My framework for every solid social media strategy includes six M-words: mission, message, management, medium, metrics, and monitoring.
Every time I need to create a new strategy, I start here.
The rest of the book elaborates on these elements, and here is a snapshot of each.
Mission
What are the goals? It’s crucial to know the goals because they are the why.
Why is the brand or organization using social media channels?
I’m not referring to the company’s mission; the social media mission should differ from the mission of the entire organization.
Your social media mission (should you choose to accept it) is more like a mission James Bond or John Wick would take on – an assignment to meet a specific objective.
You need to know what your goals are in order to achieve them.
Your goals become your North Star when faced with decisions challenging your strategy.
Having clear goals gives you reason to say “No” to content or tactics that do not align with or support the objectives you’re trying to achieve by using social media.
If not, your content will lack focus, and if you don’t know why you’re using the platform, then your audience won’t know either.
Using social media just to be on the platforms is like being a hamster on a wheel doing a lot of work for no purpose or ever achieving anything. If you don’t know why you’re doing it, then why do it?
Message
What are the stories you want to tell to support your goals?
It’s a way to show your audience you relate to their needs, concerns, and priorities.
No one wants to listen to anyone making a point, but people will stop to listen to a good story. Being consistent with your message is how you achieve your goals.
The marketing rule of seven states that customers need to be exposed to your brand at least seven times before they make a purchase.
A colleague I once worked with remarked that you, meaning employees working within the company, have to be sick of a message, like literally want to throw up if you have to hear the message one more time, before consumers even start to take notice of it.
Thus, your messages have to be constant, repetitive, and laser focused in order to reach your audiences. What stories are your social media feeds telling?
Management
What are your processes and procedures?
It’s important to have a system when posting social media content, and it should be all written down.
There’s something about having processes and procedures written on paper that makes them feel more official and formal.
When you have a process document it helps to gain trust with leadership and stakeholders.
When they can see and understand the process it gives them a look underneath the hood and demystifies the process, and hopefully they’ll micromanage it less if that’s something you experience.
You don’t want to post content haphazardly. No matter how hard you try to prevent mistakes they will happen, and having a process minimizes those mistakes.
It also helps to minimize the severity of the mistakes. Having a process makes posting content more reliable.
Medium
What are your primary platforms?
It’s not the quantity of social media channels you’re active in but the quality of your content that matters. If the content is good, people will take notice.
Good content on any given channel can lead to earned media.
I’ve never seen an article published about an organization who’s active in the most number of platforms.
Virality doesn’t have anything to do with what platform it’s on and everything to do with the content itself.
I think too much importance gets placed on being on all of the platforms. If the content isn’t good there’s no point to being on any of them.
Metrics
What numbers are you tracking?
At the end of the day data, even anecdotal data, is what tells you if what you’re doing is working.
It’s important to determine which metrics you plan to track before starting, which is why this is an essential part of the strategy.
Sometimes there’s a direct line between your goal and the metric you want to track. For instance, if growth is your goal you would track followers.
But chances are there’s more of a dotted line between your goal and the metric you want to study, it’s less obvious, like awareness or excitement around a new product launch.
In this case, you might record engagement on content promoting the new product, comments about the new product and the launch and the sentiment of the comments, and independent mentions of the product and the launch.
When you start tracking what you need from the beginning it’s easier than going back. Take screenshots of comments as you see them and record the numbers you need.
This way you’ll be ready to report on how the topic is doing on social at any moment and you’ll know early on if content is resonating or not with your audience.
Monitoring
Are you listening to your audience? They’ll reveal a lot if you pay attention to their interactions on social media.
They’ll give you feedback, their current emotional state, their needs, what they want to see more of on your channels.
While there can be a lot of noise in the comments, you will also find a wealth of information about how your community feels about you and your online relationship with them.
Celebrate the Holidays with some of SEJ’s best articles of 2023.
Our Festive Flashback series runs from December 21 – January 5, featuring daily reads on significant events, fundamentals, actionable strategies, and thought leader opinions.
2023 has been quite eventful in the SEO industry and our contributors produced some outstanding articles to keep pace and reflect these changes.
Catch up on the best reads of 2023 to give you plenty to reflect on as you move into 2024.
Born between 1997 and 2012, Generation Z (Gen Z) are the first generation to have grown up with the internet, social media, and smartphones as part of their everyday lives.
And as the largest generation in history, Gen Z is rapidly becoming a powerful force in the global economy.
Yet, when it comes to marketing to this generation, particularly at the local level, the old rules of digital-first marketing that have worked with millennials increasingly don’t apply.
Gen Z often has very different attitudes toward consumption shaped by the reality of growing up chronically online and coming of age remotely in the throes of a global pandemic.
To make strides with Gen Z, it’s time to retire the old playbook.
As marketers, we need to understand what drives them and rethink our approach to reaching them where they spend most of their time online: On social media.
Who Is Gen Z?
Gen Z is unique among current generations – not just for the social structure they have come up in, but also for their spending habits, which differ from other generations.
According to a 2021 Bloomberg report, they collectively have about $360 billion in disposable income.
They are saving more, thrifting, and decidedly not purchasing from companies that don’t reflect their values.
Additionally, according to Credit Karma, almost one-third of American Gen Zers between the ages of 18 and 25 live at home with their parents or other relatives, meaning less of their money is tied up in rent, groceries, and utilities.
Social media is embedded into the fabric of their lives.
A 2022 survey by Morning Consult found that 54% of Gen Zers said they spend at least four hours daily on social media, and 38% spend even more time than that. Their most used social platforms are YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.
Furthermore, data from Statista in 2022 suggests that almost 80% of Gen Zers and millennials have bought something they saw on social media.
When it comes to online versus in-person shopping, it’s more of a toss-up. Gen Z is accustomed to the convenience of online shopping, but they value real-life experiences, as well as the ease of same-day pickup.
A Deloitte study in 2023 also found a 50/50 split between Gen Zers and millennials who see online interactions as meaningful replacements to in-person experiences, and those who prefer the real thing.
All of this suggests that an omnichannel approach to the customer experience is best for Gen Z, but still poses an interesting conundrum for marketers.
We know where Gen Zers are spending their time and how to reach them, but what does it take to connect with them authentically? And what drives them to log off and shop in person?
Here are five social media practices to consider.
Embrace Partnership With Creators
The concept of the traditional “influencer” – who does sponsorship deals, goes on brand trips and sells an aspirational lifestyle attainable to their followers through the purchasing of products – dominated the 2010s.
But for Gen Z, that heyday is proving to be behind us. As they become savvier about when and how they’re being sold to, the creator economy is king.
In this new paradigm, authenticity and originality are lauded over aspiration.
TikTok creator Alix Earle jumps to mind as a prime example. Earle has seen rapid fame in just a few short months, surpassing 5 million followers today.
She has all the marks of a traditional influencer – the travel, high-end products, and aspirational lifestyle – but her unpolished and relatable tone is arguably what garnered her a massive audience, and what them around as her lifestyle appears to become less attainable.
When she recommends a product to an audience, it feels organic, like a recommendation from a friend.
As a brand, encouraging, engaging with, and platforming this type of user-generated content (UGC) – where your product might not be the star of a scripted video, but a detail in a larger story – can be very effective with Gen Z.
Give The Brand A Persona Online
In addition to outsourcing content to creators with their own audiences, we’re also seeing the emergence of brands becoming influencers in their own right.
Some do this by bringing on a well-known creator to represent their brand’s social presence. For example, Kyle Prue, a TikTok creator with over 1.1M followers, has become jointly known for the personal finance brand, Fizz.
Stylistically, the content for Fizz is virtually indistinguishable from his personal content – except for the fact that it’s about personal finance.
Others employ a character or a staff member to become the face of the brand online. The popular language learning app, Duolingo, has amassed over 6.5 million TikTok followers making videos featuring its mascot, the Duolingo owl (and most of these videos have nothing to do with learning a language).
Another example with a different twist is the bag brand, Baboon to the Moon, which leverages a few of its Gen Z team members to make content that often features products prominently but feels snarky and off the cuff – a tone that tends to resonate well with the Gen Z audience.
Focus On Engagement Over Follower Count
Gen Z is far less brand loyal than its predecessors.
They’re frequently served content from social media main pages like TikTok’s For You page, Instagram’s Discover tab, and YouTube’s Recommended page.
An eye toward individual post engagement and visibility can be a better indicator of success than follower count by profile.
From a local experience (LX) perspective, this also means that there can be value in creating profiles for local stores to build a more personal connection with those locations.
Showing the location, offers, or events specific to that store and the people who work there could encourage more engagement.
For example, the TikTok profile for a Barnes and Noble location in Canton, Connecticut, has 16,000 followers and nearly 682,000 likes on its posts.
Democratizing content creation in this way can be a great way to generate more overall engagement, especially at the community level, and foster a sense of ownership with your staff.
Use Trends To Your Advantage
Viral content has become more attainable and yet more fleeting than ever.
Household name brands spending thousands on highly produced social media content can end up with a mixed bag of reach and engagement, while local library branches, museums, and businesses garner millions of views and engagements by jumping on the latest trending CapCut template (see: Pedro Pascal and Nicholas Cage.)
Keeping up with in-the-moment trends and acting fast on platforms like TikTok, Reels, and YouTube Shorts can pay huge dividends in garnering awareness and positive association.
And keeping it simple is actually a positive – unlike a platform like Instagram, where feed posts are expected to be high quality and aesthetically appealing.
Optimize Your Google Business Profile
Let’s say that you successfully build the authentic connection and positive association necessary to attract a Gen Z buyer.
At the local level, their experience begins when they open a new tab on their computer or switch apps on their photo to search for your brand – and there’s a strong chance that they are turning to Google to do that.
47% of Gen Zers said they very frequently use Google Search and Google Maps to find information about businesses in their area.
65% of the most frequently searched information on local business listings is the business address/directions – followed by reviews (56%), hours of operation (54%), and website (54%).
68% of Gen Zers conduct online searches a few times per day.
65% of Gen Zers want to travel 10 miles or less for a business’s products or services.
To progress your Gen Z leads from social media marketing into conversion, managing your LX and optimizing with your Google Business Profile (GBP) is key.
Your GBP should be optimized for mobile and up-to-date, with correct store hours and addresses with GPS directions, as well as quick visibility into in-store inventory, payment options, and other store highlights.
In Conclusion
The key takeaway is this: Gen Z social media marketing requires striking a balance between adaptability of medium and consistency of voice to bring in an engaged audience.
Optimizing online, social media, and local experience will equip brands to convert that audience into customers.
The brands that make both sides a priority will be the best poised to break through to this notoriously elusive generation.
Social media has seen interesting changes recently.
The dramatic changes at Twitter – now rebranded as ‘X’ – saw many SEO professionals looking for new social media platforms to maintain their community connections.
As big shifts happen in SEO and search following the introduction of generative AI, this could be a time when social media evolves.
As marketers experiment with AI, it’s going to be important to understand how to leverage these tools whilst maintaining authenticity and trust.
With exciting times to come this year during this evolution of online marketing, there is much anticipation for how this will impact social media.
The overriding sentiments in the industry appear to be building relationships and meaningful connections alongside leveraging AI tools for better analytics and understanding how to create a social media strategy with impact.
Where Should Social Media Marketers Focus Their Attention In 2024?
We reached out to a variety of social media experts and thought leaders to get their input on what might happen in the coming year, and to ask where social media marketers should focus in 2024.
Build More Sustainable Relationships
Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs
If you haven’t shifted your social strategy lately, you’re doing it wrong. For most of us, it’s not a traffic accelerator; it’s a relationship builder.
Walk with me back to the dawn of social… Then, we were using it to amass massive audiences quickly and easily, then using it to boost traffic or conversions (however we defined “conversion”).
Those days are over. Done. Cooked. Toast.
Instead, in 2024, it’s all about recognizing that social media’s superpower is its ability to help us build more sustainable relationships more slowly.
Social in 2024 and beyond requires a shift in strategy. But also (importantly) an evolution of your mindset.
Executive Thought Leadership Social Strategy
Purna Virji, Principal Consultant, Content Solutions, LinkedIn
One core area I’d encourage social media marketers to focus their attention on in 2024 is to supplement their regular demand generation activities with an executive thought leadership social strategy.
As a result of the continuing economic worries, businesses increasingly cut budgets throughout 2023.
According to Edelman’s research, “44% of decision-makers also claim they will be less receptive to sales calls or marketing outreach, making it harder for businesses to attract new clients.”
Marketers have realized, often the hard way, that nurture- and bottom-funnel campaigns alone aren’t sufficient. After all, it’s increasingly futile to promote, say, a free demo when people might not have the budget to buy what you’re demo-ing.
How, then, to stand out? That’s where thought leadership comes in.
Thought leadership campaigns (both paid and organic) help increase market consideration and build trust with prospects to support demand generation efforts that drive ROI and can attract talent.
According to the Edelman study, “More than half of decision-makers say that during an economic downturn, it’s essential that non-critical suppliers produce high-quality thought leadership if they want to earn business.”
Five top tips:
Thought leadership content doesn’t need to be long; in fact, snackable content can often work best.
It doesn’t all need to come from the C-Suite. If they’re busy/unable to lean in to help, start with your sales representatives or other subject matter experts. People respond best to their peers, so if your end audience tends to be very technical, for example, then starting with the more technical subject matter experts in your organization can be helpful.
You don’t need a separate strategy for thought leadership. Rather, weave it in as part of your existing strategy for effectiveness and efficiency.
You don’t need a massive budget for it, either. Start with organic posts, try different approaches and formats, and then amplify what’s working with paid promotion.
Thought leadership content does best when it’s authentic to the creator, on a topic they’re passionate about and have expertise in. Focus on offering value and building trust and rapport.
A Fun Year For AI-Powered Social Media Marketing Data Analysis
Andy Crestodina, Co-Founder/Chief Marketing Officer, Orbit Media Studios
Social media is a data-rich environment. This is a huge advantage for marketers who analyze this data and then iterate their social strategies – which is more fun than ever if you use AI.
So, in the new year, smart social media marketers will focus on getting data out of social media and getting it into an AI-friendly structure.
Give ChatGPT nicely organized CSV files, and it will give you charts that may cause you to immediately rethink what you post.
Here’s a chart that AI made for me based on one year of top posts on LinkedIn, categorized manually before uploading. Interesting, right? 2024 will be a fun year for AI-powered social media marketing data analysis.
The entire world’s social media has converged on short-form video. If you still haven’t mastered the art of producing content in short-form videos, it’s hard to see how you’ll be successful in social media in 2024!
Firstly, embracing emerging platforms and technologies is crucial. While it’s important to maintain a strong presence on established platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, keeping an eye on rising stars in the social media world can offer fresh opportunities.
For instance, platforms that leverage augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are becoming increasingly popular, providing new, immersive ways to engage audiences.
Also, considering the growing interest in decentralized platforms and blockchain technology, exploring these areas could position brands at the forefront of digital innovation.
Secondly, video content continues to dominate across social media channels, and this trend is likely to persist and evolve.
Short-form video content, popularized by platforms like TikTok, has shown significant engagement rates and offers a creative way to showcase products, share stories, and connect with younger audiences.
Additionally, live streaming is gaining traction, offering real-time engagement and fostering a sense of community among viewers. Investing in quality video production and exploring diverse content formats can greatly enhance a brand’s online presence.
Lastly, personalization and user-generated content (UGC) are becoming increasingly important. Social media users are looking for authentic, relatable content that resonates with their individual experiences and interests.
Encouraging UGC not only fosters a sense of community but also provides marketers with valuable, authentic content that can enhance brand credibility.
Pairing this with data-driven personalization strategies ensures that content reaches the right audience at the right time, increasing engagement and conversion rates.
If social media marketers haven’t already created an exit plan for X, formerly Twitter, then they need to prepare their bug-out bags now.
Where should they go? According to SEJ’s list of The Top 10 Social Media Sites & Platforms, social media marketers should focus their attention on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, Reddit, and LinkedIn.
And marketers shouldn’t forget that blogs were one of the original social media platforms. So, if you still have a small team tweeting, then it’s time to get them some upskilling and reskilling ASAP.
In addition, social media marketers should focus more attention on creating videos worth watching and content worth sharing.
Why? According to the Content Marketing Institute’s latest research, 67% of marketers say video has become more important to their business over the last year. Why? Video’s ability to tell stories and resonate emotionally with audiences makes it an ideal format for making human connections.
Finally, run, don’t walk, to learn which AI tools – including AI image generators and AI video generators – will help them in 2024 and beyond.
As Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang told 10,000 graduates during a commencement address back in May, “While some worry that AI may take their jobs, someone who’s expert with AI will.”
In 2024, as in previous years and likely in years to come, I believe social media marketers should focus their attention on two primary areas: audience building and analytics.
Far too many who look to leverage social media to build their brand spend an inordinate time trying to create and distribute killer content but forget or simply fail to ensure there is a receptive audience waiting, or even available, to consume it.
More time should be spent “socializing” and “community building” in the channels your desired audience favors. Build your following by following and sharing content from like-minded brands and influencers in the hopes they will reciprocate and/or their audience will take notice.
And this is where analytics comes in. Social marketers should be leveraging native social media analytics or web analytics to effectively understand what is working or not working and where.
We all know social media is not just about likes and shares, but actual clicks and conversions, so every effort should be made to use branded and/or tracked URLs to see if and where real engagement is happening.
In social media marketing, along with digital marketing in general, there are so many things that can be done, so it’s critically important to use analytics to determine the things that should be done.
Meaningful Connections And Responsible Branding
Ashley Segura, Co-Founder and CMO, I’ll Tell You Soon!
In 2024, social media marketing will be all about meaningful connections and responsible branding. Here’s how to make the most of it:
Influencer Collaborations
Tap into the power of micro-influencers. These are individuals with smaller but highly engaged followings. Brands can collaborate with them for more authentic and targeted outreach.
Start by identifying influencers whose followers align with your target demographic. Then, craft campaigns that resonate with their audience’s interests, ensuring a more personalized and impactful connection.
Sustainability and Social Responsibility
Embrace and communicate your brand’s commitment to sustainability and social responsibility. Consumers increasingly value brands that are environmentally conscious and ethically sound.
To do this, integrate sustainable practices into your business model and share these stories on social media – and share them often. Use your platforms to educate and engage with your audience on these issues, especially the issues that matter most to your demographic.
This creates a brand image that’s not only about products but also about positive impact on issues that matter most to their customers.
Community Building
Focus on creating and nurturing online communities around your brand. This involves more than just selling products; it’s about fostering a space for shared interests and discussions and can look like Facebook groups, Slack channels, email lists, and more.
Engage with your audience through regular, meaningful interactions in these unique groups. Host Q&A sessions, create discussion forums, and encourage user-generated content to build a community that feels valued and connected to your brand.
By concentrating on these three strategies, brands can create a more impactful and resonant presence on social media in 2024.
Understanding And Leveraging Data Analytics And AI Tools
In 2024, social media marketers should focus on several key areas to stay ahead in the ever-evolving digital landscape.
Firstly, they should prioritize video content, as it continues to dominate user engagement on platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube.
Additionally, marketers should pay attention to emerging platforms and trends, adapting their strategies accordingly. Building authentic and meaningful connections with their audience through personalized and interactive content will also be crucial.
Lastly, understanding and leveraging data analytics and AI tools to optimize campaigns and track ROI will remain essential for successful social media marketing in 2024.
As we head into 2024, we have to really look at how privacy changes by Google and Apple are impacting our social media remarketing campaigns.
When it comes to social, organic reach has already become minimal, and with iOS 14 and now iOS 17, we are seeing our paid audiences shrink as well. Businesses need to focus on capturing first-party data.
Whether it’s on-site methods like promotions, pop-ups, or visitor identification tools, without this first-party data, the social reach will be limited, and remarketing campaigns will continue to underperform.
Meta will roll out significant AI-powered updates throughout 2024. Along with more refined use of its AI-powered discovery engine to recommend content, especially reels and ads, Meta will unveil impressive developments with generative AI to rival ChatGPT and DALL･E, among other platforms.
As Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, stated in February 2023, the company has a turbocharged focus on generative AI, in particular. We saw the launch of simple AI-generated stickers in Instagram and Facebook Stories.
But much more impressive, with real utility, will be when the company bakes generative AI into Meta Business Suite. This will offer businesses the ability to create unique text, image, and video content and then schedule, publish, and track performance, all without having to use any other third-party AI app or tool.
Meta will also integrate more AI-powered tools inside Messenger, Instagram Direct, and WhatsApp, including new custom AI personas. Possibly into Threads as well.
These are conversational chatbot assistants. This will allow businesses to create custom avatars and build their own effective use cases such as FAQs, customer service, a unique knowledgebase of their own, and likely much more.
As AI transforms social media in 2024, approach its integration with caution, especially regarding branding and upcoming regulations.
Authenticity becomes crucial as AI content proliferates, so it’s essential to use AI as a supportive tool, not a substitute.
While short-form video storytelling remains a key to success on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, platforms like BlueSky and Threads are gaining traction for their content updates, reminiscent of Twitter’s style.
Remember, in 2024, a blend of authentic messaging and engaging short videos will be the cornerstone of successful social media marketing.
The emotional pull of an advertisement can make or break performance, much more than budget alone. Once its messaging resonates with a target audience, a brand typically sees lower acquisition costs and elevated return on ad spend.
Emotions
“How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market” is a groundbreaking 2003 book by Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman. According to Zaltman, “… 95% of our purchase decision-making takes place in the subconscious mind.”
Emotions are what drive purchasing behavior. Impactful brands tap into these latent sentiments, often superseding features or price. Top creative doesn’t just show what a product does but also the feelings it elicits. It sparks desire and stirs action through viewers’ subconscious needs.
Consider True Classic, a direct-to-consumer men’s apparel brand. It has reportedly earned $250 million in revenue since its founding in 2019. The company’s secret is crafting creatives that transcend physical products to evoke compelling identity and lifestyle aspirations. True Classic’s marketing strategy is “down-to-earth, humorous, relatable, authentic.”
Co-founder Ryan Bartlett stated in a LinkedIn post that “creativity is massively underrated,” adding, “…we create humorous ads for paid media because it adds value to people’s lives when you can brighten their day and make them smile, even for a moment. People don’t forget that.”
True Classic’s marketing strategy is “down-to-earth, humorous, relatable, authentic.”
Future Pacing
Future pacing is the craft of painting a picture in prospects’ minds. It helps consumers visualize how their life could be, to dream and aspire. For example, Nike’s “Find Your Greatness” campaign encourages the audience to imagine taking action and achieving their goals — a dream career, car, body, girl, status, lifestyle.
That is why True Classic focuses on helping men look good so they feel good, with ad copy such as “Girls will find you more attractive if you dress better” and “fits you tight around the chest and arms and loose in the front.”
Ultimately, people are driven by emotions more than logic. Focus on the result your customer wants and the feelings attached to the outcome. Then make the case that your product is the answer.
Authenticity
Combining future pacing with creative authenticity is a proven winner. Cassey Ho, the founder of PopEx, a female activewear brand, does that on her YouTube channel. It has 9 million subscribers, contributing to PopEx’s $5 million in annual revenue.
In a YouTube Short titled “This legging is designed to fit you perfectly,” Ho quickly attracts viewers’ attention by stating, “80% of women are wearing leggings that don’t fit.” It captures the audience’s needs, desires, and emotions in the first three seconds.
Then she dives into the product, demonstrating real-world body types and her leggings’ solutions.
Getting Started
Launch advertising campaigns with static creative to test messaging and visuals. Use simple images, copy, and graphics to experiment across variations rapidly. It’s a quick, affordable way to gauge response.
Sarah Levinger, a creative consultant, suggests running three static ads, each with an emotional message, and keeping track of the ones that resonate best. It’s not until you’ve nailed the messaging that she recommends going full-fledged into “producing UGC, pro video, founder videos, and other ad categories to match.”
Marketers worldwide know the importance of having a solid social media marketing strategy – and a key part of this is finding the best times to post on social media.
The old adage ‘timing is everything’ holds especially true in the world of social media, where the difference between a post that fades into obscurity and one that goes viral can often be just a matter of when it was shared.
With an always-growing array of social platforms hosting billions of users worldwide, it has never been more challenging to stand above the noise and make your voice heard on social.
To determine the best times to post on social media in 2024, we reviewed original data from leading social media management tools.
It’s important to note that the data from these sources present a variety of findings and suggestions, which underscore the fact that social media is an ever-evolving landscape. The most crucial thing is understanding the behavior of your own target audience.
Let’s dive in.
The Best Times To Post On Social Media
Source
Day Of Week
Time To Post
Sprout Social
Tuesday and Wednesday
9 a.m. – 2 p.m. Local
Hootsuite
Monday
12 p.m. EST
CoSchedule
Friday, Wednesday, and Monday (in that order)
7 p.m. Local
Best times to post on social media: 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Best days to post on social media: Monday and Wednesday.
Worst days to poston social media: Saturday and Sunday.
Determining an ideal time for posting on social media in general is complicated, as each platform is different, with unique users, features, and communities.
When deciding which social media platforms to focus on, you should think carefully about your brand’s target audience and overarching goals.
This explains why – when analyzing data from Sprout Social, Hootsuite, and CoSchedule on the best overall times to post on social media – we can draw some similarities but also see a variety of recommendations.
Weekdays emerge as a clear winner. CoSchedule and Sprout Social both highlight Wednesday as a good day, with Hootsuite and CoSchedule also highlighting Mondays as a strong day for engagement.
The most common time range among the sources is in the morning to mid-afternoon, with CoSchedule providing some very specific suggestions for post-timing.
Both CoSchedule and Sprout Social agree on avoiding Saturdays and Sundays.
While it’s experienced a shift in user demographics over recent years – now catering to older users – its popularity continues to climb, and its potential as a brand marketing tool cannot be disputed.
Regarding the best times to post on Facebook, all of our sources agree that weekdays are best. Sprout Social, Hootsuite, and CoSchdule all name Monday as a great day to engage on Facebook, along with calling out various other days of the week.
There is a general consensus that Sundays should be avoided.
The sources vary in their suggestions for optimal time slots, but generally speaking, early to mid-morning seems to be the most popular selection.
The Best Times To Post On YouTube
Source
Day Of Week
Time To Post
SocialPilot
Sunday
2-4 p.m. EST
HubSpot
Friday and Saturday
6-9 p.m. Local
Best times to post on YouTube: 2-4 p.m. on weekdays and 9-11 a.m. on weekends.
Best days to post on YouTube: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Worst day to post on YouTube: Tuesday.
As the second most visited site in the world and the second most used social platform globally, YouTube offers an unparalleled opportunity for brands and individuals to connect with audiences through video.
And with its continued expansion – by introducing features like YouTube Shorts, initiatives like expanding the ways creators can get paid on the platform, and its increasing popularity as a search engine – the platform shows no signs of slowing.
YouTube is no longer just a video-sharing site; it’s a robust marketing tool that empowers businesses to raise brand awareness and drive meaningful engagement.
Finding recent data on the best times to post on YouTube proved harder than for some other channels, so these recommendations should be taken with a grain of salt.
While HubSpot suggests Friday and Saturday are the strongest days to publish on YouTube, SocialPilot specifically calls out Sunday as the most engaging day – so it’s worth experimenting with all three.
SocialPilot doesn’t specifically name the worst day, but according to HubSpot, you’d be wise to steer clear of Tuesday.
Both sources suggest the afternoon as an effective time for posting during the week. SocialPilot specifies that publishing in the mornings on weekends (9-11 a.m.) is effective, so this is important to bear in mind.
The Best Times To Post On Instagram
Source
Day Of Week
Time To Post
Sprout Social
Tuesday and Wednesday
9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Local
Hootsuite
Wednesday
2 p.m. EST
HubSpot
Saturday
6-9 p.m. Local
CoSchedule
Wednesday, Friday, and Tuesday (in that order)
9 a.m. Local
Later
Monday
4 a.m. Local
Best times to post on Instagram: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Best day to post on Instagram: Wednesday.
Worst day to post on Instagram: Sunday.
From its origins as a photo-sharing platform, Instagram has evolved into one of the most popular social media networks in the world – and an indispensable marketing tool.
With billions of users – 90% of whom are following at least one business – Instagram has become a powerful engine for ecommerce, brand awareness, and community-building.
As a leader in the social media space, Instagram constantly provides new formats and features for users to try out – from Reels to Stories, user quizzes and polls, and more.
We consulted a handful of sources to determine the top posting times for Instagram and came away with a mixed bag of answers.
Wednesday appears to take the cake as the most consistently recommended day, with CoSchedule, Sprout Social, and Hootsuite all suggesting it.
Generally, our sources seem to lean towards weekdays as being strongest for Instagram engagement – with the exception of HubSpot, which recommends Saturday.
In terms of timing, the morning to midday hours seem to be your best bet, especially around 8 a.m. through 1 p.m. HubSpot and Later provide times that significantly differ from other sources, which suggests that effectiveness can vary based on audience and content type.
The Best Times To Post On TikTok
Source
Day Of Week
Time To Post
Sprout Social
Tuesday and Wednesday
2-6 p.m. Local
Hootsuite
Thursday
10 p.m. EST
SocialPilot
Tuesday and Thursday
2 a.m. and 9 a.m. EST
HubSpot
Friday
6-9 p.m. Local
Best time to post on TikTok: Inconclusive.
Best day to post on TikTok: Tuesday.
Worst day to post on TikTok: Inconclusive.
While it’s a relative newcomer to the fold, TikTok has quickly become one of the most beloved social platforms worldwide – and is drawing brands in increasing numbers.
With the average user spending nearly 54 minutes on the app daily, it’s hard to beat the hold that TikTok has among audiences. By optimizing your presence there, you can stand to generate some impressive returns on your marketing efforts.
So, what’s the best time to post on TikTok? The jury is out on this one – and it may take extra experimentation on your part to find the sweet spot that engages your audience.
Tuesday seems to rise to the top among the sources we consulted, with Wednesdays and Thursdays also getting recommendations. Generally speaking, it looks like midweek is a good time to test out your TikTok content, but there are plenty of discrepancies in the data.
While HubSpot named Friday as the best day, it also highlighted that Saturdays and Thursdays are strong for B2B brands, and Saturdays and Sundays work well for B2C brands.
Sprout Social found Sunday to be the worst performing day, while Monday and Tuesday are the worst days, according to HubSpot.
We also find a mix of recommended time slots, from early morning to mid-afternoon and also evening being suggested.
The Best Times To Post On Snapchat
Snapchat, the pioneer of ephemeral social media content (and the inspiration behind Instagram Stories), provides unique opportunities to reach younger demographics.
It differs from other platforms in how it works and the type of content that engages there. Snapchat typically centers around showcasing real-time experiences and authentic behind-the-scenes content versus polished marketing content.
This makes Snapchat an advantageous yet often underutilized tool in digital marketing. But it should not be overlooked, especially given that the platform continues to innovate.
While we have seen 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. cited as the best times to post on Snapchat in various secondary sources around the internet, we have found no recent original data to either confirm or refute this.
Given this, we would recommend testing out different times and days based on the behaviors and lifestyles of your target audience and then iterating based on your results (which is what you should be doing across the board, regardless!)
Businesses can leverage Pinterest to showcase their products and drive conversions, but also to grow and expand brand awareness and sentiment.
Success on Pinterest can be found through sharing brand-specific imagery, optimizing for mobile, and appealing to your audience’s sense of aspiration and inspiration.
Friday, alongside other weekdays, is consistently mentioned as a strong day among our sources. On the other end, Sunday is commonly named as the least effective day for posting on Pinterest.
When it comes to the most fruitful posting time on the platform, it appears that the late afternoon to early evening, specifically around 3-6 p.m., is optimal for best engagement.
The Best Times To Post On X (Twitter)
Source
Day Of Week
Time To Post
Sprout Social
Tuesday to Thursday
9 a.m. – 2 p.m. Local
Hootsuite
Monday and Wednesday
10 a.m. – 1 p.m. EST
CoSchedule
Wednesday, Tuesday, and Friday (in that order)
9 a.m. Local
HubSpot
Friday and Wednesday (in that order)
9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Local
Best times to post on X (Twitter): 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Best days to post on X (Twitter): Wednesday and Friday.
Worst day to post on X (Twitter): Sunday.
X (formerly known as Twitter) has long been a place for marketers to connect and engage with their audience, join trending conversations, and build community.
The real-time nature of X (Twitter) differentiates it from other social platforms and allows for spur-of-the-moment and reactionary marketing moves. And with CEO Elon Musk’s big plans for the app, it’s undoubtedly a space to watch.
When looking for the top days to post among the sources we consulted, Wednesday and Friday are most often mentioned – with Sprout Social specifying Tuesday through Thursday.
Hootsuite nominates Monday and Wednesday as the top days, proving that weekdays reign supreme on X (Twitter).
Like many other platforms, Sunday seems to be the least effective day for post-engagement.
Looking for the best times to post on X (Twitter)?
Late morning, from around 9 a.m. to noon, seems to be the most recommended time – though, as always, this will differ based on your specific audience and the type of content you are sharing.
We always recommend testing and experimenting to see what works for you.
The Best Times To Post On LinkedIn
Source
Day Of Week
Time To Post
Sprout Social
Tuesday to Thursday
10 a.m. – 12 p.m. Local
Hootsuite
Monday
4 p.m. EST
CoSchedule
Thursday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (in that order)
10 a.m. Local
HubSpot
Monday, Wednesday, and Tuesday (in that order)
9 a.m. – 12 p.m. Local
Best times to post on LinkedIn: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Best days to post on LinkedIn: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Worst days to post on LinkedIn: Weekends.
Though first and foremost a platform for professionals, LinkedIn has picked up steam in recent years, becoming a hub of engagement and a frontrunner among social media networks.
It’s also an essential tool for businesses that want to reach business executives and decision-makers, as well as potential candidates.
Done right, LinkedIn content can go a long way in building a public perception of your brand and providing deep value to your target audience.
Digging into the data, we can see that weekdays provide the biggest opportunities for engagement on LinkedIn, which is hardly surprising. Tuesdays through Thursdays are often mentioned as the top days, with Mondays also highlighted by Hootsuite and HubSpot.
All of our sources agree that weekends are less effective for LinkedIn posts.
If you’re searching for the right time, you might try your hand at posting from late morning to mid-afternoon, based on what these sources discovered.
But (and not to sound like a broken record) your results may differ based on your brand, niche, target audience, and content.
What Is The Best Time For You To Post On Social Media?
Finding the best times to post on social media requires a delicate blend of testing, experimentation, and personal analytics.
And it never hurts to start your journey with industry insights like the ones we’ve covered in this article.
By aligning your content strategy with your target audience and trying out different posting strategies – taking into account these recommended time slots – you will be able to determine what works best for you and significantly enhance your social media presence and engagement.
Sources of data, November 2023.
All data above was taken from the sources below.
Each platform conducted its own extensive research, analyzing millions of posts across various social networks to find the times when users are most engaged.
Sources:
Sprout Social analyzed nearly 2 billion engagements across 400,000 social profiles.
Hootsuite analyzed thousands of social media posts using an audience of 8 million followers. For its Instagram updates, it analyzed over 30,000 posts.
CoSchedule analyzed more than 35 million posts from more than 30,000 organizations.
SocialPilot studied over 50,000 YouTube accounts and over 50,000 TikTok accounts to compile its data.
HubSpot surveyed over 1,000 global marketers to discern the best times to post on social media. For its Instagram-specific data, it partnered with Mention to analyze over 37 million posts.
Creating mini videos such as Instagram Reels, TikToks, and YouTube Shorts can be time-consuming. Luckily, new AI-driven apps produce engaging videos in seconds.
Cut Long Videos
The following tools can repurpose interviews, webinars, or other extended videos.
Klap quickly creates multiple clips from a single YouTube video. Paste the URL of your YouTube video and in seconds receive Reels, TikToks, or Shorts. Each clip includes a title, transcript, and virality score of 10 to 100.
I pasted the URL of a video interview with me. One clip was a 60-second recap of my career, which I addressed in the discussion. Klap gave it a virality score of 70 with an explanation:
This video has a moderate virality potential. While the topic of Ann Smarty’s journey in the SEO industry may be interesting to some viewers, it lacks visual elements and action that typically drive high engagement on TikTok. However, for those interested in SEO and personal branding, this video could still generate decent attention.
Edit any clip’s caption style and position and crop it as needed. My clip required no edits. The tool even added relevant emojis to most captions. For example, when I explained how I learned search engine optimization, Klap added a books emoji to the caption.
Generating clips on Klap is free but not downloadable without a Pro version, which costs $29 per month for 10 videos.
Klap quickly creates multiple clips from a single YouTube video, even adding relevant emojis. Click image to enlarge.
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Munch is another new web-based app that uses AI to repurpose long videos into Reels, TikToks, or Shorts.
To start, choose the platform(s) you want to create clips for. Then (i) paste the URL of the YouTube video or upload a file, and (ii) pick your style of subtitles
The tool will:
Cut the video into meaningful clips,
Generate subtitles (which load when spoken),
Create social-media captions, including hashtags.
If no clips appeal, Munch allows easy re-generating for new versions, although in my test the re-do was unnecessary.
As with Klap, Munch provides the key topic of every clip and discloses its searchable or trending keywords on the chosen platform. Munch also scores the “coherence” of each clip — the ability to be easily understood.
Potential edits for each clip include the style of titles, cropping, and altering the template. The app optionally syncs directly to Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for seamless posting.
Munch permits one free project with downloadable watermarked clips. Unlimited projects and no watermarks require a paid account, starting at $49 per month.
Munch uses AI to repurpose long videos into Reels, TikToks, or Shorts. Click image to enlarge.
Text to Video
The following tools will repurpose text into videos.
Vidiofy generates Reels or Shorts in seconds. Paste an article URL into the platform and download the video. The clip automatically includes topic highlights, image backgrounds and music, video effects, and an AI-generated voiceover.
My test required about 10 minutes of editing to replace some images and help Vidiofy understand the article and topic. Still, it’s a big timesaver, as it would have required hours of work.
Vidiofy creates five downloadable videos for free without a watermark. The paid version with enhanced features costs $29 per month.
Vidiofy generates Reels or Shorts from text. Paste an article URL into the platform and download the video. Click image to enlarge.
—
Fliki generates short videos from any text, tweet, or prompt. It will auto-find background images and music, create subtitles, produce an AI-driven voiceover, and even pull images from the linked source. Fliki allows edits in every scene in a clip — replacing images or music, adjusting speed or volume, and changing fonts.
Fliki created better clip quality than Vidiofy in my testing, but was harder to edit. Single projects in Fliki are free with a watermark. Paid plans start at $28 per month for 180 minutes of video and 75 translated languages, among other features.
Fliki generates short videos from any text, tweet, or prompt. Click image to enlarge.
A leaked internal memo from Matt Mullenweg to the staff at Tumblr outlined plans to shift employees out of Tumblr to other teams in Automattic and run Tumblr on with significantly reduced staffing.
Matt Mullenweg subsequently confirmed that the leak was genuine and offered an explanation of what’s going on with Tumblr.
Tumblr Not Earning Enough
The bottom line with Tumblr is that the turnaround they were working toward never materialized and is subsequently not earning at the levels they had planned to reach.
Tumblr was purchased from Verizon for $3 million dollars in 2019. Verizon had acquired Tumblr from their acquisition of Yahoo, which had purchased Tumblr for $1.1 billion dollars years earlier.
The price was right but Automattic is said by Mullenweg to have spent $100 million dollars trying to turn Tumblr around.
But that never happened.
What’s Happening To Tumblr Employees
The leaked memo and subsequent tumblr post by Mullenweg explained that 139 employees from the product side of Tumblr will have the chance to choose other jobs at Automattic.
Employees in the Customer Support and the Trust and Safety teams can remain at Tumblr, there are no plans to let them go.
Mullenweg’s statement he made references to various teams at Tumblr by their internal names.
So it helps to understand what the internal names for various teams are:
Bumblr is the internal name for the employees on the product side.
Happiness is the internal name for the customer service team.
T&S is a reference to the Trust and Safety team.
Mullenweg’s leaked announcement explained their plans:
“As we talked about in the past, if it doesn’t work we’ll have a backup plan and set up the business so we don’t need to let anyone go, we’ll just need to reflect and decide where else we should concentrate our energy together.
This plan is happening now: the majority of the 139 people in Bumblr will switch to other divisions.
No plans for any switches in Happiness or T&S.”
What’s Next For Tumblr
No plans to shut down Tumblr were announced. The plan at this time is to create a plan for how to operate Tumblr with a reduced crew of employees.
Automattic is still focused on continuing in 2024 to see what they can do in terms of performance.
Read Matt Mullenweg’s statement about the leaked memo on Tumblr:
A social media profile should be detailed, concise, and engaging enough to entice followers. Accomplishing all three of those goals is not easy.
Ahrefs’ free AI-powered social media bio writer can assist. Paste your URL, select the social platform, and choose a tone — e.g., “Professional,” “Friendly,” “Confident,” more. Then enable optional emojis and hashtags.
The tool will analyze your page’s content and create three variations of a bio for each platform.
Ahrefs’ social media bio writer produces three profile variations for each platform. Click image to enlarge.
The bio details were impressive in my testing. I linked to my personal social media profile, where I share family outings. The tool didn’t focus on a single trip but addressed multiple adventures:
Join me on my journey as I discover hidden gems and breathtaking landscapes 🌄 From hiking trails to city streets, I’m always looking for new experiences. Let’s explore together! 🗺️ #wanderlust #naturelover #citylife
Most business use their home page as a link in the bio. But that’s not ideal. People clicking a social media bio link do not typically have purchase intent. They click out of curiosity to learn more about the company.
That’s the purpose of a dedicated link-in-bio landing page generator from Beacons.ai. It uses content on your social profiles to generate a single page for all channels. The page drives engagement and informs users of all of the company’s social channels, encouraging followers across all platforms.
Beacons.ai produces a single landing page for all social channels. Click image to enlarge.
LinkedIn Profile Optimizers
LinkedIn provides AI tools to improve your profile, but external tools can add details to raise visibility.
I’ve used two such tools, Taplio and Resume Worded.
Taplio is free and quick, requiring no registration. Insert your LinkedIn profile URL or username. Taplio will then provide instant suggestions, including a title and description.
Resume Worded requires a registration and offers limited free tools. Its Pro version ($49 per month) suggests keywords and includes grammar checks, among other features. Download your LinkedIn profile as a PDF and then upload it to Resume Worded. It will grade the profile based on detail and visibility.
Resume Worded grades a LinkedIn profile, offering an “Overall Score” of 0 to 100 for detail and visibility. Click image to enlarge.
Both tools helpfully stated I am not sufficiently describing my “hard skills” in the profile’s title, description, and experience sections.
Here are suggestions from Resume Worded:
Including hard skills in your job title can significantly improve your profile’s visibility on LinkedIn. Your job title, particularly your most recent ones, seriously influences how frequently you appear on LinkedIn. By incorporating keywords related to your hard skills, you’ll appear more frequently in searches. For example, instead of “Social Media Manager,” you can write “Social Media Manager | Facebook Ads, Branding, and Automation.”
With 4.8 billion social media users worldwide – accounting for 59.9% of the global population – social platforms have become necessary hubs for gathering information, connecting with our friends and loved ones, and growing our businesses.
And social media users have grown to trust and rely on their preferred social networks for everything from real-time news and updates to lifestyle hacks, product research, and more.
For marketers, the world of social media represents an expansive area of opportunity – and every user is a potential customer.
With the right tools, resources, and a strong social media strategy, marketers can leverage social media platforms to boost awareness for their business, engage their target audience, and even nurture a loyal community.
But with so many different social media platforms existing today, it’s nearly impossible to be present on every single one – let alone excel in every space.
Success in social media marketing starts with choosing the right platforms for your brand. You need to identify where your target audience is spending the most time and where it makes sense for your brands to interact with them.
In this article, we’ll look at the leading social media platforms, giving a quick overview of what they are before exploring what types of businesses might find them most useful.
Top 11 Social Media Platforms Compared
MAU*
Revenue
Launched
Headquarters
1
Facebook
3 billion
$116 billion
2004
Menlo Park, CA
2
YouTube
2.5 billion
$29.24 billion
2005
San Bruno, California
3
WhatsApp
2 billion
$906 million
2009
Menlo Park, California
4
Instagram
2 billion
$51.4 billion
2010
Menlo Park, CA
5
TikTok
1.2 billion
$9.5 billion
2016
Culver City, CA
6
Snapchat
750 million
$4.6 billion
2011
Los Angeles, CA
7
Pinterest
465 million
$2.8 billion
2005
San Francisco, CA
8
Reddit
430 million
$670 million
2010
San Francisco, CA
9
LinkedIn
310 million
$12. 4 billion
2006
San Francisco, CA
10
Threads
120 million
Unknown
2023
Menlo Park, CA
11
X (formerly Twitter)
56.1 million
$4.4 billion
2003
Mountain View, CA
*Number of monthly active users worldwide
The Top 11 Social Media Apps By Monthly Active Users
MAU*
1
Facebook
3 billion
2
YouTube
2.5 billion
3
WhatsApp
2 billion
4
Instagram
2 billion
5
TikTok
1.2 billion
6
Snapchat
750 million
7
Pinterest
465 million
8
Reddit
430 million
9
LinkedIn
310 million
10
Threads
120 million
11
X (Twitter)
56.1 million
*Number of monthly active users worldwide
The Top 11 Social Media Sites And Platforms
1. Facebook
Screenshot by author, May 2022
Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA
Launched: 2004
Monthly Active Users: 3 billion
Founders: Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes
While Facebook might not be the exciting new platform it once was – and might have fallen out of favor with younger users – make no mistake: it’s still around, and more popular than ever.
Today, Facebook operates under the umbrella of Meta, Inc., which also owns platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads.
In recent years, Facebook has undergone a demographic shift – yet its influence in the social media sphere remains unparalleled.
Industries such as financial services, ecommerce, retail, media, telecom, technology, and consumer goods continue to harness Facebook’s expansive reach to connect with consumers and grow their brand awareness – with newer sectors like gaming, entertainment, and automotive businesses also finding their footing on the platform.
If you’re looking to drive conversions, your best bet is to invest in Facebook ads – especially given the News Feed is increasingly suppressing business posts.
That said, there are still plenty of ways to generate organic engagement without investing in ads.
Consider joining (or building) niche communities with Facebook Groups, leveraging Messenger chatbots for personalized communication, or using live video to encourage real-time audience interaction.
YouTube continues to hold the crown as the dominant original video social media platform. It is currently the second most used platform, with 2.5 billion monthly active users.
The potential for reach on YouTube is unrivaled, with 89% of U.S. adults using the platform. Such engagement metrics are hard for marketers and brands to ignore.
From longform video storytelling to the recent introduction of YouTube Shorts, the platform’s TikTok rival, YouTube provides plenty of opportunities for brands to engage in visual storytelling and reach new audiences.
And according to the company, it’s a very powerful marketing tool. YouTube viewers say they’re 2X more likely to buy something they saw on YouTube, and 4X more likely to use the platform to find information about a brand, product, or service versus other social networks.
Whether you’re into beauty tutorials, gaming streams, education content, or DIY hacks, YouTube has it all. And for brands aiming to pivot into video-centric content marketing, YouTube is the platform to prioritize.
3. WhatsApp
Screenshot by author, May 2022
Launched: 2009.
Headquarters: Menlo Park, California.
Monthly Active Users: 2 billion.
Revenue: $500 million – $1 billion (2023) estimated
Founders: Brian Acton, Jan Koum.
WhatsApp remains the most popular social messaging app, way out in front of Facebook Messenger.
At first glance, brands might overlook WhatsApp’s potential, given its closed messaging nature. But consider that SMS has an average of 98% open rate compared to 20% for email.
It’s a captive audience. And, unlike SMS, WhatsApp messages are free to send.
For brands that want to improve their customer service efforts or connect directly with customers to answer their questions, WhatsApp has a ton of potential. It offers a uniquely direct and effective channel for interacting with your audience.
If you can crack WhatsApp, you’ll have a direct marketing channel to your audience.
Instagram is a social network where product-based businesses, influencers, and coaches can thrive.
Launched in 2010, Instagram quickly became the leading image-based, visually-rich social platform. Since then, it has only grown in popularity and reach, becoming a place for users to conduct and research every aspect of their lives.
The platform has also introduced new features that marketers can leverage to grow awareness, including ephemeral Stories, vertical-video Reels, and more.
Since introducing shoppable posts in 2018, the potential ROI for product-based businesses has been higher than ever.
Not only can B2B businesses connect with a massive audience, they can seamlessly transition followers from product research to purchase by linking product information and making sales – all within the Instagram interface.
And if your target demographic is under 35, Instagram is a gold mine: over 68% of Instagram users are under 35.
TikTok bills itself as “the leading destination for short-form mobile video” with a company mission to inspire creativity and bring joy. And evidently, it’s succeeding.
TikTok’s meteoric rise over the past few years has been unprecedented. In 2017, after only one year, the app became the fastest-growing app worldwide.
Its focus on short-form videos driven by audio and visual trends has taken the world by storm, with other platforms rushing to emulate it.
Despite attempts to ban TikTok in the U.S. and being banned in India, as of 2021, the app had been downloaded more than 3.5 billion times globally.
And while TikTok reaches users of all demographics, if your brand wants to connect with Generation Z, it should be your first priority.
In the U.S., it’s particularly popular among the 12 to 17 age bracket, who constitute about 17.7% of the user base.
Those users are highly engaged, too, with the average user spending nearly 54 minutes on the app every day – the longest amount of time of any app, ahead of YouTube at 48.7 minutes.
6. Snapchat
Screenshot by author, May 2022
Headquarters: Los Angeles, CA.
Launched: 2011.
Monthly Active Users: 750 million.
Founders: Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, Daniel Smith, David Kravitz, Leo Noah Katz.
If a younger audience is your target, Snapchat might be a platform worth considering. This social platform is a great place for connecting with millennials and Gen Z users.
Almost half of all users on Snapchat are 18 to 24-year-olds, showcasing its immense appeal to the younger generation.
The average Snapchat user spends 19 minutes per day on the app – not enough time to rival that of TikTok and YouTube, but still an opportunity window for brands to reach and connect with them.
Snapchat has a uniquely organic feel, with content that offers an unfiltered glimpse into everyday moments – so the platform is a haven for user-generated content, behind-the-scenes videos, exclusive offers, and influencer takeovers.
The platform has always maintained its commitment to real-time, ephemeral content, and it offers a sense of privacy to users that many other social platforms do not. For this reason, it’s a worthwhile tool for brands that want to authentically speak to a younger demographic who might be less interested in the broader approaches of other social networks.
And while it may not get as much attention as the likes of Instagram and TikTok, Snapchat is quietly humming along. Since launching its premium subscription service Snapchat+, the brand announced it has generated 5 million paying subscribers who are willing to dish out money for access to exclusive features.
7. Pinterest
Screenshot by author, May 2022
Launched: 2010.
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA.
Monthly Active Users: 465 million.
Founders: Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, Evan Sharp.
Like Instagram, Pinterest is a social media platform that’s focused on rich visuals. From delicious recipes to home decor inspiration, wedding ideas, workout moves, and DIY-related content, Pinterest is where visual dreams come to life.
If your brand has an interest in visual storytelling, Pinterest is the platform for you.
Notably, 60% of Pinterest users are women. If your audience is predominantly women, that’s a compelling reason to invest time in social media marketing on Pinterest.
That’s not to say that men aren’t on Pinterest – male Pinners are up 40% year-over-year (as are Gen Z Pinners!).
What’s more, Pinterest has proven itself to be a powerful marketing tool. 85% of weekly Pinners have made a purchase from a Pin, while 80% have discovered a new brand or product on Pinterest.
8. Reddit
Screenshot by author, May 2022
Launched: 2005.
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA.
Monthly Active Users: 430 million.
Founders: Steve Huffman, Alexis Ohanian, Aaron Swartz.
Reddit heralds itself as “the front page of the internet,” and according to Alexa rankings, Reddit is one of the top 20 most-visited sites.
It has become known as the dominant digital watercooler, and replaced forums and chatrooms of yore to be the go-to place for connecting with likeminded communities and getting your questions answered.
Reddit has a unique blend of content and community, with more than 2.8 million communities, or subreddits, dedicated to every topic imaginable. Whether you’re in tech, fashion, gaming, or health, there’s at least one subreddit actively discussing your industry.
With so many niches, there’s a place for every brand and business to engage their audience – it’s a matter of finding the niches where your potential customers are active and diving in.
However, be warned: Reddit thrives on authenticity and genuine interaction. Users don’t typically respond well to blatant self-promotion, and marketing gimmicks will be met with sharp skepticism.
Brands should beware before wandering into any subreddit and trying to tout their products to community members.
It’s crucial to get the tone right from the beginning, as commentators won’t hesitate to call out and critique what they perceive as inauthentic.
Engage thoughtfully, contribute genuinely, and Reddit could be an incredible marketing tool for your brand.
9. LinkedIn
Screenshot by author, May 2022
Headquarters: Sunnyvale, CA.
Launched: 2003.
Monthly Active Users: 310 million.
Founders: Reid Hoffman, Konstantin Guericke, Allen Blue, Jean-Luc Vaillant, Eric Ly.
LinkedIn has been somewhat of a dark horse among social media platforms. While many may not initially have expected a career-focused social platform to take off, it has become one of the more popular and engaging platforms, with a vast and influential community of professionals.
The platform boasts over 180 million users holding senior roles, 63 million decision-makers, and 10 million C-level executives – making it a hotspot for those aiming to connect with folks who have the power to hire your company, stock your product, or partner with your brand.
And the platform isn’t just for networking – it’s an aspirational hub. Every week, 61 million people use LinkedIn to search for job opportunities – so it’s a smart place to market your brand.
LinkedIn is a very focused social media platform. Because of that, it has unlimited potential for connecting with an elite group of professionals who can make a difference for your business.
The newcomer to the block, Threads was created by the team behind Instagram and launched in July 2023. The text-based app was designed as a competitor to X (formerly Twitter).
It looks and functions quite similarly to X (formerly Twitter), though Threads requires you to have an Instagram account in order to sign up.
Threads initially made a splash in the social media space by quickly surpassing 150 million downloads and becoming the most successful social media platform launch in history.
Since then, it has struggled to retain users – but there is still plenty of promise for the future of the platform.
So, who should be advertising on Threads? It’s still early days, so the answer isn’t totally clear yet.
The good news is that Threads appears to be engaging users by leaning into its strategy to create a positive community space, and veering away from the highly politicized landscape that you might find on X.
If your brand is looking for an alternative to X (formerly Twitter) or is keen to try your hand at a new platform, Threads is certainly worth testing.
Its integration with Instagram means that you have the potential to build a following quite rapidly if you have a strong and engaged Instagram community.
Since being purchased by Tesla CEO Elon Musk in October 2022 for $44 billion, X (formerly Twitter) has been facing some major changes and hurdles.
It has lost approximately 13% of its daily active users – and the response to the platform’s rebrand from ‘Twitter’ to ‘X’ didn’t help things either.
With average users and brands both increasingly turning away from the app, some are heralding its potential demise – while others say nothing much has changed.
In spite of a clear understanding of what the future holds for the platform, if your business is related to entertainment, sports, politics, tech, or marketing, there are still opportunities to drive great engagement on this app – if you can find your audience there.
On X, brands have an opportunity to craft and hone their voice. There’s room to be clever and personable while still being informative and helpful.
Jump into threads, provide value, share your own content as well as others, and join the conversation. Just be sure to monitor the app and your audience to make sure your investment is paying off.
Which Platform(s) Should You Use?
The ubiquity of social media is undeniable.
From your teenage neighbor who wants to go viral on TikTok to your 86-year-old grandmother who’s using Facebook to track down long-lost friends, everybody has a use for social media.
Yet, when it comes to business, a one-size-fits-all approach to social media won’t work.
So, if you were hoping you’d reach the end of this piece, and find a simple, definitive answer on the perfect platform for your brand, you’re out of luck.
Every social media mix will be unique.
Each platform offers distinct features and functionalities, some which align more naturally with specific industries or marketing objectives.
Whether you’re looking to boost customer engagement, increase reach, or create unforgettable brand experiences, it all starts with getting clear on your goals.
Start by understanding your objectives, figuring out where your audience is most active, and then tailoring your strategy to resonate on those channels.
It’s all about making the right choices and finding authentic alignment in order to make use of this powerful marketing opportunity.
Most marketers now understand the value of social media as a marketing tool – and countless companies have now established their own presence across a variety of social platforms.
But while the importance of creating content and building an audience is well understood, many organizations are lacking when it comes to another key strength of social media: social listening.
Social listening is a strategic approach that can help your brand tap into the incredible breadth and depth of social media to hone in on what your target audience is saying and feeling – and why.
By investing in social listening, you can gain a deeper understanding of conversations happening around not just your brand but your broader industry, and extract meaningful insights to inform multiple areas of your business.
In this article, we’ll explore what social listening is, why it’s crucial for businesses today, and the tools that exist to help you do it before diving into tips for getting started with your social listening strategy.
Let’s get started.
What Is Social Listening?
Social listening is the practice of tracking conversations on social media that are related to your brand, analyzing them, and extracting insights to help inform your future marketing efforts.
These conversations can include anything from direct mentions of your brand or product to discussions around your industry, competitors, relevant keywords, or other topics that might be tangential to your business.
The idea of social listening is that you’re really getting to know your audience by sitting back and listening in to what they talk about – what their gripes are, what they’re interested in, what’s getting them excited right now, and much more.
Gathering this data and then examining it can help you in a number of ways, from uncovering useful product development insights to inspiring new content ideas or better ways to serve your customers.
Here are some of the things you can achieve through social listening:
Tracking mentions of your brand, products, or services across social platforms.
Evaluating public perception and sentiment towards your brand by assessing whether mentions are positive, negative, or neutral.
Spotting trends that are emerging among your target market by noting common themes, topics, or keywords in conversations.
Gaining a better understanding of your audience, including who they are, where they spend time online, what they want, and how your brand can connect with them.
As such, social listening isn’t just a powerful tool for marketing, but can also be leveraged to improve customer engagement and service, product development, and other areas of your business.
What’s The Difference Between Social Listening And Social Monitoring?
If you’re finding yourself a little confused about the difference between social listening and social monitoring, you’re not alone! The terms are often used interchangeably – when, in reality, they have different scopes and objectives.
Generally speaking, social monitoring is narrower and more focused on your brand specifically, while social listening takes more of a big-picture approach to gaining insights.
If social monitoring is about seeking out brand mentions and conversations to hear what people are saying, social listening is diving even deeper to understand why they’re saying those things.
Social monitoring typically involves tracking social activity directly related to your brand so that you can stay abreast of what’s happening at the moment and tackle any pressing issues.
In this regard, it’s often leveraged as a component of a company’s customer support program to help respond to queries, answer questions, and remedy complaints in a timely manner.
It can also help to identify trending topics or industry moments that might apply to your brand. Basically, social monitoring is all about being aware of what’s happening around your brand on social media so you can respond quickly.
Social listening does all of this, but also takes things a few steps further, expanding the scope of what you’re tracking and focusing on obtaining insights to help with brand strategy, content planning, and decision-making.
Where social monitoring might focus on mentions of your brand, social listening goes beyond that to explore broader consumer behavior and emerging industry trends, and make qualitative analyses of the conversations that are happening in those areas.
One analogy I’ve encountered that I find helpful for understanding the difference between the two: If social monitoring is akin to tending your own backyard, social listening is like taking a walk through your neighborhood and eavesdropping on conversations to better understand what your neighbors are interested in and concerned about.
While we are focused on social listening in this particular article, both social monitoring and social listening are important parts of an effective marketing strategy.
Why Is Social Listening Important?
As we’ve touched on, successful social listening can benefit many areas of your business – from your marketing to your product and your customer support. And all of this means it can have a big impact on your bottom line.
Let’s look closer at just some of the reasons why social listening is an important tool in your business’s arsenal.
Reputation Management
Social listening can help you get a sense of how your audience – and the general public – feels about your brand, products, messaging, or services.
By understanding both the positive and negative sentiments around your brand and where they come from, you can work to fill the gaps and improve perceptions of your company.
Understanding Your Audience
On that note, social listening is a great way to learn more about your audience – from your current customers to your prospects and beyond.
It offers a looking glass into what your target consumer is thinking about, their opinions, pain points, desires, etc. With this information, you have the power to customize your content, message, and products to serve their needs better.
Market Analysis
Social listening is a powerful tool for unearthing insights into your industry – trends, consumer behaviors, opportunities, etc. This is the kind of information that you can use to get ahead of your competitors and deliver the ultimate customer experience.
Competitive Insights
Speaking of competitors, social listening enables you to keep a watchful eye on your competitors and learn from their successes and failures.
You can use active listening to determine how your target market perceives your competitors and apply your findings to differentiate yourself from the pack.
Crisis Management
Let’s face it: Crises happen, no matter what your business or industry. But social listening can help you identify crises before they hit a boiling point, and address them in a timely manner.
Content Strategy
Want to know what content types and formats resonate best with your audience? Try social listening! Once you have the necessary insights, you’ll be able to create more engaging content.
You can use it as a tool to discover prospects who are interested in your industry, product niche, or topics related to your business.
Beyond this, by improving your content strategy, reputation, products, customer experience, and more using your social listening insights, you will ultimately boost more leads to your business.
Social Listening Tools
Given that social listening requires pulling data from millions of posts across social media and analyzing it, we would recommend using a tool to help with your efforts.
Known for its social management features, Hootsuite also offers a comprehensive suite of capabilities to help with your social listening efforts.
The platform allows you to create custom streams to track hashtags, keywords, or mentions across a range of social platforms. You can use these to spot conversations in real-time and engage with them.
Using some of Hootsuite’s tools and integrations, you can also do things like track brand sentiment, listen into Reddit conversations, access consumer research, and more.
Pricing:
30-day free trial.
Paid plans start at $99/month for the Professional tier and 249/month for the Team tier (billed annually).
Hootsuite offers an Enterprise tier with custom pricing.
Sprout Social
Sprout Social is another leader in the social media management space that is super useful for social listening.
With Sprout Social’s Smart Inbox, you can pull all your mentions, comments, and DMs from across your social platforms into one single feed – helping you keep on top of what’s happening.
Other key features include audience analysis, campaign analysis, crisis management, competitor comparison, influencer recognition, sentiment research, and much more.
Pricing:
30-day free trial.
Paid plans start at $249/month for the Standard tier, $399/month for the Professional tier, and $499/month for the Advanced tier (billed annually).
Sprout Social offers an Enterprise tier with custom pricing.
Brandwatch
Brandwatch is a strong social listening and analytics platform that can help you track and analyze conversations online. It pulls data from 100 million sources, ensuring you’re not missing anything.
The Brandwatch tool will sift through brand mentions in real-time to analyze sentiment and perception, saving you a ton of time and manual effort.
Other key features include AI alerts for unusual mentions activity, conversation translation across multiple languages, tons of historical data, and more.
Pricing:
Book a meeting with the Brandwatch team to learn more about pricing.
Meltwater
Meltwater’s social listening tool monitors data from a ton of different feeds, from Facebook to Instagram, Twitch, Reddit, YouTube, and many more. It can even recognize when your brand is talked about in a podcast!
Key features include topic and conversation trends analysis, custom dashboard and report building, consumer segmentation and behavior analysis, crisis management, and more.
Pricing:
Contact the Meltwater team for pricing details.
Talkwalker
Another top name in the social listening space, Talkwalker monitors 150 million websites and 10+ social networks to power your real-time listening experience.
It offers AI-powered sentiment analysis in over 127 languages, notifications for any atypical activity, issue detection, conversation clustering, and much more.
Pricing:
Contact the Talkwalker team for pricing.
6 Tips For Building A Social Listening Strategy
Now that you understand what social listening is and why it’s important – as well as a few of the tools you can use to power your social listening program – it’s time to start considering your strategy.
Here are six steps we recommend when building out your social listening strategy.
1. Define Your Goals & Objectives
As with any big project, your first step before starting should be to set clear goals for what you want to achieve.
Why are you doing this, and what is the desired result? Sit down with your team and talk through these points in order to align with your objectives.
You might have one key objective or several. Some potential options could be:
Improve your company’s customer service and support.
Gain insights to help inform product development and enhance product offerings.
Track brand sentiment across current and potential customers.
Develop a deeper understanding of the competitive landscape in your industry, and how your competitors are performing with social audiences.
Stay on top of industry events and trends so you can spot content gaps and opportunities ahead of time.
Whatever your goals are, make sure you have them set from the beginning so you have clarity as you move forward.
2. Pick Your Tool Of Choice
While social listening can technically be done manually, it will never be as comprehensive as what you can get from leveraging a tool or platform.
Social media listening tools, like the ones we highlighted above, are able to synthesize data from millions of sources at once – not to mention their abilities to analyze sentiment, identify trends, spot activity, and more.
So, while they typically come with a price tag, the good ones are worth their weight in gold.
Do your research and choose a tool that aligns with your objectives and your team’s budget.
Look for something that monitors many different touchpoints, offers comprehensive analytics, is customizable, and integrates with your existing tech stack (if necessary).
3. Identify Target Keywords And Topics
This step is crucial: Take the time to define the keywords, topics, and hashtags that you want to “listen in” to – as these will provide the basis for your listening efforts.
Be sure to include keywords and themes that are relevant to your brand but also your industry, so that you get information that’s most useful to you. You could also discuss any keywords or topics you might want to exclude and why.
These might evolve or change over time, and that’s okay – this is about setting up a well-considered and focused foundation based on what matters most right now, and what will help you achieve your goals.
4. Decide On Your Workflow
Who will be responsible for monitoring your social listening data? Who should be responding to relevant mentions? Whose job is it to analyze the data and report on learnings and progress?
These are all things you should consider early on so that you can develop a clear workflow that outlines responsibilities.
By establishing the process early on, you’ll make sure that your efforts are not in vain and that you’re able to really put your data to use.
One recommendation: Make sure that somebody is regularly monitoring conversations and engaging where necessary. You should be keeping a keen eye on your listening activity – and automated alerts can be very helpful here.
5. Adapt As Needed
As part of the workflow we just discussed, somebody (or several people) should be responsible for routinely analyzing the data you’re collecting – as, unfortunately, it won’t analyze itself.
Set up a consistent process for diving into your data, extracting insights, and then acting on them.
There’s no point in allocating resources to a social listening program if you’re not using the learnings to benefit your business.
So, be sure to adapt your content strategy, marketing efforts, customer service, and so on based on what the insights are telling you.
6. Don’t Forget Measurement
We all know the importance of social media measurement – and this extends to your social listening efforts.
As time goes on, continue to measure the success of your efforts against the goals and objectives you set out for yourself.
This will help you evaluate the impact of your social listening, and whether there are areas you should pivot or refine based on the data you’re seeing.
You can also track social engagement metrics over time to see if your learnings have provided a boost in your social performance as a whole.
In Conclusion
With millions of conversations happening all around us on social media, any brand that isn’t engaging in social listening is missing a major opportunity.
By taking the time to proactively (and attentively) listen to your audience and target consumers, understand them better, and put their feedback to use, you can drive considerable success for your business.
So, take some of the advice we’ve shared here and start building out your social listening strategy today!
