The social media marketing landscape changes over time, but what’s in store for 2024? Will the rise of TikTok continue as it has over the last few years or will it face more controversy and end up being abandoned by many? What about YouTube and Facebook – will they continue to be powerhouses for companies looking to improve engagement?
Leave it to the Pew Research Center to provide some of the answers. A survey powerhouse, Pew Research has some insights that can help you with your social media marketing strategy throughout the year.
Usage Stats
According to Pew Research’s survey, which was released on January 31, YouTube takes the top spot for social media marketing platforms with 83% of adults saying they use this site, followed by 68% who say they use Facebook. The following is the full list from the survey:
- YouTube – 83%
- Facebook – 68%
- Instagram – 47%
- TikTok – 33%
- LinkedIn – 30%
- WhatsApp – 29%
- Snapchat – 27%
- Twitter – 22%
- Reddit – 22%
- BeReal – 3%
Does this mean you should spend little effort on BeReal and spend the bulk of your time and energy on YouTube? Maybe, but not necessarily, because your social media marketing efforts need to fall in line with your target audience’s habits. Is your audience obsessively using Instagram and rarely on YouTube or Facebook? You’d want to expend more effort creating content specific to the channels your audiences frequent.
Specific Demographics
TikTok is still growing, particularly with younger audiences, so it won’t likely be fading away anytime soon. If you want to dig deep into a segmented audience, your ad spend will do well on Facebook, according to Pew’s survey, which found you can reach more diverse demographics on that site.
Have you considered short-form video content? Most sites offer some type of platform (including Instagram Stories and YouTube shorts) and TikTok is all about it. This type of content is great at capturing the attention of users.
A big takeaway from Pew Research’s survey is that knowing your audience is key. Social media usage trends will ebb and flow, but as long as you are clued in to where your audience spends time looking for information, you’ll have more success in your social media marketing efforts.
Don’t play guessing games or go through long periods of trial-and-error in an effort to increase engagement with your target audience. Partner with SJC Marketing and we will help you make an impact. Contact us and let’s talk about our process.