SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

There are many different social media platforms you can utilize to reach and engage with your audience.
In this section, we will cover some of the core social platforms for your business.

Many of these platforms have capabilities that overlap and likely will continue to develop more as each platform evolves to improve the user experience. (In fact, in just the time it’s taken to develop this Definitive Guide, new features have been launched for some of the platforms mentioned.) Some have ad targeting options to enable you to serve content to distinct audience segments, which we’ll cover in more detail in the next chapter.

As with any of your marketing campaigns, the best platforms to be on are where your buyers are. Keep your audience and objectives in mind as you choose which social media platforms to focus on. Some are better suited for meeting your objectives for earlier stages of the customer lifecycle, while others, with more advanced targeting options, allow you to reach buyers at every stage of the customer lifecycle. As you navigate the social media landscape, it’s important to have a solid understanding of each channel’s features and capabilities in order to help map a strategy that determines which platforms to participate on.

We’ll cover a variety of social media platforms and their benefits for marketers, including some platforms that have become the bread and butter of many social media marketing strategies and others that offer different capabilities and new formats. It’s important to remember that it’s not enough to merely post on any of these sites; the key is to engage and build relationships with your audience continuously.