When it comes to digital marketing, you are always told to push social media, spread brand awareness and engage with your customers. The problem is, not all social media platforms provide productive and effective outreach to your target demographic. How do you know if your product is reaching the right people?

Below is a quick summary on the audiences that use some of the biggest social media platforms and successful campaigns created by both big and small brands.

Snapchat

Launched in September 2011, Snapchat has overtaken many social media platforms in popularity. This highly engaged audience is made up primarily of 13 to 34 year olds. With a minimum age of 13 for registration and only 29% of over 35s using the app, the age demographic lies with the millennials. Approximately 70% of users are female. 65% of users produce daily content making the most popular feature Snapchat Stories. According to a poll, 58% of college students would be inclined to purchase from a brand that sent a Snapchat coupon. Remember, all Snapchat users are on mobile devices.

Marketing on Snapchat has to be sharp and to the point. You have 10 seconds to captivate your audience which is becoming more difficult with the decreasing patience of younger generations. On the bright side, the 13-34 Snapchat demographic is an incredibly active, lively and responsive group that regularly produce their own content. Take advantage of the creativity Snapchat gives their users such as the drawing and emoji features. For some Snapchat campaign inspiration, check out WWF, (RED) and Time Out.

Instagram

In 2010, Instagram took to the social media stage for the first time. Under 35s make up 90% of the user group, with 41% of them aged between 16 to 24. There are over 14million active Instragram users in the UK creating an estimated 2.69 posts per day. 49% of Instagram users log in at least once a day meaning that around half of Instagrammers will see content daily. 51% of users are male and the most active group on Instagram are 18-24 year olds in India.

A purely visual social media outlet requires high quality and aesthetically pleasing images. Although you can see Instagram on a desktop browser, it is still used mainly on mobile devices as you cannot post from desktop. Photos earn 36% more likes than videos potentially shifting brands to focus primarily on static imagery and balancing it with videos. Again, a relatively young demographic is active here, but targeted mainly at 16+ year olds. Top brands on Instagram have 58 times higher posts per follower engagement than Facebook and 120 times higher than Twitter. Beautiful Instagram campaigns include Bloom & Wild, Burt’s Bees and Mercedes Benz (visit case studies here)

Twitter

Although Twitter might be experiencing some trouble lately, it is still an influential platform. In terms of gender, there is a 50:50 split in users. 46% of users are active at least once a day. Up to 45% of Twitter users are aged 18 to 29 and of the millennials, 67% use Twitter to post random thoughts. Most popular time for tweets is between 12pm to 1pm, but the worst time for engagement is between 9am to 5pm (i.e. during the working day). Sunday is the most popular day for retweets.

Twitter is a combination of short strings of thoughts, images, URLs and videos that floods a user’s newsfeed. With 63% of users relying on Twitter as a news source, tweets need to be informative with effective use of hashtags. Twitter is possibly most active during live events. For interesting Twitter campaigns, take a look at brands like Taco Bell.

Facebook

The social media giant, Facebook, has one of the biggest user age ranges. With 72% online adults visiting at least once a month and 24 million active daily users in the UK alone, Facebook boasts a huge network of potential customers. Only 34% of 18 to 29 year olds are on Facebook, but the 65+ age group totals 45% of Facebook users. 58% are female and the country with the greatest percentage of population using it is the UK.

Facebook is one of the best social media platforms to market to the 65+ age group. Although millennials are also highly active, this is one of the few platforms that actively engage the older generations. Thursday and Friday has 18% higher engagement than other days of the week. Top Facebook campaigns normally have a moral message or are used to spread awareness. Campaigns that executed this brilliantly are Turning the Internet Red and Like a Girl.

Pinterest

Pinterest is dominated by females (a staggering 85%). Having the option to ‘pin’ just about anything makes Pinterest the ultimate platform to gather your favourite things and be inspired by others. 47% of users are active on Pinterest weekly and 23% access it daily. Pinterest influences 87% of users to purchase something and 67% consult pins on mobile devices whilst out shopping. Shopping is the most pinned category followed by entertainment, holiday themes and beauty.

The very nature of Pinterest makes it stand out from other social media platforms. 83% of active users would rather follow a brand than a celebrity making it the perfect social media outlet for ecommerce. Uniqlo created an exceptionally enticing campaign to delight Pinterest users.

Youtube

This video sharing platform produces 300 hours of new video content per minute. 78% of UK teenagers are weekly Youtube users and 50% of them consider it their favourite site. Ranging from funny cat videos to educational tutorials, Youtube has a huge outreach. In 2015 alone, there was a 70% increase in ‘How To’ videos. The majority of millennials believe that they can teach themselves just about anything by watching tutorials. Saudi Arabia, with 90 million views per day, is the most avid Youtube user community.

Over 50% of users access Youtube on mobile devices so content is regularly consumed on the go. Whether you set up a branded vlog or use Youtube simply to host any video content that you want to place on your website, it is a fantastic platform to reach the masses. Two outstanding Youtube campaigns are Dumb Ways to Die (train safety) and END7: How to Shock a Celebrity (disease awareness). Note that the latter is a powerful video which may contain upsetting imagery.

LinkedIn

There are over 3 million businesses and 400 million users on LinkedIn. A third of professionals across the globe have a profile and 35% of them access it daily. Over half are male users. The top industry in LinkedIn for freelancers falls in the Art and Design category. A mere 13% of 15 to 34 year olds are users as the majority of people only make an account when entering the professional world (normally after higher education).

LinkedIn marketing campaigns consist primarily of direct messaging. Here is a list of 8 good LinkedIn campaigns.

With that, you should have a better idea on which social media platforms suits your business. Harnessing the power of social media can go a long way, but using the right platforms in conjunction with each other will do wonders for your brand awareness and customer loyalty.