The answer to successful marketing is using social media, right? Yes and no. A lot of us think that being on social media is enough and that alone counts as marketing. I was guilty of this as well. I learnt a lot in e-marketing and there is a lot more strategy and thought that goes into each post, tweet and share then I would have thought. It was actually an eye-opening experience for me. What I also learnt is that more is not always better. It is important to use the right social media platforms for your business, but what are the proper social media platforms for your business?

The answer is it depends. However, do not worry. The Pew Research Center posts demographic information on users of different social media platforms. It also does research on a wide range of topics but this particular report is based solely on American social media users. Even though it is based on American data, I think it’s a great tool in helping to decide which social media platforms to more heavily invest in. It has tables that display various factors like gender, income, ethnicity and education. In addition you can compare the different platforms’ demographics and frequencies of use to make a more strategic decision on what suits your needs.

Here are examples of what some of the graphs look like and what kinds of information are displayed.

However, one thing to note is that Snapchat is not included in this report. YouTube and Vine are also not included. These platforms also are very much applicable for businesses and individuals alike. Vine and Snapchat are great for short creative messages and if your target market is adolescence to young adults. Lastly, YouTube has been a great creative outlet for music, videos or even tutorials and many people and business have gotten a lot of publicity even acclaim through YouTube. Justin Bieber is a great example of this.

To conclude, it’s important to know what your business is and who your customer is. When you know this, it is easy to find resources such as this Pew Report with lots of relevant and useful information.