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We’ve all heard it before.
“[INSERT APP NAME HERE] is the only place to be right now! If you’re not on this app—you’re not even TRYING to market your business!”
If this advice makes you want to slowly back away and act like you never heard it so you can be guilt-free in not implementing it, we’re with you.
While we love marketing (hi, we’re DigitalMarketer), we also love being realistic.
Does EVERY business need to be on EVERY platform?
No.
Your business needs to be on the platforms your customers enjoy using. This means that if you’ve noticed your audience of bamboo basket-weaving hobbyists doesn’t ever seem to mention spending hours on TikTok; you’re probably okay to skip that app. On the other hand, maybe your creative audience loves watching Instagram time-lapse videos of somebody weaving baskets on IGTV. You’ve found your golden ticket.
Now, we’re not exactly sure if bamboo basket weaving is really a thing (feel free to let us know), but what we do know is that thinking you need to be everywhere is a bad idea.
You need to be where it makes the most sense for your products to be seen.
Here are some of the current trending social media platforms, accompanied by statistics that will tell you whether or not your audience is inclined to use them.
(Quick note: We’re only including statistics from 2018 or 2019 in this article to make sure it’s up-to-date, so available statistics for each platform varies.)
Snapchat
If you’ve ever posted an Instagram story, you know exactly how to use Snapchat. Snapchat is actually where Facebook (Instagram’s parent company) got the idea to let their users post Instagram stories for engagement that deleted after 24 hours.
Where Snapchat differs from Instagram is that it’s much harder to follow a brand or influencer just by discovering them on the platform. With that said, you can certainly pay Snapchat to show your product to users while they’re looking through the Snapchats of the people they follow (skippable ads) or watching shows (these ads can’t be skipped through).
About Snapchat Users:
Number of users: 203 million
Location:
- 83 million Snapchat users in North America (41% of their users)
- 64 million Snapchat users in Europe (32% of their users)
Age:
- 73% of 18–24-year-olds use Snapchat
- 47% of 25–29-year-olds use Snapchat
- 25% of 30–49-year-olds use Snapchat
Gender:
- 61% of Snapchat users are female
- 38% of Snapchat users are male
Saturday Night Live, People Magazine, and National Geographic have adapted their content for Snapchat. While Snapchat keeps a reputation of being popular amongst only teenagers, the statistics are telling us another story. Young adults are certainly using the app, but so are people in their late 20s and 40s.
TikTok
If you remember hearing about Musical.ly and then wondering where it went, there’s a reason. In 2017, Musical.ly was acquired by the company that owns TikTok (Bytedance). They combined Musical.ly and the current version (named Douyin) into a social media love child—TikTok. TikTok is available in 154 countries and still goes by its original name, Douyin, in China.
About TikTok Users:
Number of TikTok users: 500 million monthly users
Age:
Household Income:
While TikTok, similarly to Snapchat, is more popular among Generation Z, there’s still leverage for advertising on the platform to unexpected demographics, like new mothers. Big-name brands advertising on TikTok include; Nike, Fenty Beauty, and Apple Music.
Lasso
Remember how Facebook took the idea of short videos that disappeared in 24 hours from Snapchat? Well, it looks like they’ve run the same play on TikTok. In 2018 Facebook launched Lasso, which is pretty similar to TikTok. In this case, if you’ve used TikTok or seen TikTok videos, you’re going to understand how to use Lasso.
About Lasso Users:
The only difference between TikTok and Lasso right now is their audience size. With Lasso’s recent launch, we don’t have many demographic statistics to give to you, other than that they have 70,000 USA users.
What we can give you is some guidance. If you looked at the above TikTok stats and thought, “Yup, that’s my audience!”, then it’s a safe bet to start creating content on Lasso as well. The key is to create audience-engaging content that drives results.
(NOTE: Need a helping hand with your digital marketing efforts? Or maybe you just want proven, actionable marketing tools, tactics, and templates to implement in your business? Check out the latest deal from DigitalMarketer, and you will be on your way to helping your business grow.)
Reddit could be called the grandfather/grandmother of the social media era. Founded in 2005, Reddit has remained among the top 10 most-used social platforms despite Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter’s takeover. The platform is divided by topics called Subreddits, where users can post, upvote, and comment. At this point, and with so many users, there’s pretty much a subreddit for anything you can think of (like r/marketing, r/accidentalrenaissance, and r/BreadStapledToTrees).
About Reddit Users:
Number of users: 330 million active users
Location:
- 38% of Reddit desktop traffic came from the USA
- 7.22% of Reddit desktop traffic came from the United Kingdom
- 5.69% of Reddit desktop traffic came from Canada
- 3.19% of Reddit desktop traffic came from Germany
- 3.08% of Reddit desktop traffic came from Australia
Age:
- 22% of 18–29-year-old US adults use Reddit
- 14% of 30–49-year-old US adults use Reddit
- 6% of 50–64-year-old US adults use Reddit
- 1% of 65+ year-old US adults use Reddit
The key to Reddit is understanding their moderator rules. While you can pay for advertising on the platform, you can also advertise your business for free through valuable content. Moderators in each Subreddit will make sure you’re not going on a sales pitch—but as long as you’re giving something of value and being discreet about your CTA, you can get away with some free advertising to your specific audience niche (like people who need to buy staples so they can staple bread to trees…).
Tumblr
Alongside Reddit, Tumblr has also been around for a while. Founded in 2007, the photo platform arguably set the precedence for Instagram. The concept is similar—post photos and short videos (Gifs are really popular on this platform), and get followers.
Tumblr has certainly seen a decline in traffic since Instagram dominated the space, but there is definitely still an audience that has remained loyal to Tumblr.
About Tumblr Users:
Number of users: 381 million unique visitors
Location:
- 34.95% of desktop traffic comes from the USA
- 5.66% of desktop traffic comes from the UK
- 3.43% of desktop traffic comes from Brazil
- 4.21% of desktop traffic comes from Canada
- 3.6% of desktop traffic comes from Germany
Just like with Snapchat, TikTok, Lasso, and Reddit, the best way to know if this platform is valuable to your marketing strategy is to see if your customers are on there.
Statistics like the above are great for figuring out the potential of these platforms, but asking your prospective customers/current customers where they are spending their time is even better. That’s when you can build an editorial calendar around the content they want to see and where they want to see it.
Let’s recall: Every business does not need to be on every platform.
They just need to be on the platforms that matters to their customers.
(NOTE: Need a helping hand with your digital marketing efforts? Or maybe you just want proven, actionable marketing tools, tactics, and templates to implement in your business? Check out the latest deal from DigitalMarketer, and you will be on your way to helping your business grow.)
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