Social media marketing is a beast all of itself, and figuring out which social media tasks are vital an which are not is half the battle. As of 2016, there were around 2.18 billion people using social media. However, the different platforms they are using, the demographics of each platform, and what type of business you run an all impact which social media platforms will work best for your marketing efforts.

Top Social Media Platforms

Even though there are dozen of social media sites, and new ones pop up every day, that doesn’t mean they are all equal. The giants are still:

Facebook

Facebook is still the biggest social media website with approximately 1.65 billion active users each month. It is used by all ages, which means you can reach a wide audience. With post boosts and ads, you can reach out to a specific demographic that matches your target audience.

Twitter

The microblogging nature of Twitter allows brands to make a big impact on potential customers. Twitter has around 310 million active users each month, definitely under where Facebook is, but this audience is more focused on news and breaking alerts. They want things fast, quick, and to the point.

Think about offering a weekly chat about your business. If you run an escape room business, tweet out a statistic about how stressed people are and how escape rooms can relieve that stress.

The Others

Let’s face it, Twitter and Facebook are the giants. Then, there are the others. These other social media platforms are extremely impactful for reaching a specific audience.

  • Google+ – Offers a good way to connect with business aged individuals.
  • LinkedIn – More of a professional network. If you want to reach local business owners with your message, this platform can help.
  • Pinterest – High number of female registrants. If you want to reach women in your area who might attend your cooking classes, this is a great place to start.
  • Instagram – Want to reach the younger crowd? Snapchat or Instagram is a good place to start.

The key is really studying the platform to make sure your events are a good fit for the audience.

Social Media Tasks List

Once you’ve decided which social media sites to focus on, you’ll want to come up with a daily task list of items that need completed on a regular basis to begin building a following.

Top Dog Social Media released an infographic that will help you get started. A few of the things they advise include:

Daily

  • Facebook: Check FB page for comments and respond. Add a post in the morning. Engage in groups.
  • Twitter: Throw up original posts and quotes. Retweet influencers in your industry. Monitor hashtags and keywords that tie into your business.

Weekly

  • Facebook: Build your own Facebook group.
  • Twitter: Study notifications to find the people who retweeted you and return the favor.

Over time, you will begin to see patterns. Certain types of posts at specific times of day will encourage followers to engage with your brand. Once you know these patterns, you can easily schedule posts through Hootsuite or Buffer to match the times when your post will get the most interaction.