Deciding which platforms work best for your small business

When it comes to marketing your small business on social media, it's not just about what content you put out there - you also have to keep in mind where you are putting that content. By conducting some simple market research, you can define which social media channels will best reach your target audience.

Some important metrics to keep in mind when defining who your audience are:

· The location of your audience
· The online behaviors of your target market
· How long they spend on the internet
· How they prefer to take in their content
· How often they use social media

These factors will help you to obtain an in-depth profile of your audience. With this info, you have the potential to establish what your customer looks like, where they fit demographically and geographically, what stage they are at in their career, and so on.

You might already have something like this. If not, there are a couple of ways to get it.

1. Survey your Customers

Send a quick (or detailed, if you prefer) survey out to your customers, asking them relevant questions that will help you understand what they’re all about.

2. Use Google Analytics Data

It's super simple to link a Google Analytics account to your website. This will not only tell you geographically where your audience is, but will also give you an idea of how people experience your website (how long they stay on the page, what links they click, and so on).

3. Analyze Social Channel Data

Much like Google Analytics, social media channels can easily provide demographic insights into your users. Just make sure your Instagram and Facebook accounts are set up as a business page.

You can also just look at the profiles of people who comment and like your posts to get an idea of which folks interact the most.

If you are still in the early stages and don't yet have this data available to look into, don't lose hope! There is plenty of market research readily available to you out there - simply look at what works and what doesn't work for your competitors!

If you have a competitor doing particularly well on social media, see what channels they’re using and start there. If they have a strategy and it’s working, you can safely assume they’ve already done the necessary research. Study what kind of content they produce, how they schedule it, and how they engage on social channels.

So once you have defined your target audience and you have an idea of how they engage on social, it's time to decide which channels to invest your time and energy into. Below is a rough guide of which businesses pair up best with each channel.

• If you are a B2B organization, your primary target will most likely be on LinkedIn, because this is where businesses network with businesses. 
• Instagram is a visual platform; this will work best for displaying your products in detail or capturing company culture in a snapshot 
• Pinterest is also a visual medium, but it's more a source of organizing inspiration. Demographically, users are mainly female.
• Snapchat is a way to build brand awareness visually in a creative way - like by creating a geotag for your company. It's a great way to market to a target audience under the age of 34. 
• Twitter is a great way to share short messages. This is perfect for announcing things about your company and for having direct conversations with your customers. 
• YouTube is the only strictly video social networking channel. There is no one way to use YouTube and with 1.9 billion subscribed users, there is no one target audience available. 
• Facebook does all of the above but it thrives as a community driven medium. Meaning, if you have a brand that has the potential to function in a community space - this is your best choice. For example, if you are a nonprofit organization you can use Facebook to both promote your work, and as the hub for conversation about that cause for like-minded folks