Then, you need to research where your target persona is hanging out on social media. Is it Facebook? Pinterest? Snapchat? LinkedIn? Instagram? TikTok? Perhaps a combination of two or more? The possibilities are endless. There are at least 75 we know of, and more are popping up every day. Enough to make your head spin.

Let’s start with a short list of the most popular 7 apps – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest, and Reddit.

Facebook - "Older Family"

Oh, Facebook. Fondly do we recall your earliest days when you were the biggest new fad circa 2007. You’re like Superman before all his DC Comics friends showed up on the scene. Though people of all backgrounds use Facebook, your best bet is to use Facebook to target a generally older demographic. What do I mean by older? You’re pretty safe for users 50 years old and up, 65% of whom use Facebook. If your target persona is big on family connections, Facebook is the place where everyone likes to stay connected with their friends and family.

Twitter – "Young Urban Professional"

The short 300-character limit on tweets is pretty slim spacing for most content marketers. Twitter’s like that stereotypical middle child who’s always around, but gets the least attention. Don’t count out Twitter for your marketing strategy. If your target persona falls on the young (ages 18-29), you got yourself a great social channel to use. In fact, 44% of them use Twitter. Twitter also appeals to those who have plenty of spare cash in their pockets. As of 2020, 80% of Twitter users are affluent millennials.

Instagram – "Female Friendly"

A picture says a thousand words. That’s Instagram for you. Because of the premium on visuals, this caters to the kind of consumer who’s image-conscious. Because of their general propensity for glamour and beauty, women tend to dominate this channel. 43% of women in the United States use Instagram, versus just 31% of men in the US. Because of Instagram’s visually friendly features, using the app for displaying your business’s products is key to reaching your target persona. Instagram can truly make a difference in your eCommerce game.

LinkedIn – "Business Leaders"

Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn certainly bends toward an older crowd. However, because of its heavily professional nature, you’ll want to think deeply about whether your target persona is looking to grow his popularity or his portfolio. LinkedIn is great for targeting folks based on company, industry, and job title. Based on how your target persona operates, this can be one smooth operation for your business’ marketing strategy.

Snapchat – "The Future is Here"

Snapchat is an up-and-coming app that should be on your radar not just for 2020 but beyond. Over 90% of Snapchat users are 13-24 years old. They’re today’s high school and college students, but tomorrow’s professionals, leaders, and big buyers. If your target persona falls into this camp, you will not want to neglect Snapchat as a social channel. In addition, similar to Instagram, because of its visual-friendly focus, female users are abundant. Depending on your product or service, Snapchat could be a great gender-focused ROI for your digital marketing efforts.

Pinterest – "Positive Thinking"

Who doesn’t want to be happy? Pinterest is a common source for those how-to recipes, shopping ideas, and DIY projects. What does this all mean for you? People are used to positive messaging on Pinterest. Your target persona, if they’re looking for a mood lift on a regular basis, is on this social channel. And if your company is a B2C shop, you should definitely not neglect Pinterest. Take full advantage of Pinterest’s capabilities as an eCommerce platform to appeal to your target persona, and watch the big bucks start rolling in.

Reddit – "Y Chromosome"

This is the platform for young men. The majority of Reddit users are male. Consider Reddit as today’s version of yesterday’s newspaper. Regardless of what knowledge or insight users wish to share, it’s a great social channel for newsworthy headlines and subtopics. So consider your target audience and how they consume information. Are they likely to look online? You might have yourself something here if they do.

Ultimately, your target persona may use several of these apps but it is important to know each channel’s demographics and its purposes for users. As part of Thoughtlight’s services, we can help you with your social media strategy. To make sure you don’t make any social media mistakes, consider reading Thoughtlight’s advice on the subject. Just remember that having the right social media marketing strategy hinges on knowing your target persona and where they spend their time online.